Million-Car Recall for Ford Focus Stall Issue

By Chris Chase

Oct 25, 2018

Summary

Tank half full, or half empty?

Ford has recalled more than 136,000 examples of its Focus compact in Canada to fix a fuel tank problem that can cause the cars to stall.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) instigated the North American recall when it presented owner complaints to Ford; the automaker is also recalling nearly 1.3 million cars in the U.S. and more than 44,000 in Mexico.

In affected vehicles, which include the 2012 through 2018 Ford Focus, a valve in the fuel system's evaporative emissions setup may get stuck open, causing fuel delivery issues and starving the engine of gasoline.

Ford says its fix is to update the cars' engine control computer with new software that can detect a stuck valve, which should address the issue in most cases. Ford dealers will inspect the valve, gas tank and the emissions control system's carbon canister, and replace those components as needed.

Ford says it expects to begin performing recall repairs on December 10; in the meantime, the company recommends that Focus owners keep their cars' tanks at least half-full.

Meet the Author

As a child, Chris spent most of his time playing with toy cars in his parents’ basement or making car sounds while riding his bicycle. Now he's an award-winning Algonquin College Journalism grad who has been playing with real cars that make their own noises since the early 2000s.