Ford has two confirmed reports of vehicle fires on Canadian fleet vehicles “related to” this safety defect.
Ford Motor Company is expanding a safety recall in North America by including an additional 26,000 vehicles to an existing safety defect recall for 2015-17 Ford Transit vehicles equipped with a trailer tow module. Water intrusion into the module and connector causes wiring corrosion, damage to the module, and a potential fire hazard.
These vehicles were not included in Ford’s prior defect correct program due to an “identification error of certain configurations of the vehicle population.” Dealers will add a drainage hole to the driver’s door stepwell and incorporate a fuse into the vehicle wiring harness at no cost to the customer as is required by U.S. law. Parts are available to complete repairs. There now are 14 safety defect recalls on the Transit.
In potentially unsafe Transits, water intrusion into the module may result in rapid flashing of the turn signals, loss of the instrument cluster display, loss of heater and air conditioning controls, and loss of multimedia including radio, screens and the SYNC system. Wiring corrosion from prolonged water intrusion could also result in an electrical short to the ground wire, which could cause a seat belt pretensioner deployment, a burning smell and/or increased risk of fire, including when the vehicle is parked, and the ignition is off.
Ford says it is not aware of any accidents or injuries associated with this simple, but potentially deadly defect. However, Ford notes two confirmed reports of vehicle fires on Canadian fleet vehicles “related to” this safety defect.
Affected vehicles include 2015-17 Ford Transit vehicles built at Kansas City Assembly Plant, Feb. 3, 2014 to Aug. 2, 2017. The recall now involves approximately 99,893 vehicles in North America with 90,864 in the U.S. and federalized territories and 9,029 in Canada. The Ford reference number for this safety recall is 17S34.
