Ford Door Latch Problems May Impact Another 1.5M Vehicles

An additional 1.5 million vehicles have been added to the recent Ford door-latch recall, expanding the number of impacted vehicles to nearly 2.4 million, which may have faulty door latches that do not close properly, or open unexpectedly when the car is in motion. 

The Ford door-latch problems resulted in an announced by the automaker on September 8, after receiving notice from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that an investigation discovered 1,200 customer complaints involving additional vehicles that were not previously recalled.

The faulty door latches may fail to completely shut, or open unexpectedly, and have resulted in at least one accident and three injuries.

Ford Motor Company, in conjunction with the NHTSA, initially recalled 830,000 vehicles due to the door latch problems, including 2013 to 2015 Ford Escape SUVs, 2013 to 2015 C-Max cars, 2012 through 2015 Ford Focus cars, 2014 to 2016 Ford Transit Connect vans, 2014 through 2016 Ford Mustang sport cars, and 2015 Lincoln MKC SUVs on August 4.

The initial recall was announced after NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) found more than 70 reports of the doors not fully latching. Several of the complaints involved the doors spontaneously swinging open while driving down highways at high speeds. Other reports included doors swinging back and striking passengers and one report of a customer who had to tie the door closed.

Following the initial recall, the NHTSA opened an investigation and found 1,200 customer complaints of the door latches failing to close in a wider production range than Ford initially recalled. Following the agency’s discovery, the incidents were reported to Ford and the auto maker was asked to expand the recall to include all potentially impacted vehicles.

According to Ford’s announcement, the recall will expand manufacturing dates to include additional 2012 through 2015 Ford Focus vehicles, 2013 through 2015 Ford Escape vehicles, 2015 Ford Mustangs, 2014 through 2016 Ford Transit Connect vans and additional Lincoln MKC vehicles.

The company says the additional vehicles are being recalled due to the spring tab in the door latches potentially breaking, causing the doors to not close entirely or pop open unexpectedly. The company announced in a regulatory filing that it was setting aside $640 million to cover the costs of the recall.

The August 4 recall announcement by Ford stated that Mexico and 16 states with high temperatures and sunlight exposure would be the priority repair areas as reports of latch failures were most common in high humidity areas which could be related to the issue. Customers may check to see if their vehicle is included in the recall by visiting Ford.com and navigating to the safety recalls link and entering their vehicle identification number (VIN).

Ford announced that customers will be sent written notice of the defect with instructions on how to schedule a free inspection and repair or replacement of the door latches at their local dealer free of charge. Customers with impacted vehicles outside of the high rate of occurrence regions will also be covered under the recall if they suffer the same problem. An official recall notice and repair instructions will be sent to customers within the coming weeks.