Stellantis did not have any U.S. recalls last week, but Ford entered yet another fire-risk recall on the 2022 Escape and the related 2022-23 Bronco Sport. A cracked fuel injector may leak and cause a fire in these vehicles, when equipped with 1.5 liter engines. The “solution” is to add a leak detection system and install a drain tube, though this does not prevent the injectors from cracking and leaking. When cracked, the injector can leak fuel at 19 liters per hour into the head.
The problem appears to be from a “combination of fuel injector design and engine software,” according to the 573 report, and affects vehicles made 10/17/22 through 1/13/23. The leak detection is basically asking the computer to find pressure drops in the fuel rail; when a leak is found, the computer will notify the owner and disable the high-pressure fuel pump while trying to reduce engine bay temperatures. The drain tube is designed to funnel the gasoline away from the cylinder head hole to the ground, where it can cause fires outside the vehicle while contaminating ground water supplies and sewer systems.
Other recalls included a bursting oil hose on 2023-24 Aston Martin DBX models (apparently a leftover from a James Bond smoke device), deactivating front airbags on a very wide variety of 2023-24 Audis, and loose cables in the battery fuse box on 2021-24 Aston Martin DBXs, which apparently were meant to spark a fire behind the DBX, using fuel dumped by a passing Ford, to get rid of any tails.
