By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. auto safety agency said on Thursday it had “significant safety concerns” over Ford Motor’s recall of more than 42,000 SUVs, fearing fuel leaks could lead to fire engine.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said last month that it is investigating the adequacy and safety implications of Ford’s proposed recall remedy for the 2022-2023 Bronco Sport model years and Ford Escape SUVs. 2022 equipped with 1.5L engines.
The second-largest U.S. automaker said a fuel injector could crack and leak fuel, which could cause an underhood fire.
Ford offered to update the engine control software and install an oil change. It does not suggest replacing fuel injectors that could crack.
In a letter to Ford made public Thursday, NHTSA said Ford’s plan “does not address the root cause of the problem and does not proactively call for replacement of faulty fuel injectors before they fail.” , adding that the agency has “identified significant issues.” Safety concerns.”
NHTSA is asking Ford to answer numerous questions about the recall by June 21, including how it decided on the remedy.
Ford reiterated Friday that he was working with NHTSA to support the agency’s investigation.
Ford said last month that it was aware of five underhood fires on 1.5L Escape and Bronco Sport vehicles in the newly recalled population, but had no reports of accidents or injury related to this problem.
The software update will detect a drop in fuel rail pressure, providing a “seek service” message to the driver and disabling the high-pressure fuel pump, thereby reducing engine power and lowering fuel source temperatures. possible inflammation.
In 2022, Ford recalled nearly 522,000 2020-2023 Ford Escape and 2021-2023 Ford Bronco Sport for the same problem with the same remedy, NHTSA said.
Ford told NHTSA in late 2022 that it had 54 reports of underhood fires in 2020-2022 Bronco Sport and Escape vehicles equipped with the 1.5L engine in North America, as well as reports reporting four injuries in two incidents.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Toby Chopra, Kirsten Donovan)
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