The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a large-scale inspection of Ford and Lincoln vehicles after engine problems were identified. It turned out that a manufacturing defect in the production of parts for the 2.7 and 3.0 liter EcoBoost petrol turbo engine was fatal and could lead to a complete breakdown of the engine and the need to completely replace the power unit assembly.
The investigation into the problem began in the summer of 2022, when Bronco owners began to complain about breakdowns – 26 cases of failure of the 2.7-liter V6 EcoBoost engine were recorded while driving. More than 25,000 2021 Broncos were under investigation, but in 2023 it was revealed that the problems were affecting many more vehicles across multiple brands and models. By this fall, Ford had accumulated 328 customer complaints, 487 claims for warranty repairs and 809 replacements of already broken engines with new units.
“During the investigation, many factors were identified that contributed to the destruction of the intake valves of the studied engines. “Ford acknowledged that a broken intake valve can lead to fatal engine failure and noted that the vehicle typically requires a complete engine replacement after this occurs,” NHTSA noted. The reason was the alloy Silochrome Lite, which becomes too brittle if overheated during the processing of the part in the factory.
In October 2021, the automaker initiated a design modification, switching to an alloy less susceptible to overheating for the manufacture of valves, but cars with defective motors were not recalled from service. And even after a series of breakdowns, no service promotion was still announced. The issue affects more than 700,000 Ford Bronco, Ford Edge, Ford Explorer and Ford F-150 models, as well as Lincoln Aviator and Lincoln Nautilus models equipped with EcoBoost 2.7 and EcoBoost 3.0 engines.
Strange defects for car recalls
