Now for next Kuga 1.6 safety upgrade

Ford South Africa begins phase two of recall of Kugas after several caught alight.

New system will now warn drivers well in advance if there is a risk of overheating.

Ford South Africa has begun phase two of the safety recall of Kuga 1.6 models, after a number of these models caught fire earlier this year. Yesterday Ford asked customers to schedule an appointment with their dealer to have “vehicle enhancements completed” to mitigate the risk of an engine fire resulting from a cracked cylinder head caused by a loss of coolant.

It applies to affected Kuga 1.6 models built at the Valencia Assembly Plant, Spain, between May 8, 2012 and September 27, 2014.

“Our global engineering team has finalised the second stage of the recall, and South Africa is the first market to receive the parts and implement phase two of the recall,” Ford SA’s managing director Casper Kruger said.

“Accordingly, we have now begun rolling out the final recall and are notifying customers to make an appointment with their nearest dealer.

“Our customers are our top priority, and their safety is of the utmost importance to us. We are taking additional precautions to protect our customers and their vehicles with the phase two recall action.”

The phase two operation includes installing a new coolant expansion tank with a sensor that monitors the level of the vehicle’s coolant, he added.

According to the Ford, “excessively low coolant levels reduce the ability to keep the engine cool, which leads to overheating.

“The system will now warn the driver well in advance if there is a risk of overheating due to insufficient coolant in the system.

“In addition, the vehicle’s updated software introduced as part of this phase two action has the ability to reduce engine power, and notifies the driver to safely pull over if coolant levels drop below the minimum required level.

“To accommodate this enhanced system, changes have been made to the routing of the coolant pipes, an electrical harness is fitted and the software is configured to monitor this new coolant level sensor.

“An additional coolant pipe will also be replaced for added robustness and durability of the cooling system.” –