Fears of improperly secured fasteners leads to Ford USA recall

Ford Motor Company has issued a safety recall for select 2019 Ford Expedition and 2019 Lincoln Navigator vehicles in North America.

In some of the affected vehicles, the rear toe link fastener may not have been properly tightened during assembly. An improperly secured fastener could allow the rear toe link to become disconnected while driving, which could increase the risk of injury or crash, the firm said.

Affected vehicles were built at the Kentucky Truck Plant.

  • Ford Expedition vehicles built 5-6 Sept 2019
  • Lincoln Navigator vehicles built 6 Sept 2019

Ford is not aware of any reports of accident or injury related to this condition.

Dealers will verify that the rear toe-link-to-frame fasteners are tightened to the correct torque, check and adjust the rear toe alignment and inspect the rear tyres of abnormal wear and replace, if necessary. The Ford reference number for the recall is 19S36.

At the start of the year, concerns over potentially loose fasteners led to the recall of Fiat Chrysler's Ram 15000 trucks. 2019 also saw insurance provider Allianz launch its Automotive Components Parts Product Recall cover, initially for the UK market to then be rolled out in North America and Asia.

Error proofing is a topic covered at length on Torque,

Assembly tech provider Atlas Copco published an 'error-proofing in production' white paper designed to help manufacturers improve quality, cut defects and reduce rework by 15%.