Ford cars Co. will have to pay a fine of up to $165 million to the US government for conducting the recall too slowly and not providing accurate recall information.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday that the civil penalty was the second largest in the agency’s 54-year history. Only the fine Takata had to pay for airbag inflating errors was higher.
The agency said Ford was too slow to recall vehicles with defective rearview cameras and failed to provide the agency with complete information as required by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act.
Ford agreed to a consent order with the agency including a $65 million payment and $45 million in spending to comply with the law. Another $55 million will be deferred.
“Timely and accurate recalls are critical to keeping everyone on our roads safe,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman. “When manufacturers fail to prioritize the safety of the American public and meet their obligations under federal law, NHTSA will hold them accountable.”
Under the order, an independent third party will monitor the automaker’s recall obligations for at least three years, and Ford must cooperate with the watchdog.
Ford must also review all recalls over the past three years to ensure there are enough vehicles recalled and issue new recalls if necessary.
The company must also review and change its recall decision-making process, improving the way it analyzes data to find safety defects in its vehicles. It must also invest in technology to be able to track parts using vehicle identification numbers.
Ford said it will invest $45 million in advanced data analytics, new documentation systems and a new testing laboratory.
“We appreciate the opportunity to resolve this matter with NHTSA and remain committed to continually improving safety,” Ford said in a statement.
By law, automakers must notify NHTSA by filing a defect report within five business days of discovering a vehicle has a safety defect.
Problem Recalled more than 620,000 vehicles in the USmore than 700,000 in North America, appeared in September 2020 for rear-view cameras that could fail on some 2020 models, including the F-Series pickup truck, the best-selling model in the US
In agency documents, NHTSA said Ford found warranty claims about the defective camera from February to April 2020, and the issue was brought to the Ford commission in May of that year.
In July 2020, NHTSA contacted Ford about complaints it received about broken cameras, and in a meeting with NHTSA in August 2020, Ford showed data on many 2020 model year vehicles that had Camera failure rate is high.
The company issued the recall on September 23, 2020, and about a year later, NHTSA began investigating whether the recall was done quickly enough or included enough vehicles.
In 2022 and 2024, Ford issued two more recalls for the same issue. About 24,000 vehicles have their cameras recalled for the first time.
In its consent order, NHTSA said its investigation found that Ford violated multiple sections of the law by moving too slowly to recall vehicles with defective cameras, providing the agency with inaccurate information. inaccurate or incomplete and failure to submit required quarterly reports on additional recalls.
The order says Ford disagrees with his assertions.
For many years, Warranty and recall costs are high has dented Ford’s profits, but the company says it is working to fix the problem.
The penalty did not end the conflict between Ford and NHTSA.
Earlier this year, this agency opened an investigation during a Ford SUV recall repair that failed to fix a fuel leak that could cause an engine fire. Investigators wrote in an April 25 letter to Ford that they had “significant safety concerns” about the March 8 recall of nearly 43,000 Bronco Sport and Escape SUVs.
Ford said in the documents that fuel injectors could crack, allowing gas or vapor to leak near hot engine parts, potentially causing fires and injuries. But the fix is to install an exhaust pipe to take the gas away from the hot surface and the software will cut off the fuel supply if a leak is detected.
In the letter, the agency’s Office of Defects Investigation wrote that based on its review of the recall fix, it “believes the remediation program does not address the root cause of the problem and does not proactively call for Call to replace the previously faulty fuel injector. to their failure.”
Ford said it has a robust recall process and is committed to complying with the law but can always improve. It said it had learned from the camera recall.
“We look forward to working with NHTSA and independent third parties to make further improvements,” Ford said.
