NHTSA Investigates Ford Mustang Recalls for Power Loss

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Ford’s handling of a 2022 recall of the Mustang Mach-E after receiving a dozen complaints.

On June 10, 2022, the NHTSA issued a recall of 49,924 2021 and 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles due to a defect in their fast-charging mechanism that could lead to overheating of the high-voltage battery’s main contactors. According to the recall, if the mechanism overheats while driving, the vehicle could lose power increasing accident risk.

On Aug. 17, the NHTSA reopened its recall query to assess the remedy to the recall after it received 12 complaints alleging the high-voltage battery main contactor failed again after being fixed in the original recall’s software update. The investigation could potentially lead to a recall of 64,727 vehicles, 14,000 more than the original recall.

“The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has opened this Recall Query (RQ) after receiving 12 consumer complaints alleging a high voltage battery main contactor failure in MY 2021-2022 Ford Mach-E vehicles (subject vehicles) that were included in Recall 22V-412 and remedied prior to the reported incidents,” the NHTSA stated on its site.

“The remedy in this recall was a Secondary On-Board Diagnostic Control Module (SOBDMC) software update to monitor contactor temperature and reduce battery power to prevent damage to the contactor, and a battery energy control module software update to monitor contactor resistance to identify an overheated contactor and reduce vehicle power to prevent further damage.”

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