Ford has discovered a concerning glitch in Mavericks from the 2022 to 2023 model years that could cause their instrument screens not to illuminate. As a result, the Detroit automaker must recall the compact pickup truck in order to update its software.
Ford is aware of a total of 167 warranty claims related to this issue, and its Critical Concern Review Group (CCRG) first learned of it on October 3, 2023. The problem was brought to the group’s attention by the plant vehicle team at the Hermosillo, Mexico, assembly plant, which was analyzing one of those warranty claims.
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The team was looking into reports that the instrument cluster failed to illuminate, making the gauges and certain safety-related telltales unreadable under certain circumstances. Having driven a truck whose dials did not illuminate, I can tell you that it makes driving at night very uncomfortable, and surprisingly difficult, as we tend to rely on the gauges more than we (or at least I) realize.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a pair of regulations requiring a vehicle’s instrument cluster and other vehicle information to illuminate, which this issue caused the Maverick to run afoul of. The regulator says that the failure to do so could increase the risk of an accident, in addition to simply being annoying for owners. Fortunately, Ford is not yet aware of any injuries or accidents relating to this fault.
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The automaker states that it has gotten to the bottom of the issue, which can be caused by rapid CAN signal transitions from Sleep to Awake that can cause corruption of the internal memory registers, and prevent the illumination of the instrument cluster. Ultimately, the problem may affect as many as 62,813 Mavericks in the U.S.
According to Ford, the solution to the problem is a software update, that its dealer technicians will install in all affected vehicles at no cost. It plans to start alerting owners to the recall campaign on March 18.
