The door latch trouble has dogged Ford for the past two years, with the company gradually adding vehicles to it.
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Ford is recalling about 830,000 vehicles in the US and Mexico, on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016, because the side door latches can break and the doors can open while the vehicles are moving. That caused the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker to reduce its full-year pretax profit estimate to $10.2 billion. The recall covers certain 2013 to 2015 Ford Escape SUVs and C-Max cars, and 2012 to 2015 Focus cars.
Ford initially limited the recall to states with “higher ambient temperatures and solar loading”, as those conditions were believed to weaken the door latches in question. The recall has now expanded to include an additional 1.5 million vehicles, at the request of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The latest batch of vehicles brings the recall’s total count to 2,047,297 vehicles in the United States.
Ford says that if the defective latches break, it could increase the likelihood of injury. Ford has identified one accident and three injuries related to this issue, the automaker said in a statement.
Dealers will remedy the problem by installing new door latches free of charge.
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Ford says customers who want to know if their vehicle is included in the recall can go to www.ford.com, click on safety recalls and enter their vehicle identification number.
