The defect
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2013-2014 Ford C-Max vehicles manufactured January 19, 2012, to November 21, 2013; Ford Fusion vehicles manufactured February 3, 2012, to August 24, 2013; Ford Escape vehicles manufactured October 5, 2011, to November 1, 2013; and Lincoln MKZ vehicles manufactured April 25, 2012, to September 30, 2013. The coating on portions of the Restraint Control Module (RCM) may crack, and when exposed to humidity, circuits on the printed circuit board may short.
The risk
The short circuits could cause the frontal air bags, side curtain air bags and the seat belt pretensioners to not function as intended when needed, increasing the risk of occupant injury in the event of a crash.
The remedy
Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the RCM, free of charge. Parts are not currently available. The recall began on May 26,2015. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 14S21.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Ford C-Max | 2013, 2014 |
| Ford Escape | 2013, 2014 |
| Ford Fusion | 2013, 2014 |
| Lincoln MKZ | 2013, 2014 |
Components: AIR BAGS | AIR BAGS:SIDE/WINDOW | SEAT BELTS
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford C-Max | 2013 | 187 | 8 |
| Ford C-Max | 2014 | 80 | 8 |
| Ford Escape | 2013 | 2,753 | 18 |
| Ford Escape | 2014 | 2,089 | 16 |
| Ford Fusion | 2013 | 1,792 | 19 |
| Ford Fusion | 2014 | 1,333 | 19 |
| Lincoln MKZ | 2013 | 109 | 12 |
| Lincoln MKZ | 2014 | 97 | 13 |
Other seat belts recalls in 2014
35 of the 770 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2014 concerned the seat belts; Ford Motor Company filed 737 campaigns in all.
| 14V818000 24 Dec 2014 | Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. |
| 14V744000 21 Nov 2014 | Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. |
| 14V649000 17 Oct 2014 | Ford Motor Company |
| 14V643000 14 Oct 2014 | Chrysler Group LLC |
| 14V639000 10 Oct 2014 | Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) |
| 14V553000 11 Sept 2014 | Mack Trucks, Inc. |
| 14V488000 8 Aug 2014 | General Motors LLC |
| 14V466000 31 Jul 2014 | Entegra Coach |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2014