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Ford Motor Co. recalled nearly 500,000 Ford Escape SUVs. The problem is inside the vehicles’ accelerators.

Ford recalls Escape due to acceleration malfunction

Julia Jacobson JAC03001@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

Ford Motor Co., the world’s number two automaker, issued a recall on nearly 500,000 Ford Escape sport utility vehicles worldwide. This was in order to fix an accelerator malfunction that causes engines to race, possibly leading to further problems, according to ford.com.

Although the Ford Motor Co. is unaware of any serious problems or injuries resulting from the issue, a recall was still in order, according to Ford officials.

The problem originates with a liner over the accelerator cable preventing the engine from returning to idle.

A vast majority of the affected vehicles were sold in the United States and are model years 2002-2004.

Ford will notify owners of the affected cars and will have the cable replaced for free.

This is not the first time this year Ford has announced major recalls due to mechanical failures in various car models. However, the two other major recalls in 2005 were voluntary. 

On Sept. 7 Ford announced a recall of 3.8 million full size pickup trucks and SUV’s to repair the allegedly defective cruise control switch.

Prior to the September recall, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received more than 1,000 complaints of engine fires connected to the defective switch.

In January, Ford voluntarily recalled over 792,000 vehicles due to a cruise control malfunction which caused over 69 fires in F-150 pickup trucks, Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigator SUVs from the 2000 model year that are equipped with the speed control switch, according to MSNBC.com.