Earlier this week, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa announced that it would finally implement a two-stage recall of certain Ford Kuga models due to a fire risk.
Jeff Nemeth, president and CEO of Ford Motor Company Southern Africa, said that his company’s investigations pointed to an overheating problem that could lead to cracked cylinder heads, which in turn could leak oil onto hot exhaust manifolds, causing the fires.
To learn more about that actual failure mechanism and the differences between the recall of the Ford Escape in the United States in 2013 (which, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, included “an inspection in order to prevent a fuel leak that could also potentially result in an engine compartment fire”) and this new recall here in South Africa (which doesn’t) for apparently the same reason, we asked Ford to respond to the following technical questions.
The answers are not all that convincing, but we’ll leave you to decide for yourself…
CAR: What are the technical differences between the 1,6-litre EcoBoost engine in the Ford Escape (US recall) that also experienced head-cracking issues and engine fires in 2013 and the 1,6-litre EcoBoost engine in the local Kuga displaying the same symptoms?
Ford SA: The field data in the United States with the US-built Escape and in the South African Kuga 1,6-litre vehicles are different; we’re not going into all the different technical differences between the engines at this time.
CAR: If the two engines (US vs. SA) share their design, can Ford confirm that the other failure mechanism in the US – which involved a fuel-rail issue leading to fuel being sprayed onto the engine – is not present in South Africa?
Ford SA: We’re continuing to investigate the Kuga 1,6-litre engine compartment fires in South Africa, but based on the current data, we’ve determined that the fires are due to engine overheating caused by a lack of coolant circulation, which can lead to cracking in the cylinder head and, therefore, an oil leak. If the leaking oil reaches a hot engine surface, it can potentially catch fire.
CAR: Overheating of an engine should not lead to a cracked cylinder head, loss of oil or engine fires. How will Ford address the inherent flaw of the 1,6-litre EcoBoost cylinder head?
Ford SA: Our voluntary safety recall will be completed in two steps: an enhanced dealer safety action, followed by an additional parts repair action. For the first step, the mandatory safety check will ensure the integrity of the coolant system in the affected vehicles. With this safety action and proper maintenance of the engine coolant system, including using the approved coolant at the required concentration level, the vehicles are safe to drive.
CAR: Focusing on fixing the cooling system components appears to be a short-term solution as the overheating problem may return in a few years from now (for example, if a coolant pipe bursts) with the same fire hazard mechanism returning (cracked cylinder head). What is Ford’s long-term technical fix for the problem?
Ford SA: For the second step, the additional parts repair action, we’re working as quickly as possible to finalise and validate the repair action. The details of the second step will be communicated to affected customers at a later date but we can say that, based on the data currently available, we’re confident that the action, and as we said when finalised and validated, will effectively address this particular concern.
