Ford has issued a recall of 42,784 Mustang Mach-E vehicles in the United States, but the story behind the defect began on our side of the Atlantic. The failure mode is not subtle, as the car can suddenly lose power.
According to the filing, the problem is the pinion shaft, which can suffer bending fatigue failure, robbing the car of motive power. If the driver has not applied the parking brake, there is also a rollaway risk after Park is selected.
When the dashboard lights up with a malfunction indicator, owners are urged to contact their dealer. Currently, no accidents, injuries, or fires have been reported. The vehicles affected date from 2021 to 2023.
European connection
The recall is officially American, but the first confirmed failure occurred in Europe. Ford’s development team reviewed a teardown of a rear differential recovered from a 2023 Mustang Mach-E in Europe a few months ago. That analysis identified the failed pinion shaft and helped kickstart the investigation.
Warning letters to US customers are scheduled within a few days, but European owners are not yet on the list for comparable notifications. The latter only seems a matter of time, though.
Ford sells the same rear-wheel-drive variant in Belgium, including the Standard Range RWD and the Extended Range Premium RWD. In total, Ford has moved roughly 90,000 Mach-E units in Europe since the 2021 launch. Many potential drive units could be involved.
Apply the parking brake
The affected component is the Primary Drive Unit assembly, supplied by BorgWarner in Mexico. The root cause is still under investigation, though Ford’s metallurgical analysis found discrepancies in part core hardness measurements alongside the bending fatigue.
The fix is straightforward once parts arrive: dealers will repair or replace the rear differential assembly free of charge. Until then, the best advice is the obvious one. Apply the parking brake every single time. On this official site from Ford, you can insert the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) of your car and check whether it’s eligible for a recall.
This is the third or fourth significant Mach-E recall in the model’s short life, depending on how you count. But the car stems from a period when Ford was struggling hard with quality issues.
In 2023, the brand topped the recall list. After CEO Jim Farley vowed to boost quality, the situation improved somewhat, but in subsequent listings, the brand fell back into third place.
