Ford issues recalls on Mach-E charging (again) and Explorer rollaway risk

Ford is issuing two separate recalls totaling 273,127 vehicles nationally. The recalls affect two popular models, the 2020-22 Ford Explorer and the Ford Mustang Mach-E.

The first recall affects 238,364 Ford Explorers built in the three-year span between 2020 and 2022. According to Ford’s filings with the NHTSA, a faulty mounting bolt for the rear axle could break, causing the vehicle to roll away even when the transmission is in park. The issue is that the bolt experiences repeated bending forces as torque is sent through the powertrain during acceleration. After enough launches, the bolt could fail. and once that happens the axle can move out of position, separating the driveshafts or half-shafts from being one interconnected powertrain. If the parts fully separate, the transmission is effectively unlinked from the wheels, so putting it in park won’t prevent wheels from freely spinning, causing the roll-away risk. 

Ford reports says that 396 customers notified them of this failure, which may be accompanied by loud clunking or grinding noises. Of those customers less than 5% reported a roll-away or an inability to drive the car. Nevertheless, Ford will replace the bolt and a redesigned subframe bushing to better hold the axle in place.

Affected Explorers include gasoline, hybrid, PHEV, and Police Interceptor models. Ford will send out notices to owners starting November 6 but owners can also enter their VIN on the NHTSA site to see if their vehicle has been affected.

The second recall involves 34,763 Mustang Mach-Es with extended-range batteries. An overheating battery contactor can cause a loss of motive power` while driving. Ford says this can happen after the car has been plugged into a DC fast charger and then accelerated at “wide-open pedal.” 

This is the second recall to involve battery contactors on the Mustang Mach-E. Last year a similar issue prompted Ford to recall 48,924 Mach-Es and replace a diagnostic control module with one that could monitor the battery conactor’s temperature. 

That apparently didn’t fix the problem entirely, so with the latest recall Ford will replace a high voltage battery junction box. Ford has determined that last year’s recall sufficiently resolved the loss of power issue with the standard range Mach-E, so this affects only extended range models.

Until the repairs are made, Ford recommends limiting DC fast charging and repeated wide open pedal acceleration.