Brakes are an essential component of every vehicle. Things won't end well without them. We'll leave it at that. It's also vital for other drivers to be made aware that the car in front of them is hitting the brakes. Slamming into another car is a dangerous, potentially fatal, and costly affair. That's why brake lights were invented. But now approximately 200,000 Fords are at risk for brake light failure.

The American automaker has just issued a recall for certain 2014 and 2015 model year examples of the Ford Fusion, its Lincoln MKZ corporate cousin, and the 2015 Mustang. To help narrow the field down even more, every vehicle was sold or registered in the following states: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Hawaii.

Why those specific states? Because it turns out that high humidity and temperatures can potentially cause a rubber brake pedal component to disintegrate. This could result in the brake lights remaining on permanently.

Other drivers are highly likely to get confused and fairly assume these drivers are hitting the brakes when they're really not. This clearly leads to a greater crash risk. What's more, affected owners with automatic transmission-equipped cars can also shift out of "park" without needing to have their foot on the brake. These are essential safety issues that need to be addressed. Fortunately, the remedy is fairly simple.

Dealers will need to simply swap out the brake and clutch pedal bumpers at the same time, a process that shouldn't require more than a few hours' worth of work. Even though the clutch bumper is specifically included in the recall, it's being replaced anyway because the parts "are manufactured from the same material and will be replaced at the same time to avoid potential future customer satisfaction issues." As usual, these repairs will be done free of charge.

Interestingly, a vital safety issue like this isn't immediately being addressed. For whatever reason(s), Ford is waiting until March 3 to begin notifying affected owners by mail. The good news is that Ford is unaware of any related crashes or injuries related to this issue.