They’re not fixing the leaks, they’re making the car detect when it starts spraying gasoline inside the engine compartment so it will enter limp mode before a fire starts.
The driver can then push their disabled car to the side of the road, and assuming they weren’t killed in traffic, then Ford will replace the faulty injector.
"Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.
Woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?
Narrator: You wouldn't believe.
Woman on plane: Which car company do you work for?
A gasoline fire can be put out with about a thousand gallons of water. A lithium battery in an electric car can take 3,000-5,000 gallons of water to put out. There have been cases of wrecked Teslas reigniting at scrap yards weeks after they were destroyed.
they gotta start taking the batteries out of them before scrapping them, probably with mandatory recycling. also hot take all cars should have a public transit and protected bike lane tax applied to them
GDI engines that need to run the fuel to the injectors at over 2,000 psi is just stupid. Using that much pressure for such a marginal gain in efficiency from other engines that only need like 50 psi.
2,000 psi is like a guarantee that at some point in that vehicles life there's going to be fuel leaks and problems. Ever see a firetruck shooting that giant stream of water from the end of its ladder? That's only 80 psi.
Direct injected cars are nothing new. Diesels run their injectors much higher than 2000psi for hundreds of thousands kilometers. Ford is just shit at engineering.
Don't try and bring diesel into this. They're pretty different. It also doesn't cause nearly the fire risk when they leak some fuel.
Also, they absolutely leak fuel. I've seen loads of diesels with fuel leaks (I drive a lot of diesels for work). But like I said, them leaking a bit isn't really a cause to sound the alarm bells for a fire, cause diesel fuel isn't a risk like that.
The article says that this is an extension of a recall from 2022 for the same problem, and that Ford says replacement parts are available, but its odd to me that they wouldn't just replace them. I guess we're still on risk calculation vs people freaking over a known reason that their car could catch on fire
Me (while reading about the "fix" in the article): That's just a Band-aid!
The article:
Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, called Ford’s remedy for the fuel leaks a “Band-aid type recall” and said the company is trying to avoid the cost of repairing the fuel injectors.
GM had a recall on their Epsilon extended platform that didn't fix the problem either. Wires would corrode due to no seals and proximity to HVAC. Safety systems would go off line, brake lights would get stuck on. A Colorado woman actually drove off a mountain because of this defect.
Still not fixed to this day, as the correct fix would involve replacing a computer module in millions of cars with one that has a weathertight interface. US automakers always get the laziest of passes.