The Ford F-150 has been America’s best-selling truck for decades and that means when there’s a recall, it’s usually pretty big. That still rings true today as the automaker has announced plans to recall approximately 874,000 F-150 and F-Series Super Duty trucks in the United States and Canada.
The recall impacts trucks equipped with an engine block heater as Ford says “Water and contaminants can intrude into the block heater cable’s splice connector causing corrosion and damage to the cable over time.” If the damage is bad enough, the cable splice connector can cause a short which can make the engine block heater fail. This can also cause the outlet the heater is plugged into to trip.
This doesn’t sound too bad, but Ford says they are aware of three fires originating from the engine block heater cable splice connector. While the issue hasn’t caused any accidents or injuries, Ford says one of the fires resulted in minor property damage.
The recall affects hundreds of thousands of F-150s from the 2015 to 2019 model years. These vehicles were built at the Dearborn Truck Plant between March 18, 2014 and November 17, 2018. Trucks built at the Kansas City Assembly Plant, between August 21, 2014 and November 17, 2018, are also affected.
On the Super Duty side, Ford is recalling 2017 to 2019 models built at the Ohio Assembly Plant between February 5, 2016 and November 17, 2018. The recall also affects trucks built at the Kentucky Truck Plant between October 8, 2015 and November 17, 2018.
As part of the recall, dealers will inspect the engine block heater cable and replace it if it shows signs of damage or corrosion. Dealers will also apply dielectric grease to the splice connector on trucks that don’t appear to have any damage or corrosion.
The recall affects 463,793 trucks in Canada and an additional 410,289 in the United States and its federal territories.
