Ford Recall 2019: How To Get Repairs On The Recalled Explorers And Lincoln Aviators

Following the recall for its Ranger vehicles for a seatbelt issue, Ford (F) has issued a recall for its 2020 Ford Explorers and Lincoln Aviators because they may be missing the manual park release cover. The company has received one report of an accident from the missing cover.

The recall affects 13,896 vehicles in the U.S. and 239 in Canada with the majority of vehicles in dealer inventory, the company said. The manual park release cover will be installed prior to delivery to customers on new vehicles, according to Ford.

The missing manual park release cover is required by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and is only removable with a tool. Without the cover, the manual park release could be inadvertently activated, causing the vehicle to move if the electric park brake is not applied. This could lead to a crash.

The affected Explorer and Lincoln Aviator vehicles were built at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant. The recalled 2020 Ford Explorers were built from March 27 to July 24, while the recalled 2020 Lincoln Aviators were built from April 10 to July 24.

In addition to the missing park release cover, the vehicles’ instrument cluster could be in factory mode, which causes the warning alerts and chines to disable. The display will not indicate the PRNDL gear positions when selected. The factory mode setting is used to reduce battery drain during the production process. The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards do require gear positions to be displayed when a vehicle is not in park.

To repair the two issues, dealers will inspect the manual park release and determine if it is missing. If it is missing, they will install a new cover. Dealers will also examine the instrument cluster and ensure that it is out of the factory mode by clearing any diagnostic codes.

Ford received one report of an accident from the missing park release cover that occurred during vehicle transport within the production process, it said. The vehicle was damaged in the accident.

The Ford recall number is 19C06.

Shares of Ford stock were up 0.43 percent as of 12:16 p.m. ET on Thursday.