The defect
Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2015 Ford Taurus, Ford Flex, and Lincoln MKS vehicles manufactured May 4, 2015, to May 23, 2015, Lincoln MKT vehicles manufactured May 4, 2015, to May 21, 2015, and 2015-2016 Ford Explorer vehicles manufactured May 4, 2015, to May 23, 2015. The affected vehicles have a parking brake that may not fully engage when applied. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 135, "Light Vehicle Brake Systems."
The risk
If the parking brake does not fully engage and the transmission is left in a gear other than 'Park' while on a slope, the vehicle may roll away, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Ford will notify owners, and dealers will test the operation of the parking brake system, and if necessary, replace the parking brake control assembly, free of charge. The recall began on September 4, 2015. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 15C07.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Ford Explorer | 2015, 2016 |
| Ford Flex | 2015 |
| Ford Taurus | 2015 |
| Lincoln MKS | 2015 |
| Lincoln MKT | 2015 |
Components: PARKING BRAKE
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 Explorer | 2015 | 1,810 | 8 |
| Ford Explorer | 2016 | 2,462 | 14 |
| Ford Flex | 2015 | 114 | 4 |
| Ford Taurus | 2015 | 280 | 6 |
| Lincoln MKS | 2015 | 18 | 3 |
| Lincoln MKT | 2015 | 24 | 6 |
Other parking brake recalls in 2015
16 of the 863 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2015 concerned the parking brake; Ford Motor Company filed 737 campaigns in all.
| 15V742000 10 Nov 2015 | Forest River, Inc. |
| 15V699000 23 Oct 2015 | Thor Motor Coach |
| 15V642000 13 Oct 2015 | Newmar Corporation |
| 15V479000 30 Jul 2015 | Temsa Global Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. |
| 15V350000 5 Jun 2015 | Nova Bus |
| 15V289000 18 May 2015 | Autocar, LLC |
| 15V202000 6 Apr 2015 | General Motors LLC |
| 15V113000 27 Feb 2015 | General Motors LLC |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2015