Ford's Latest Recall Is Small But Serious

While it may not sound that serious, it could be fairly catastrophic if a motorist loses drive power in the middle of an intersection or while climbing a steep incline. The dangers associated with this failure are clear to see. According to the NHTSA, the power loss can occur when "an overheated busbar terminal may create a high resistance connection, causing the battery pack high voltage bus voltage to fall below an operational threshold."

Upon detecting this issue, the vehicle's Hybrid Powertrain Control Module activates a diagnostic code, telling the powertrain to stop. If this fault occurs, drivers can still control the braking and power steering, thankfully. The culprit behind the recall is an unproperly seated High Voltage busbar pad.

This means prior to the busbar welding, the pad was already out of position, reducing the contact area between the cell terminal and the busbar. The reduced contact area causes "higher resistance leading to an overheat condition," says the NHTSA.

As mentioned, just three cars are involved: a single Corsair Hybrid produced on January 10, 2022, and a pair of Escape Hybrids, manufactured between August 5, 2021 - January 10, 2022. Owners will be notified by mail and will need to take their vehicles to the respective dealers to have the battery replaced. Naturally, this will be of no cost to the owner; as relatively brand new vehicles, the original warranty will soak up the related costs.

Ford must be relieved that it's only three vehicles involved, as this could have been a lot worse for the company if more were affected. Aside from the cost of replacing the batteries, the possibility of the popular Escape Hybrid having such a widespread, dangerous issue could have been a PR nightmare.

Elsewhere, 2015-2017 Ford Mustangs were the subject of a recall, with 330,000 examples plagued with a defective backup camera. For the company's sake, we certainly hope this is the last recall for a while.