Ford to recall 270,000 vehicles due to battery issues.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States has announced that Ford Motor Company will be recalling 272,817 vehicles due to concerns over battery malfunctions.

This recall affects certain models including the 2021-2023 Bronco Sport and the 2022-2023 Maverick pickup trucks.

According to the U.S. automotive safety regulatory agency, the 12-volt batteries in these vehicles may experience performance degradation and sudden failure, potentially leading to damage to electrical components (including hazard lights) or loss of propulsion, thereby increasing the risk of collisions.

Authorized dealerships will assess the affected vehicles and, if necessary, they will replace the 12-volt batteries free of charge. Notification letters will be mailed to vehicle owners on February 3.

Vehicle owners are advised to contact Ford Customer Service at 1-866-436-7332. The recall number for this Ford recall is 25S02.

For further assistance, vehicle owners can also contact the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or visit nhtsa.gov.

Additionally, on January 20 of this year, the NHTSA announced that the BlueCruise automated driving technology was suspected of causing collisions. An investigation was launched following reports of two fatal crashes in April of last year, involving Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles equipped with BlueCruise.

The regulatory agency disclosed that the investigation has been upgraded to an engineering analysis, covering approximately 129,222 vehicles from model years 2021 to 2024. An engineering analysis is a necessary step before a recall is requested by NHTSA.

The BlueCruise system utilizes camera-based driver monitoring technology to assess the driver’s level of attentiveness and can be operated on 97% of highways in the United States and Canada that lack intersections or traffic signals.

Introduced initially in 2021 models, this technology is currently applicable to select Ford and Lincoln brand vehicles.