Ford recalls 700k Bronco Sport, Escape: Cracked fuel injector, 570M loss

Ford has announced it will recall 700k Bronco Sports, Escapes for a cracked fuel injector costing the company 570 million dollars.

Ford recalls 700k Bronco Sports, Escapes

Ford is recalling 694,271 to be specific 2021-2024 Bronco Sport, 2020-2022 Escape models due to an issue with cracked fuel injectors leaking gasoline into the engine compartment.

Owners can smell gasoline inside and outside the vehicle, see dashboard warmings, smoke or visible flames in the engine bay.

The injectors were supplied by Italy-based Dumarey Flowmotion Technologies according to a recall report on NHTSA.gov.

Ford initially developed a software fix to detect a cracked injector to reduce engine power and shut off fuel delivery as well as installed a drain tube to redirect fuel away from flammable items in the engine bay.

However, after a year-long NHTSA investigation into this fix resulted in finding additional vehicles catching fire even after the fix was applied, Ford has decided to recall more than the initially thought 42,000 vehicles.

Currently, there is no final mechanical remedy available. NHTSA estimates .3% of the vehicles recalled will have a cracked fuel injector.

A big financial hit

Ford said in a July 16 securities filing, this recall would cost the company $570 million dollars according to a story on Autonews.com.

It will be reported as a “special item.”

“Accordingly, it will not impact our total company adjusted (earnings), adjusted earnings per share, or adjusted free cash flow,” Ford said in a July 16 securities filing as reported by Reuters on Autonews.com.

Our take

This is the second week in a row for Ford to issue a large recall with no fix. The other was a fuel pump recall with a tier 3 Mexican supplier who couldn’t deliver the part in the way Ford engineers designed it.

Either Ford is choosing the wrong suppliers or their engineers need to scale back their designs for the suppliers to build easier.