By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Monday that some older Ford cars and SUVs pose unreasonable safety risks because the timing belt may fail and cause them to lose power or engines to seize.
The U.S. auto safety regulator upgraded a defect investigation into about 135,000 Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus and Ford EcoSport vehicles with 1.0L engines from various model years between 2014 and 2021.
NHTSA said it had reports of 355 incidents
that allege a low engine oil pressure warning light appearing just before a complete loss or reduction of motive power while driving.
Ford, which has discontinued all three models, had no immediate comment.
NHTSA said its initial probe found timing belt material may degrade and create debris clogging the mesh oil pump pick-up screen, resulting in reduced engine oil pressure.
Its investigation suggests failures can occur without sufficient warning that loss of power or engine seizure is imminent, adding failures have occurred despite proper and routine oil maintenance, NHTSA added.
"Based on NHTSA’s analysis of the data, failure rates, information provided by Ford, preliminary engine teardown analysis, and precedent recalls regarding loss of engine oil pressure with the presence of driver facing warnings, (the agency) believes there is an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety," NHTSA said.
NHTSA's move to upgrade the probe to an engineering analysis is a required step before it could seek to compel a Ford recall.
A driver on a major highway in Wilmington, Delaware reported the oil pressure light illuminated and within 1/8th of a mile the 2017 Ford Focus "lost all power and the engine began to sound like a tank".
Some drivers reported engine failures costing thousands of dollars to fix.
Data showed an average failure mileage of approximately 70,000 miles, and that 98% of the failures occurred prior to the 150,000-mile suggested timing belt replacement, NHTSA said.
In June, Ford told NHTSA it was adopting a non-safety customer satisfaction program for global vehicles with a 1.0L Fox Classic Timing Belt, reducing the maintenance interval to 100,000 miles or six years.
Ford is offering reimbursement to eligible customers who previously paid for engine repairs or replacement due to a timing belt-related issue, NHTSA added. It is not immediately clear which U.S. vehicles are covered by the customer satisfaction program.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Alexander Smith)
