Ford Issues Do-Not-Drive Advisory for Certain 2021-2026 Maverick; Owners Urged to Contact Dealerships Immediately (June 1, 2026)

[Bdesign]

for it to cover multiple years is strange- there must be something in the assembly process of the lower control arm that must be variable or there is an ongoing tolerance issue with the parts involved- this can happen again, in the future applications that use the lower control arm assembly

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[Chops]

Understood. But it's less than 5,000 Mavericks and Bronco sport models between the years 2022 and now that are even possibly affected. That's a drop in the bucket

C’mon Darryl, a 1% failure rate on a critical safety item is catastrophic - both according to Ford QC and the NHTSA. Half a percent would cause a recall in this situation.

Ford is saying “don’t drive it - we’ll come tow it” for a reason.

I do find it very interesting that they can identify that 1% by VIN. From original year to present supposedly. Maybe Ford is just taking a multi year 1% sample to see if problem is worse or maybe not as bad?

 

[Chops]

for it to cover multiple years is strange- there must be something in the assembly process of the lower control arm that must be variable or there is an ongoing tolerance issue with the parts involved- this can happen again, in the future applications that use the lower control arm assembly

Maybe the 1% is just a random sample for Ford to analyze? If only 1% of the 1% sample is defective - Ford might be able to negotiate with NHTSA to avoid a total recall for all of us.

 

[Darryl]

C’mon Darryl, a 1% failure rate on a critical safety item is catastrophic - both according to Ford QC and the NHTSA. Half a percent would cause a recall in this situation.

Ford is saying “don’t drive it - we’ll come tow it” for a reason.

I do find it very interesting that they can identify that 1% by VIN. From original year to present supposedly. Maybe Ford is just taking a multi year 1% sample to see if problem is worse or maybe not as bad?

It's NOT 1% failure rate . Besides it closer to 0.5%.And The 4500 are those POTENTIALLY affected. And of those most will probably pass inspection. How do they know which vin to check? (Admittedly wild speculation) Maybe a particular employee, a day a particular piece of equipment is serviced. Every 200th vehicle etc. Again, wild guesses . Usually when Ford wants to take a random sample, They will NEVER summarily tell a customer to stop driving a vehicle until it's inspected. Ford tells us to CALL the customers who's vehicle is on the list and tell them not to drive it UNTIL we inspect it. I can't recall them doing that with any other recall. Around 2001 or so they had a similar recall involving their focus where the boat may not have been properly torqued. It involved a lot more vehicles. But they simply had the customer to come and get the bolt tightened or replaced. I am not disputing the fact that Ford needs to improve their quality control or pick better vendors. I'm just saying that this particular recall is not nearly as widespread as most of their recalls

 

[Chops]

It's NOT 1% failure rate . Besides it closer to 0.5%.And The 4500 are those POTENTIALLY affected. And of those most will probably pass inspection. How do they know which vin to check? (Admittedly wild speculation) Maybe a particular employee, a day a particular piece of equipment is serviced. Every 200th vehicle etc. Again, wild guesses . Usually when Ford wants to take a random sample, They will NEVER summarily tell a customer to stop driving a vehicle until it's inspected. Ford tells us to CALL the customers who's vehicle is on the list and tell them not to drive it UNTIL we inspect it. I can't recall them doing that with any other recall. Around 2001 or so they had a similar recall involving their focus where the boat may not have been properly torqued. It involved a lot more vehicles. But they simply had the customer to come and get the bolt tightened or replaced. I am not disputing the fact that Ford needs to improve their quality control or pick better vendors. I'm just saying that this particular recall is not nearly as widespread as most of their recalls

I’m not disagreeing with you.

It’s just that your earlier “drop in the bucket” comment just made me imagine careening through the guardrail of my local canyon road and thinking briefly while airborne “oh well, I’m just a drop”

Yes, this is a small recall (so far). But it is the most serious Maverick Recall so far. Loss of steering control while driving is amongst the most dangerous situations a driver can face. Definitely a “do not drive” situation.

So what happens if only 100
bad assemblies are found during the ~~4500 vehicle inspection?
- Issue a TSB to check during routine inspections?
- Give instructions to consumers on how to check? I’d like that one

 

[Bdesign]

C’mon Darryl, a 1% failure rate on a critical safety item is catastrophic - both according to Ford QC and the NHTSA. Half a percent would cause a recall in this situation.

Ford is saying “don’t drive it - we’ll come tow it” for a reason.

I do find it very interesting that they can identify that 1% by VIN. From original year to present supposedly. Maybe Ford is just taking a multi year 1% sample to see if problem is worse or maybe not as bad?

not a problem unless you are part of the 1%

 

[Darnon]

A Ford employee posted the info on Reddit. The issue is ball joints that are not fully seated in the control arm. The top of the ball joint should sit flush with the top of its mounting location. If the ball joint it recessed, that's a bad one. From the imagery it looked like a bad one down about 1/2" in the hole.

