I usually don't take recalls seriously. Why? Two short stories. One, bac k in 1999, I bought a 1999 Ford Escort new. Well, new for the most part. It was brought in on dealer exchange and I got a new car delivered with 103
-kilometres on it. I never feltlike it was a "new" car. Anyway, about a y ear later, I had it in for its regular service. The service advisor told m e I had a recall on the car. I asked what the recall was about, and she sa id not to worry. I watched as she went to the parts department,and came ou t with an envelope. Again. I asked what the recall was about. "It's OK, I 'll look after it", was her response. As she started to open the driver's door, I pushed it shut. "What is the recall?", I asked. Her answer? "Our records show that yourcar was built without the French air bag labels." M y response? "This isn't Quebec (I live in Ontario), and I don't speak Fren ch. DO NOT put those labels on my sun visors!" the labels were not instal led. Fast forward to 2002. I was trading my Escort inon a 2002 Focus (I d rove a lot in those days, racking up 30,000-kilometres annually). When the y assessed my Escort, they told me my car had an outstanding recall. I sai d I knew, and I told them they could install those labels AFTER I handed th em the keyswhen I picked up my Focus.
My second story involved my 2012 Focus, which I purchased in May of 2011. The car was transferred into my wife's name in 2016, when I bought my 2016 Focus. Anyway, about two months after I had taken possession of the 2012, I got a letter from Ford. The envelopesaid, "IMPORTANT INFORMATION RE: REC ALL NOTICE". Yes, it was all in capital letters. I opened the envelope, an d this is what it said, without a word of a lie (I still have the letter, a s I keep all factory correspondences and service receipts): "It had beenbr ought to our attention that your 2012 Ford Focus was manufactured with the incorrect emissions label. Find enclosed the replacement label, and a diag ram showing the location of the label. Please remove the incorrect label a nd replace it with the correctlabel. Thank you for your patronage of Ford Motor Company." Two minutes later, my car was "all safe". At least I did n't have to go to the dealership.
On October 25th, I read this announcement on MSN, com, that there is a reca ll on 1.5-million Ford Focuses (I say it "Focii", you know, one Focus, many Focii, like one radius, many radii) from 2012 to 2018. Only 200,000 are i n Canada, the rest are in the U.S.
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
"Ford recalls nearly 1.5M Focuses because engines may stall"
Detroit - Ford is recalling 1.5 million Focus compact cars in North America because a fuel system problem can cause the engines to stall without warni ng.
The recall covers cars from the 2012 through 2018 model years with 2-litre four-cylinder engines.
Ford says a valve in the fuel system can stick in the open position, causin g too much vacuum, and an engine control computer may not detect the proble m. Excessive vacuum can cause the gas tank to deform (really?*), as well a s other problems.
The recall came after the U.S. government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration presented owner complaints to Ford. About 1.3 million vehi cles are in the U.S.
Dealers will reprogram the computer with new software that will detect a st uck valve, which the company says will take care of the problem in most cas es. They'll also inspect the valve, a carbon canister and gas tank and rep lace them if needed.
Ford says it's not aware of any crashes or injuries caused by the problem.
The recall is expected to begin on December 10.
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
That is good timing, as I have my 2016 scheduled for its 30-month service o n December 14th.
Just to let you know!
[At the end of one of the sentences, I added "really?*" Back years ago, wh en I started working where I am now, there was another part of the plane th at manufactured high-voltage transformers. A lot of them were huge! They had this area with several oil storagetanks with the transformer oil stored in them. This one day, they were pumping oil out of the one tank, when su ddenly, the tank sucked in and collapsed. Now, this was a tank that was ab out 8-feet in diameter by 20-feet high. It was made from one-half-inchplat e. The tank collapsed like a Pepsi can when you crush it. The cause? The pressure in the tank went down to "just" one P.S.I. under the atmospheric pressure. In other words, it developed a vacuum. That vacuum was enough t o cause the tank that sizeto collapse so easily. It was quite a sight! Th at tank sat there for the longest time after that. It was just amazing tha t so little vacuum could cause such damage. Imaging how little a vacuum wi ll cause a car's gas tank to "deform"?]