Ford is Recalling More Than 33,000 Bronco Sports and Escapes Because of Potential Fires

Ford is recalling 33,576 Ford Bronco Sports and Ford Escapes because fuel injectors can crack and start a fire. The recall affects some 2021-2023 Bronco Sport vehicles and 2020-2022 Escapes. According to paperwork released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this morning, many of these vehicles were already recalled for the same problem but need to be fixed again. The recall affects 15,355 Bronco Sport vehicles and 18,221 Ford Escapes.

What is Causing the Issue

The problem is that the vehicle’s fuel injectors can crack and if gas drips on a hot engine or other component, it can start a fire. According to Ford’s filing with NHTSA, “Ford described that safety risk as, “Liquid fuel and/or fuel vapor that accumulates near a sufficiently hot surface, below the combustion initiation flame speed, may ignite resulting in an underhood fire, and increasing the risk of injury.” Ford says it is not aware of any injuries because of the issue, but there have been four underhood fires. Ford says it can’t confirm that the four fires involved cracked fuel injectors.

How Ford Will Fix the Problem

Surprisingly, Ford says the problem can be fixed by updating the powertrain software. According to the Safety Recall Report, Owners will be notified by mail and instructed to take their vehicle to a Ford or Lincoln dealer to have the Power Control Module software updated. When service tried to fix the issue previously, the software was not updated correctly.

Owners who are experiencing the issue may notice a gasoline odor before a potential fire.

Recall Information

Owners should be notified by mail between Apr 24, 2025 - May 01, 2025. The NHTSA number for this recall is 25V-165. Ford’s number for the recall is 25S21. The vehicles were previously recalled under NHTSA numbers 24V-187 and 22V-859. The previous Ford recall numbers were 24S16 and 22S73.

Ford Photo

Mary Conway is a professional automotive journalist and has decades of experience specializing in automotive news analysis. She covered the Detroit Three for more than twenty years for the ABC affiliate, in Detroit. Her affection for the Motor City comes naturally. Her father ran a gas station while Mary was growing up, in Wisconsin.

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