It's not the press-fit interface between the ball joint and the control arm, but that the ball joint might not have been fully inserted into the spindle.

 

[rtphokie]

Geez…another problem from Ford

Get your act together Ford

Take a few minutes and read the recall report filed with the NHTSA, you'll see this IS Ford getting its act together, setting an example other manufacturers should follow.

This problem was found by the chassis team while looking at a single warrenty claim from the previous model year, the description of the defect didn't look right so they went looking and found another customer who had a similar (significant) front end allignment problem 4 years before that. Additional research found one additional vehicle flagged (and fixed) at the factory.

That's 3 total vehicles from over million produced over 6 years. None of them were Mavericks FWIW but they were incliuded in the recall because of the similar components and assembly methods.

Ford is likely going to spend well over $1 million inspecting, repairing if necessary, and providing rental cars to owners, because a potentially serious problem which might impact 0.5%.

The number of recalls a manufacturer issues each year, time between recalls, or the count of vehicles involved is a terrible way to judge quality once you take time to understand how and why those recalls are initiated.

I don't worry about Ford and it's recalls, I worry about other manufacturers and their lack of recalls on the vehicles sharing the road with me.

I especailly worry about the Toyota in my garage that I've been waiting for months for parts to complete a battery recall of similar scope. In Toyota's report to the NHTSA, they admit they are "unable to provide an estimate" of vehicles affected and more concerning their answer on fire risk is basically "it depends".

Is Ford perfect, certainly not, but the fact that they proactively look for problems and don't hesitate to spend the money and image capital to fix them. It amazes me how Fords record keeping and engineering process enable them to produce a list of VINs they want to inspect within days, while Toyota has been shoulder shruging for years a similarly low probably but high impact risk.

Looking at the Toyota and Ford recall reports side by side, Ford is is clearly FAR MORE transparent and demonstrates that they proactively looking to improve quality, while Toyota's report shows no evidence of this kind of culture.

While Ford says "we've got this", the NHTSA had to opened an additional investigation into 11 reported fires. Reading what Toyota has filed with the NHTSA, it's hard not to conclude that the root cause is a battery tray and restraint that was designed with the expectation that owners would never dream of replacing their battery anywhere other than the dealership.

From my POV and what is sitting in my garage right now, its Toyota that needs to get its act together

 

[rtphokie]

Less than a 1000 per year for 5 years across two model lines? Wonder how Ford was able to track that to VINs?

unlike other manufacturers, Ford answers that question in their reporting to the NHTSA. It's a facinating read. The short answer is good record keeping and risk decisions being made by engineers, rather than executives.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V734-5615.PDF

 

[rtphokie]

No open recalls when I put in my Vin, just wondering if maybe they missed mine because I've had both front axles and rear axle replaced and still getting light vibration at highway speeds.

Ford knows exaclty which vehicles they want to look at for this problem and all the VINs were uploaded ot the NHTSA database by May 29. If your VIN didn't get flagged, whatever problems you are experiencing aren't related to this defect.

The only vehicles included in the recall are those sitting on dealer lots, sold in the past 3 months, or those that records at the factry give Ford concern that they might not have been sufficiently repair when the problem.

 

[rtphokie]

I hope they fired Bob.

I hope the engineer that decided that measuring the torque on a bolt holding a part that might be incorrectly installed was a good test is the one getting questioned, not Bob.

 

[rtphokie]

If there was an issue you would know. They look like they're on top of this one...

The paperwork filed with the NHTSA says owners will be notified by June 5 at the latest.

If you've owned your vehicle for more than 3 months, you probably aren't impacted due to the nature of this defect. It makes its presence known early.

 

[rtphokie]

For anyone rushing to check if there VIN is recalled, it's very rare for it to show up right away. Sometimes it can take days or weeks, so keep an eye on it.

It shows up when the manufacturer commits to it showing up, which varies by recall. Ford uploaded all the impacted VINs by May 29, the same day dealers were notified.

If your VIN isnt on the NHTSA or Ford websites, your truck isn't included in the recall, no need to keep an eye on it.

 

[Gordo2262]

My '24 Lariat EB AWD marked safe from the newly issued recall!!

 

[Chops]

That's 3 total vehicles from over million produced over 6 years.

The Chassis Team did not inspect over one million vehicles. They inspected 3 that had the problem.

Hopefully Ford will soon release how to visually check to see if there is a defect? Many of us like to get under our Mavericks and take pics

So far 2 forum members have noticed their trucks on ViN recall list. Both Tremors - which theoretically get bumped around more than average. Coincidence?

If mine gets recalled & they send out the Mobile Tech to inspect - I’ll ask them to show me how to check

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