Photo: Ford
On July 7th, employees at the Hermosillo Assembly Plant where Ford manufactures the Bronco Sport brought an issue pertaining to parking lamps flickering to the Dearborn-based automaker’s Critical Concern Review Group. At first glance, they discovered a single Bronco Sport during an audit. Not long after, the Hermosillo plant’s quality team found an additional nine units exhibiting this problem from a population of 734.
As it happens, suspect vehicles feature position lamps that start flickering after a five-minute functional test. Coincidentally, the Ford Motor Company had changed the LED driver module from version 4.1L to version 4.2.
The Automotive Safety Office evaluated the requirement for steady burning outlined in motor vehicle safety standard 108, searching for and monitoring field reports to determine the scope of which vehicles may be affected. Said module is also featured in the F-150 and in the Raptor off-road truck.
Even though subject lamps meet component-level compliance tests, the lamps are not steadily burning at the vehicle level. As such, the Field Review Committee approved a recall for 86,050 pickup trucks and crossovers.
The suspect population of Bronco Sport vehicles numbers 8,246 units produced for the 2022 and 2023 model years between March 19th and July 28th. As for the F-150, including the Raptor, the Blue Oval is recalling 77,804 pickups produced for 2022 between March 11th and July 23rd.
As per documents filed with the federal watchdog, “the frequency of operation of the LED driver module is currently 200Hz. At 200Hz, the lamp is susceptible to flickering due to insufficient capacitance on the capacitor when operating between 2.95 and 3.14 volts and the lamp has LED string voltage greater than 12.5 volts.” Supplied by Continental Automotive Austria, the suspect module bears part number NC5A-13B626-FB.
The remedy comes in the guise of a software update designed to increase the frequency of operation from 200 to 400 Hz. This increase reduces capacitance by more than 50%, allowing the lamp to operate without flickering. Dealers will be informed of this recall on October 31st, whereas known owners will be notified between October 31st and November 4th.
The Automotive Safety Office evaluated the requirement for steady burning outlined in motor vehicle safety standard 108, searching for and monitoring field reports to determine the scope of which vehicles may be affected. Said module is also featured in the F-150 and in the Raptor off-road truck.
Even though subject lamps meet component-level compliance tests, the lamps are not steadily burning at the vehicle level. As such, the Field Review Committee approved a recall for 86,050 pickup trucks and crossovers.
The suspect population of Bronco Sport vehicles numbers 8,246 units produced for the 2022 and 2023 model years between March 19th and July 28th. As for the F-150, including the Raptor, the Blue Oval is recalling 77,804 pickups produced for 2022 between March 11th and July 23rd.
As per documents filed with the federal watchdog, “the frequency of operation of the LED driver module is currently 200Hz. At 200Hz, the lamp is susceptible to flickering due to insufficient capacitance on the capacitor when operating between 2.95 and 3.14 volts and the lamp has LED string voltage greater than 12.5 volts.” Supplied by Continental Automotive Austria, the suspect module bears part number NC5A-13B626-FB.
The remedy comes in the guise of a software update designed to increase the frequency of operation from 200 to 400 Hz. This increase reduces capacitance by more than 50%, allowing the lamp to operate without flickering. Dealers will be informed of this recall on October 31st, whereas known owners will be notified between October 31st and November 4th.
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