Ford (F, Financial) issued three recalls affecting approximately 1.5 million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada Wednesday. The vehicle recall comprises Lincoln, F-150 pickups and Mustangs.
Bird’s-eye view of the case
The majority of the safety-related recalls affects 1.48 million F-150 pickups between 2011 and 2013 having six-speed automatic transmission that may experience an irregular, sudden and an accidental downshift into first gear. This could cause the drivers to lose control of their vehicles.
In a release, the company said: “Depending on vehicle speed, a downshift to first gear without warning could result in a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash.”
Additionally, the company said that F-150 pickups had caused five related accidents.
Besides the F-150 pickups, the vehicles that were affected were 2017 to 2019 Lincoln Continental vehicles and the 2019 Ford Mustang, Lincoln Nautilus and Lincoln Navigator vehicles.
As far as Lincoln Continentals are concerned, the door latches, reportedly having problems with silicon contamination on roughly 27,000 vehicles, may open while driving, thereby increasing the danger of an injury. The company hasn’t yet reported any related accidents. But dealers will get the door latch assemblies removed and replaced in all the four doors of the affected vehicles.
Safety compliance recall for nearly 4,200 Ford Mustang, Lincoln Nautilus and Lincoln Navigator vehicles has been issued with regard to blank instrument panel cluster assemblies. The Blue Oval isn’t aware of any accidents regarding this recall either.
Ford and Volkswagen deal talks
Ford and Volkswagen (VOW3, Financial) do not look to be on the same page as far as investment in Ford’s self-driving vehicle unit is concerned. Ford is seeking a minimum of $500 million investment from the German automaker. On the flip side, Volkswagen is simply looking forward to working with Ford in the self-driving vehicle arena.
In fact, both the carmakers announced in January that they would join hands and work together on pickup trucks and commercial vans. Both Ford and Volkswagen signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together on electric and self-driving vehicle technology. This gave rise to another issue as to how both the automakers would value Volkwagen’s autonomous technology assets, which would be added in the collaboration. This alliance would help both the companies save billions of dollars.
The effort put in by both the companies over a potential alliance speaks volumes about how the global automakers are trying to save billions of dollars, which has become important for the development of electric and self-driving vehicles.
Dislosure: I do not hold any position in the stocks mentioned.
