The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that Ford will be recalling over 456,000 Bronco Sport and Maverick vehicles due to a battery detection issue that may result in a loss of drive power, increasing the risk of crashes. According to NHTSA documents, the modules responsible for detecting battery charge changes in these cars may fail to do so, leading to low battery charge and unexpected loss of drive power or other electric features like hazard lights.
This recall affects around 403,000 model year 2021-2024 Bronco Sports and more than 53,000 model year 2022-2023 Mavericks. Owners will receive notification letters on May 13th, and dealers will recalibrate the affected vehicles’ modules at no cost. A software update is expected to be released later in the second quarter.
Ford has confirmed that safety is a top priority for them and has taken proactive measures to address this issue as soon as possible. Although there have been no reported injuries related to this battery detection issue, there have been warranty reports, field reports, customer complaints, property damage claims, and unverified fire reports.
In addition to this recall, Ford is also dealing with another impacting Bronco Sport owners involving gasoline leaks from fuel injectors onto hot engine surfaces which increases the risk of fires. The NHTSA is currently investigating Ford’s proposed remedy for this recall.
