Ford has announced it is recalling close to 1.5 million North American-built Ford Focus cars, including over 136,000 in Canada, due to a defective part that could potentially result in engines stalling.
The recall impacts Ford Focus cars from 2012 to 2018 model years that are equipped with 2.0L GDI and 2.0L GTDI engines. A faulty valve could result in inaccurate fuel level readings, creating the potential for engine stalls and an inability to restart the vehicle.
Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries resulting from the issue, but it is advising owners to keep their gas tanks at least half-full until their vehicle is seen by a Ford service centre under the recall.
Dealers will reprogram the powertrain control module with new software that will detect a malfunctioning canister purge valve and prevent a potential excessive fuel vapor system vacuum condition from occurring. Dealers will inspect and replace the canister purge valve, carbon canister, fuel tank and fuel delivery module, as necessary. There will be no charge for these services.
Ford’s reference number for this recall is 18S32.