Ford Recalls Escape for 16th Time Since Redesign

Ford is recalling more than 200,000 vehicles in North America, specifically, certain Louisville Assembly Plant 2014-2015 Escape and Valencia, Spain built Transit Connect SUVs. For these models, the instrument cluster, warning messages, lights, and chimes might not work at startup. This problem puts the vehicles out of compliance with the federal motor vehicle code, and the fix is a software update free of cost. They were built in Valencia from May 13, 2014 to Dec. 10, 2014 and at the Louisville Assembly Plant from May 19, 2014 to Feb. 6, 2015.

There have been no injuries or accidents attributed to the defects, the company said.

The Escape, redesigned for the 2013 model year, has been among the industry’s most recalled nameplates since then. Ford has recalled the 2013 Escape 12 times and the 2014 model nine times. Five campaigns affect both model years. This recall is the first on the 2015 Escape.

Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of the Americas, told Automotive News in April that the company hasn’t found any systemic problems to explain the recalls but has worked closely with suppliers to improve launch quality. Vehicles introduced more recently have had fewer recalls.