NHTSA Expands Ford Engine Failure Probe to 700,000 Vehicles

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation released today documents that shows it has expanded a reliminary Ford engine failure inquiry to an engineering analysis that covers more than 700,000 vehicles and questions Ford’s previous attempts to fix the safety defect. Explorer, Bronco, Edge Lincoln Nautilus, Aviator SUVs, as well as The F-150 pickup truck from 2021-2022 model years are susceptible to sudden loss of engine power.

During the preliminary inquiry investigation, several contributing factors were identified which can lead to the fracturing of the intake valves in the engines involved.* Ford acknowledged that a fractured intake valve can result in catastrophic engine failure and a loss of motive power and noted that following a valve fracture, a vehicle typically requires a full engine replacement.

“Ford advised ODI that the defective valves were manufactured out of a specific alloy known as “Silchrome Lite,” which can become excessively hard and brittle if an over-temperature condition occurs during machining of the component. A design modification was implemented in October 2021, which changed the intake valve material to a different alloy known as “Silchrome 1”, that is less susceptible to over-temperature during machine grinding. Ford has identified that the defective intake valves commonly fail early in a vehicle’s life and has suggested that the majority of failures have already occurred,” ODI said.

*The preliminary inquiry covered vehicles equipped with the 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine. However, analysis of Ford’s original response “revealed that the alleged defect is present across the “Nano” engine family, which includes both the 2.7-liter and 3.0-l iterEcoBoost engine variants. Vehicles which offer the 3.0-liter EcoBoost engine as either standard or optional equipment include MY 2021-2022 Explorer and MY 2021-2022 Lincoln Aviator.”

ODI said it is opening an Engineering Analysis (EA) in order to:

• Evaluate the scope and frequency of allegations across the expanded scope of model/model year vehicle populations equipped with the 2.7L and 3.0L EcoBoost engines,
• Coordinate with NHTSA’s Vehicle Research and Testing Center (VRTC) to evaluate field return parts,
• Analyze the effect of time-in-service on the failure rates for the affected engines,
  
• Gather and review additional information to evaluate the effectiveness of Ford’s manufacturing improvements regarding the alleged defect.