Over 20,000 Ford And Lincoln PHEVs Could Catch Fire, And There’s No Fix

• Ford and Lincoln are recalling over 20,000 plug-in hybrid SUVs.
• The cars’ high-voltage batteries could catch fire due to an internal short.
• Despite the same cars being recalled for the same reason last year, there’s still no fix.

Ford has a recall problem. The American auto giant has issued over 100 of them this year, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

The latest one, regarding the plug-in hybrid Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair crossovers, is a little more special, though. That’s because over 20,000 of them are being recalled in the United States for the second time because the first temporary fix didn’t turn out great, so the cars’ high-voltage batteries could still catch fire.

Worst of all, this second recall still doesn’t provide a fix, so owners are left with a huge conundrum.

“The remedy is currently under development,” Ford officials said in the recall notice. “Owners are advised to only use ‘Auto EV’ mode and will be instructed by mail to limit the maximum charge of the battery until the remedy has been completed.”

In total, 20,558 PHEVs are affected. Out of these, 4,015 are Lincoln Corsair crossovers built between October 24, 2019, and April 16, 2024. The other 16,543 are Ford Escape PHEVs built between July 10, 2019, and April 17, 2024, according to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The cars included in this recall have high-voltage batteries that may develop an internal short circuit, which could lead to a fire. What’s more, if the battery shuts down, the car’s propulsion system will also down, although the steering, braking and lighting systems are not affected.

Late last year, the same models were recalled, and dealers updated the vehicles’ Battery Energy Control Module (BECM) software, which should have added the ability to detect cell anomalies and notify the driver to pull over safely. The software was also designed to end battery charging, reducing the risk of shorting.

Now, though, Ford discovered that while the monitoring software works, it can’t catch all the defective batteries in time. In Europe, where the similar Ford Kuga PHEV is affected by the same issue, the company is aware of seven battery fires on vehicles that have had the previous recall work done. 

Despite the automaker recovering and analyzing modules from other damaged batteries, it hasn’t determined the root cause of the problem yet. Until that happens, Ford’s best guess is that there may be damage to the cell’s separator layer between the cathode and anode, as a result of variability on the cell manufacturing line. Per the NHTA recall document, all the faulty cells were manufactured by Samsung SDI in Hungary.

A permanent fix is still in the works, and until that becomes reality, owners should limit the maximum state of charge when topping up from a Level 1 or Level 2 charger. Owners should also only use the “Auto EV” driving mode.