Yet Another Major Ford Recall, This Time for Risk of Fire Involving 700,000 SUVs

It’s been a bad year for Ford Motor Co. – and, in this case, that’s bad for customers who have had to cope with a record flood of recalls. Add to the list another one announced Tuesday covering nearly 700,000 recent SUVs at risk of catching fire. For Ford, the service action will result in a $570 million charge to earnings. More from Headlight.News.

Already having set a record for the number of recalls in a single year, Ford Motor Co.’s tally has gone up yet again.

The automaker is recalling 694,271 vehicles sold in the U.S. and its territories because fuel leaks could lead to a fire, it advised the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a new filing. Most of those are Bronco Sport and Escape SUVs.

The announcement is the second major recall announced by Ford this month, the automaker previously saying 850,318 vehicles built during the 2021 through 2023 model years needed to be repaired due t fuel pump problems.

The problem

A total of 694,271 vehicles are covered by the new recall, about 687,000 sold in the U.S. and the rest in U.S. territories. They include versions of the Ford Bronco Sport sold in the 2020 through 2024 model years, along with 2020-2022 Ford Escapes. The affected models are equipped with 1.5-liter engines. Also impacted: a small number of Ford Kugas sold in those U.S. territories.

In a filing with NHTSA, Ford blamed the recall on fuel injectors that could crack and begin leaking fuel into the engine compartment, potentially igniting. The company said motorists should be aware of potential warnings on the instrument panel but might also notice a strong smell of fuel inside or outside the vehicle.

The problem was first acknowledged with smaller recalls in 2022 and 2024 covering 42,000 vehicles. At the time, the automaker considered several fixes, possibly replacing the injectors or installing tubes that could redirect leaked fuel away from potential ignition sources. In the end, the carmaker settled on using a software fix.

But the problem again came to the fore following reports of eight vehicle fires. “After reassessment, Ford reported this month that it found cracked fuel injectors in eight vehicles that experienced underhood fires, despite having undergone repairs,” according to a report by Reuters which noted that six of the fires involved vehicles that hadn’t gotten the software update.

A costly record

During the first half of this year, Ford announced 89 separate recalls, That far exceeded the 77 recalls announced by General Motors for all of 2014, the previous industry record – and was more than four times as many recalls during the first half compared to Forest River, a recreational vehicle company that was second on the list, with 21 callbacks due to safety issues between January 1 and June 30, 2025.

The latest Ford service action will be costly, the automaker acknowledged in a regulatory filing that said, “We estimate the aggregate cost of the action, based on the remedy options we are evaluating, to be about $570 million and will be reflected in our second quarter 2025 results.”

All told, Ford’s recalls this year have pushed its costs beyond the $1 billion mark – and that’s before the price of any fines and penalties – or possible lawsuits – it might face.

In January, Ford paid a $65 million fine due to delays in dealing with defective backup cameras. The automaker has since then taken steps to track issues and then order recalls more quickly. Last November, Ford paid a $165 million fine, the second-largest in automotive history, for failing to respond in a timely manner to reported problems with backup cameras used on many of its vehicles.

More Ford News

• Ford Beats Industry Recall Record – Already
• Ford Halts Sales of Mustang Mach-E; Faulty Doors Could Lock Owners Out of – or in – Vehicles
• 1 Mil Fords Recalled for Faulty Backup Cameras

Addressing the latest problem

Ford said that it initially will resort to another software fix hoping to address the issue of leaky fuel injectors. An additional step is “under development,” according to company spokesman Mike Levine. It should be announced “in the near future.”

The company also has yet to come up with a complete fix for the recall covering faulty fuel pumps announced last week.

That means while Ford will soon begin notifying affected owners about the recall it could take time before it can come up with a complete solution, then provide necessary parts to its dealers and begin advising owners to schedule service appointments.

Once that does happen, however, repairs will be made at company expense.