Ford is recalling nearly 273,000 vehicles for a possible battery defect that, when present, can cause the vehicle to lose drive power.
The recall specifically covers Ford Bronco Sports from model years 2021-2023, and Ford Maverick pickups from model year 2022 and 2023.
According to Ford submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a manufacturing defect can cause the batteries to degrade suddenly while driving. That can mean a loss of power to accessories such as the hazard lights, or a vehicle stalling out while coming to a stop. It could also leave a driver stuck when the SUV or truck can't restart after the engine stops automatically, like at a red light.
As required in a safety recall, Ford will repair the problem for free.
Drivers can confirm if their vehicle is covered by this or any other recall at or by using the agency's "SaferCar" .
Ford's paperwork states the problem was discovered after a larger recall last year, which was also related to vehicles losing power. At the time, Ford identified a problem in onboard computers that monitor a vehicle's 12-volt battery. A recalibration was supposed to solve the problem.
But even after that fix, some drivers were reporting that their vehicles were having battery issues. So Ford took a second look, and this time they found that 12-volt batteries from a particular supplier had multiple manufacturing defects.
About 1% of the batteries in these vehicles are expected to have the defect. Instead of identifying the defective ones, Ford will swap out all the batteries of that type with higher-quality replacements.
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