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

[Mabcim]

Thanks to @Darnon posting the TSB images, I went and checked myself. My VIN didn’t have the recall, but figured I might as well look and see. Looks good.

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[Barksdale123]

I was told my 2023 was not on the list.......For now.

 

[dlivry7]

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 open an investigation on Toyota's handling of the recall because of the 11 reported fires. Reading that investigation, it's clear the problem is Toyota's design is specific to Toyota batteries and they never dreamed owners might replace it with a different or upgraded one.

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

ummm ford was fined over a hundred million for shenanigans with recalls a couple years ago. they are supposed to have a third party monitoring their recall system. trusting ford more than other manufacturers….lol. big business looks at the bottom line first, then second, then third. then maybe other concerns are looked at

 

[NoVaJimmy]

Good ole Ford quality...

 

[Lone Ridr]

The ball joint is held in place by a threaded bolt that doesn't have a castellated nut with a cotter pin. Ford went cheap. Your life depends on the bolt never coming loose. I guess the torque needs to be checked at service intervals. Ford (and others) lowers their costs by transferring work and responsibility to the owner. Nothing new there.

Killed by a defect that was less than 1% of the built vehicles? That would look good in your obituary or a member of your family (sarcasm intended).

 

[Darryl]

On the affected vehicles , I believe the root cause is a loose or missing bolt on the lower ball joint. I believe the number of affected vehicles must be small because Recalls of this nature (inspection) don't cost Ford a lot of money. (I think they will pay us 0.2 hrs) And the consequences of failure are horrific. Given the potential for huge lawsuits, I think the recall would have been greatly expanded if they felt the problem was more widespread.

 

[Cancunbadlands]

Thank you for posting the NHTSA report! That must be fresh off the press

Edit - The defect originated at the Hermosillo Stamping Plant across from the Main Assembly Line. Just fyi..,

That confirms what I said
Benito Camelo was hungover on a Monday shift

 

[Bunchahoopla]

My 25 tremor is on the list

Had a mobile service Ford tech come out to my Tremor and do the inspection today and he said it passed. Good to drive again

 

[Bdesign]

looks like they see if it is fully seated. if not, then they loosen the pinch-bolt and jack-up on the ball-joint to engage fully engage into the hub and then tighten the pinch-bolt??

 

[El Kabong]

looks like they see if it is fully seated. if not, then they loosen the pinch-bolt and jack-up on the ball-joint to engage fully engage into the hub and then tighten the pinch-bolt??

That would NOT be the correct way to seat a ball joint. You can damage the joint.

A ball joint press is required.

 

[Bdesign]

I was not talking about the ball-joint in the control arm, it is not a separate part. I meant the ball-joint stub into the hub. The pictures shown show this stub not fully engaged as being the issue and the reason for the alert.

 

[HeyBales]

That would NOT be the correct way to seat a ball joint. You can damage the joint.

A ball joint press is required.

Pretty sure 2 different parts of the ball joint being described by you and Bdesign.

He's talking the hub - you're talking the control arm.

ETA: considering it comes as a single unit - would be interesting if hand tool could fix the press in side of an issue.

Other post said it came from the stamping plant across the street. That almost makes me think the press in side you are showing.

 

[HeyBales]

Thanks to @Darnon posting the TSB images, I went and checked myself. My VIN didn’t have the recall, but figured I might as well look and see. Looks good.

Great pictures to easily confirm both the hub side is sitting correctly, and the control arm side was completely pressed in.

 

[Darnon]

looks like they see if it is fully seated. if not, then they loosen the pinch-bolt and jack-up on the ball-joint to engage fully engage into the hub and then tighten the pinch-bolt??

An alignment would be recommended afterwards if it was initially aligned with a component so out of position.

 

[The Cyber Orange Guy.]

Thanks for your service OP.

Mine came on the flu list, need to contact my dealer service center to put mine on the list for future fix. No trailer use, on my side the heaviest thing I do is carring my bicicle, but a recall is a recall and you never know when you might need to use that capacity for that, or even selling it.

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