Photo: Ford
On May 3rd, the product vehicle team at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant reviewed a Transit whose instrument cluster sporadically illuminated “a few telltales when the vehicle ignition was switched on at startup and did not illuminate other telltales, gauges, the speedometer pointer, and tachometer pointer.” The problem was promptly resolved by installing a replacement cluster, but the Dearborn-based automaker knew that it had to investigate.
The subsequent warranty search identified no fewer than 61 claims on Transits built from January 3rd through April 1st. Repairs involved either a replacement cluster or a reset of the instrument cluster. A commonality shared by these claims comes in the guise of the 4.2-inch monochromatic display, located centrally, right between the tachometer and speedometer.
On May 5th, the condition was brought to the attention of Ford’s Critical Concern Review Group. According to current federal motor vehicle safety standards, some telltales must be illuminated at startup and others must be consistently illuminated. Although the symptoms haven’t been reproducible through the evaluation of returned parts, the second-largest U.S. automaker knew that it had to issue a recall. The decision was made on June 3rd. Ford isn’t aware of accidents or injuries pertaining to this rather peculiar issue.
What seems to be the root cause, then? Part number NK4T-14C026-B, which is the software that governs the instrument cluster, and Continental Automotive GmbH are listed in the featured report. No fewer than 30,244 vehicles produced between June 4th last year and May 23rd this year, the day the bad software was discontinued from production, are called back for a quick reflash with new software. As mentioned beforehand, only Transits fitted with the 4.2-inch monochromatic display are affected by this issue.
Available in a multitude of configurations, the internal combustion-engined Transit is currently listed by the U.S. configurator at $46,645 excluding destination charge. Stepping up to the E-Transit is… wait for it… cheaper at $46,295 for the most basic specification available. The all-electric version targets 126 miles (circa 203 kilometers) of driving range on a full range.
On May 5th, the condition was brought to the attention of Ford’s Critical Concern Review Group. According to current federal motor vehicle safety standards, some telltales must be illuminated at startup and others must be consistently illuminated. Although the symptoms haven’t been reproducible through the evaluation of returned parts, the second-largest U.S. automaker knew that it had to issue a recall. The decision was made on June 3rd. Ford isn’t aware of accidents or injuries pertaining to this rather peculiar issue.
What seems to be the root cause, then? Part number NK4T-14C026-B, which is the software that governs the instrument cluster, and Continental Automotive GmbH are listed in the featured report. No fewer than 30,244 vehicles produced between June 4th last year and May 23rd this year, the day the bad software was discontinued from production, are called back for a quick reflash with new software. As mentioned beforehand, only Transits fitted with the 4.2-inch monochromatic display are affected by this issue.
Available in a multitude of configurations, the internal combustion-engined Transit is currently listed by the U.S. configurator at $46,645 excluding destination charge. Stepping up to the E-Transit is… wait for it… cheaper at $46,295 for the most basic specification available. The all-electric version targets 126 miles (circa 203 kilometers) of driving range on a full range.
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