Ford Recalls 1.5 Million Focus Model Cars Due to Fuel Tank Stalling Issue

Ford Motor is recalling 1.46 million Ford Focus cars in North America to fix a defect that could lead to stalling.

The company made the announcement on Thursday saying Focuses manufactured from 2012 to 2018 equipped with either a 2.0-liter GDI or GTDI engine may have a malfunctioning canister purge valve.

The canister purge valve can become stuck in an open position, causing the vehicle's fuel tank to become deformed. In certain instances, the defect could cause the Focus to stall and then not restart or have difficulty restarting. A driver may see a malfunction indicator light turn on or a fuel gauge with fluctuating or inaccurate fuel levels.

The Detroit automaker warned that customers should keep their fuel tanks at least half full until their cars are fixed. Ford dealers will repair the cars for free; technicians will reprogram a powertrain module with new software and will replace various parts, including the canister purge valve, if necessary.

Customers will be notified directly if they're affected.

The recall includes about 1.28 million cars in the United States, 136,000 in Canada and 45,000 in Mexico.

Ford says it has not identified any crashes, injuries or fires connected to the defect.

On Wednesday, Ford reported third-quarter revenue of $34.66 billion, up 3 percent from the prior year. Total revenue was $37.6 billion.

In September, Ford recalled nearly 2 million F-150 pickup trucks due to an issue with the seatbelts that can cause smoke to fill the vehicle and potentially cause a fire.

The recall was prompted after an issue was reported with the truck's seatbelt pretensioner system, which uses a small, pyrotechnic charge to cinch seatbelts in the event of a collision. But the pretension "can generate excessive sparks when they deploy" and gases created by it "may ignite," which could potentially cause "components behind the B-pillar, such as insulation and carpet" to catch fire.

Before the recall, 17 reports of smoke or fire in F-150s sold in the U.S., as well as six in Canada, were filed. None of those incidents resulted in accidents or injuries.

The trucks affected by the September recall include 2015-2018 Ford F-150 vehicles built at the Dearborn Assembly Plant between March 12, 2014 through Aug. 23, 2018, as well s 2015-2018 Ford F-150 models built at the Kansas City Assembly Plant from Aug. 20, 2014 through Aug. 23, 2018.

Of the 1.9 million vehicles affected by the recall in North America, 1.6 million were sold in the United States, about 340,000 in Canada and 36,000 in Mexico.

Click here for a list of all Ford recalls in 2018.

Photo credit: Scott Olson / Staff / Getty