Ford Re-Recalls 387,000 Vehicles: Software Fixes Never Installed

Ford closed a recall. Then opened it again. Seven separate times, across more than 387,000 vehicles, the original fix didn't take — because the software patches were never installed correctly at the dealerships that did the first round of work.

Seven recalls, one recurring failure mode

Ford says 389,316 previously repaired cars, trucks and SUVs need another fix, and the largest group is 255,404 Ford Focus vehicles from the 2012 through 2018 model years, which can stall if a canister purge valve malfunctions. The Focus campaign alone accounts for roughly two-thirds of the action. Ford's number for this recall is 26S40, NHTSA's number is 26V369, and the original NHTSA recall number for this issue is 18V735 — VINs become searchable on NHTSA.gov on July 6.

The through-line across all seven campaigns is the same: seven recalls have been re-issued for vehicles with software that wasn't installed properly during the first fix. The engineering remedy existed. The execution failed. More than 125,000 Ford vehicles previously recalled for various issues are being recalled again due to repairs that were done incorrectly, according to NHTSA — and that 125,000 figure sits inside the broader 389,316 because the Focus stall campaign is being counted separately.

The Mustang Mach-E is among the affected models. The failure mode is a powertrain control module reset while the vehicle is moving, which can damage the parking system. Until the corrected fix is applied, Ford is telling owners to engage the parking brake every time they park. That is a workaround, not a remedy. It is also, for a 2024 EV with a $60,000 sticker, a notable instruction.

This is not a new engineering problem. The Focus stall issue traces back to a 2018 campaign. Eight years on, the same VINs are being called in to fix the fix.

What this means for owners and the used-market calculus

Canadian owners are not outside this. Ford Canada's recall lookup runs by VIN at ford.ca/support/recalls, or owners can call the Customer Relationship Center at (800) 565-3673. Transport Canada's recall authority covers all vehicles sold here regardless of country of origin, and the practical move is the same on both sides of the border: run the VIN, check whether the open recall flag now shows again, and book the corrected fix.

The used-market implication is the more interesting one. A closed-recall status on a Carfax history has historically read as a clean signal — the issue was identified and remedied. The NHTSA paper trail now says otherwise on at least 389,316 vehicles. The more informative status is the open one, because it tells you the dealership network is admitting the first attempt didn't work.

For buyers in Quebec, the provincial lemon-law framework under Bill 29 is the relevant lever. The buyback trigger activates after three unsuccessful repair attempts for the same defect, twelve total repair attempts, or thirty-plus cumulative days at the dealer. A vehicle re-presented for the same canister purge software it was already "fixed" for is one repair visit closer to that threshold. Ontario's framework is weaker but not absent. Buyers of affordable EVs in the under-$50K Canadian market should treat re-recall history as a price input, not a footnote. And the Mach-E vs Model Y comparison now carries a quality-execution data point it didn't carry last year.

ThinkEV's Take

A recall closed is not a recall fixed. The NHTSA filing trail now proves this at scale across one automaker's dealer network, and the failure mode — software that was supposed to be flashed and wasn't — is not unique to Ford. The harder problem here sits at the execution layer, not the engineering one. A software patch can be re-issued in a week. Retraining 3,000 dealer service bays takes longer.

The position: within two years, re-recall rates will become a material used-car valuation input across the industry, not just at Ford. VIN history reports need a second row — the first recall, and whether the fix actually held. The buyers who learn to read that row first will pay less for the same car.