Dive Brief:
- Ford issued two safety recalls on Aug. 24 for more than 88,000 vehicles to replace a fuel pump control module and fuel injection pumps that could fail and cause stalling while driving, without the ability to restart.
- An additional safety compliance recall was issued for 23,000 2017 Ford Escape vehicles to update the power window software, as the current system could exceed the regulatory requirement for remote actuation closing force.
- All recalls will be fixed at no cost to the costumer. The notice marks the company's 9th recall since January, during which more than 3.7 million vehicles have been called in for safety or safety compliance reasons.
Dive Insight:
Recalls which involve vehicles made and sold throughout North America can cause unanticipated strains on the supply chain. The company must produce and estimate the number of new parts to be distributed to authorized inspection sites in addition to the reverse supply chain challenge of receiving and discarding the malfunctioning pieces.
Increased scrutiny by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has led to an increased number of recalls since 2013, and automakers expect this trend to continue. The growing number of recalls comes at no small cost for the companies, however. In 2014, the company attributed a $400 million profit miss in part to these challenges.
