Ford faulty latch recall expands to 1.5 million more vehicles

Additionally, the August 4 recall announcement only covered 16 states in the southern portion of the U.S. as well as Mexico. It has now been expanded to include all of North America.

The catalyst for the expanded recall was the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The organization deemed Ford’s initial recall notice of 830,000 vehicles inadequate, as it was not nationwide in scope and an investigation found that the rate of malfunction reports was higher than previously reported.

According to Ford, the spring tab in the latch can break, which causes the door to pop open or be unable to close. The car company will replace latches for free in affected vehicles at any of their dealerships. Models included in the latest recall include the 2012 through 2015 Ford Focus, the 2013 to 2015 Ford Escape and C-Max, the 2015 Ford Mustang and Lincoln MKC and the 2014 through 2016 Ford Transit Connect small van.

An estimated 2.4 million cars trucks and vans, much of Ford’s North American production lineup, are included in this recall. It is expected to cost the company $640 million, which will cut significantly into its 2016 pretax profit.

Consumers can verify if their vehicles are included in the recall by entering the vehicle identification number in the Safety Recall section of Ford’s website.