A problem within the high voltage battery pack in certain 2019-2020 Ford Fusions has led to a recall, following reports of seven fires. Ford has not yet determined the root cause of the fault, and is advising drivers to refrain from charging their vehicles in order to reduce the risk of problems within the battery.
Ford’s investigation into this issue dates back to July 2022, when its Trend and Early Warning Support team looked into five reports alleging that a fire broke out in the trunk of plug-in hybrid versions of the 2019 Fusion.
All five reports came from vehicles in North America that were at the dealership for repairs following a number of diagnostic trouble codes. The vehicles were there to have the battery energy control modules (BECM) replaced, which sounds more than a little bit scary for Ford’s mechanics.
Read: Ford Recalls More Than 125,000 Hybrids Over Fire Risk Posed By Engine Failure
The automaker’s team identified that the BECM is where the fires originated from, and sent them along with high-voltage batteries to its suppliers for analysis. They discovered that the current interrupt device in the cells was activated, which can result in excess voltage flowing through the BECM, causing damage to it, but has not yet discovered why the devices were activated.
As a stopgap solution, Ford instructed its dealers to replace the entire high-voltage battery pack, rather than just the BECM, when plug-in hybrid Fusions came in under these circumstances. However, it received two more reports of fires, this time from owners whose vehicles caught fire while the vehicle was being driven, following this action.
In all, Ford is aware of seven fires, and 270 warranty claims in which owners complain of a loss of motive power related to this concern. Fortunately, it is not aware of any accidents or injuries as a result of it.
Although it does not yet have a solution, Ford says that it is working on one, and will launch a recall campaign covering 14,452 hybrid Fusion from the 2019-2020 model years. It will notify owners once it has a fix, and in the meantime, is advising them not to charge their high voltage battery in order to reduce the risk of a loss of power or a fire until a remedy is available.
