For the second time in two weeks, Ford Motor Co. has announced a recall involving the 2013 Ford Fusion. This latest news actually marks the sixth recall by Ford since July, as some of the company’s most popular vehicles have featured manufacturing defects and other serious problems that have affected hundreds of thousands of American drivers. This time, Ford is recalling approximately 19,000 vehicles because of a manufacturing defect involving the headlights.
Specifically, according to the company, an “improperly cured projector coating” could eventually breakdown and lead to a loss of brightness in the low beam headlights. This could obviously be considerably dangerous for drivers operating their Fusions at night time, as they would experience diminished visibility. Lack of ample light on the roads and highways at night possibly means more accidents and injuries. Fortunately, that hasn’t been the case yet, as Ford discovered the issue internally and has received no reports of accidents.
The vehicles involved in this recall were manufactured between February 3 and as recently as October 20 of this year, and beginning today Ford will replace the headlights for free for affected drivers. Ford officials are urging consumers who may be affected by this recall to contact the company at (866) 436-7332 for additional information.
The Fusion is Ford’s increasingly popular midsize sedan, as the sales of this vehicle have grown year-after-year to boost it into the Top 15 highest selling automobiles in the U.S. However, the brand has taken a hit in 2012 between these Fusion recalls and especially the company’s Escape SUV recalls. As for the Fusion, the previous recall involved an unknown defect that was causing fluids to leak in and on the engines. The leaks could lead to engine fires, which in turn could lead to more serious issues like accidents and injuries.
As with the other recalls, Ford representatives claim that the company’s willingness to deal with these defects voluntarily indicates corporate responsibility.