Some 412,000 Ford Explorer SUVs, ranging from model years 2017 to 2019, are being recalled due to a risk of sudden steering loss, the automaker announced Friday.
The culprit is the rear toe link on these vehicles, which is vulnerable to fracture. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall report, affected SUVs utilize cross-axis ball joint parts supplied by SAF, and in “certain loading conditions,” the defective toe links can break. The ball joint itself may seize, resulting in what the recall report describes as “a bending moment” on the link, causing it to fail.
Ford has identified 26 reports of rear toe link fracture within the impacted vehicle group, two crashes, and no injuries. According to the report chronology, NHTSA notified Ford in January of five instances of 2018 Explorers losing steering due to rear toe link failure. The SAF-manufactured cross-axis ball joint was a revision of an earlier component Ford had utilized across 2013-2017 model-year vehicles that was especially vulnerable to corrosion from road salt.
The newer ball joint doesn’t appear to share that problem, though Ford has determined that when it seizes, the toe link is liable to fail, and so that’s the component that dealers will replace. The new toe links dealers will fit “are stronger and more resistant” to a seized ball joint than the defective unit, according to the automaker.
Notification letters for campaign 26V101 are expected to go out to owners on March 9, but they can get a head start and find out if their particular vehicle is affected through a VIN search on the NHTSA website beginning February 25. Ford has not yet offered a timeline for replacement.
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