Ford has recently identified an issue with a certain rear seat cover. More specifically, EcoSport owners who purchased accessory rear seat covers bearing part numbers VNJ1Z-6163812-A (taupe) or VNJ1Z-6163812-B (charcoal) are urged to take them off due to a design defect that prevents the rear side airbags from deploying as intended.
Supplied by CoverCraft Industries of Paul's Valley, Oklahoma, the second-row seat covers in question also cover the side airbag tear seams. The covers don't include a feature to allow proper airbag deployment. Ford's Critical Concern Review Group became aware of this condition on January 16.
The subsequent investigation determined that the Ford Licensed Accessory engineering team used a non-North American vehicle to pattern the rear seat covers. Ford doesn't say what market the vehicle was intended for, but chances are that it was an EcoSport produced at the Chennai plant in India.
Discontinued in from the US lineup over abysmally poor sales, the EcoSport was produced in many locations. The Craiova plant in Romania, for example, covered the EU and UK markets. The EcoSport for the US market, on the other hand, came from the aforementioned Chennai plant.
Ford eventually determined that 207 such covers had been purchased from stateside dealers, and Ford isn't aware of any reports of improper airbag deployment related to the recall condition. Dealers are required to contact customers to return the covers for a full refund. Ford also requires evidence that the returned part has been disposed of.
Photo: Ford
As opposed to most recalls published on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website, customers won't be notified via first-class mail. As mentioned earlier, dealers have been tasked with identifying and contacting the customers.
Offered between model years 2018 and 2022, the US-spec EcoSport slotted below the Escape in the automaker's lineup. Closely related to the Fiesta, which has been indirectly succeeded by the Puma crossover in the European Union and the United Kingdom, the EcoSport was offered with a choice between 1.0-liter EcoBoost and 2.0-liter Ti-VCT.
Both mills are connected to a six-speed SelectShift automatic transmission, but as it happens, the three-cylinder turbo is the more problematic of the two. At the beginning of January 2024, the Ford Motor Company recalled 113,689 examples of the EcoSport 1.0-liter EcoBoost due to oil pump failure caused by a fracturing drive belt tensioner arm.
Ford's US division discontinued the 1.0-liter EcoBoost after the 2020 model year, leaving the free-breathing 2.0-liter Ti-VCT to soldier on alone through 2022. Another big difference between these powertrains is that 2.0-liter EcoSports came by default with all-wheel drive as opposed to front-wheel drive for the three-cylinder turbocharged engine.
In addition to the Fiesta, the Puma also replaces the EcoSport in the Old Continent. Back in February 2021, Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley said that he would like the go-faster Puma ST to be sold in the North American market. Considering that Ford dropped the 1.5-liter turbo and six-speed manual of the Puma ST in February 2024, that's wishful thinking at best.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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