Ford issued yet another recall, the latest involving Fusion units for the model years 2014 and 2015 and an ignition problem.
About 65,000 vehicles will be affected, including certain 2014-2015 Fusions, some 2015 Fusion Energi units, and certain 2015 Fusion Hybrids built at Ford's Flat Rock and Hermosillo Assembly Plants until Oct 31. The recall is being enforced due to a programming issue in instrument clusters that allow ignition keys to be taken out 30 minutes after turning off the ignition. The issue happens even when the vehicle is not in "Park," becoming a compliance issue involving rollaway prevention and theft protection regulation.
As of Nov 11, Ford has identified that 56,479 of the affected vehicles are registered in the United States, while 6,048 are in Canada and the remaining 2,342 are in Mexico. It is not, however, aware of any injuries or accidents associated with the issue.
To fix the issue, Ford simply needs to reprogram the instrument cluster to get it working as it should. Affected owners will be notified the week of Jan 5. All repairs involving the issue will be free of charge.
Owners are advised to wait until receiving their recall notice to take action. But if ignition problems are already manifesting, wait no more and head to your dealer to get your vehicle checked out to prevent injury or death.
Vehicle sales were expected to decline but the Fusion stood out for Ford, registering its best sales for a month back in October, with a 5 percent increase in sales compared with figures for the same month in 2013. This represents 22,846 Fusion vehicles sold for October, adding to around 250,000 since 2014 started. With these numbers, the Fusion is definitely Ford's best-selling sedan in the U.S. market.
"Fusion is an outstanding success story, with October marking six straight months of record sales. [It] is on pace to break the 300,000-vehicle mark this year for the first time ever," said John Felice, U.S. marketing, sales and service vice president for Ford.
Hopefully this growth will not be affected by the recall Ford is implementing. Before issuing a recall for Fusion models, Ford also issued one for certain 2014 Transit Connect vehicles, 2015 Transit models, 2005-2011 Lincoln Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis, and Ford Crown Victoria units, 2014 F-150 trucks, and 2014 Flex vehicles earlier in November.
