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Ford recalls 870K F-150 pickups in US because parking brakes can turn on unexpectedly (apnews.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The recall covers certain pickups from the 2021 through 2023 model years with single exhaust systems. Ford’s F-Series pickups are the top-selling vehicles in the U.S.

top 18 comments

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The company says in documents posted by government safety regulators Friday that a rear wiring bundle can come in contact with the rear axle housing. That can chafe the wiring and cause a short circuit, which can turn on the parking brake without action from the driver, increasing the risk of a crash.

So not to downplay Fords mess up or the big recall but its interesting to me how easy a fix this is as long as you know exactly what bundle of wires you're looking for down there. Take it in for the free maintenance though, please do not DIY an auto recall.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wouldn't be surprised if the fix is literally a zip tie.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

If you read the document the article links to, it is (and protective tape).

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

As a software engineer this is fascinating. Like, how would QC / QA have ever tested for this?

I mean, example, folding phones, it's easy to just design a system that opens and closes it over and over. Samsung even has a butt sitting on testing device.

But testing whether the motion of a vehicle negatively impacts a wiring harness in some spot on the vehicle over time to cause this sounds rough. Again, though, I'm not in hardware jobs like these so maybe it's actually easily caught?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

There's a thing called HALT/HASS. HALT stands for highly accelerated life testing. Basically you put a product under extreme stress and try to find the failure points and mitigate them. Temperature, vibration (simulated or track), humidty, power cycles, ... That said I've never seen one find everything. You can also do FMEAs, which again never find everything. In short this stuff is hard even for companies that presumably have lots of experience to draw on. Don't know if Ford did something dumb to miss this or it was just one of those, "oops we missed it" that happens.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would think that any loose wiring harness, especially somewhere it could touch another part, would be reflexively corrected by the designer. But I don't know what the part and its surroundings actually look like.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

You'd think so but harnesses being cut and cutting other things is pretty common. Ford had a f150 version with a v6 that has plastic valve covers that the harness went over that eventually cut through the valve cover.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I dunno, I think my angle of attack might be to not make the parking brake, which is also meant to be usable as an emergency brake in the case of hydraulic failure, fucking electronic.

Cable actuated parking brakes have served mankind perfectly well for over 100 years. I get that innovation needs to happen over time, but the whole electronic parking brake phenomenon I think is really a case of pushing in the wrong direction. It's needless complexity for the sake of needless complexity.

When competence is in play, a wire harness chafe issue is something that should be fairly readily accounted for in the design phase, I think. I'm not entirely sure an entire-truck-vibrator to snout out harness chafes is really necessary, but it's probably something that a company as large as Ford could build if they really felt like it. It could have been any wire in any harness, potentially, causing no end of superficially mysterious issues.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Holy. Fuck. That's a big recall.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's the best selling vehicle in the US, so yeah, the recall will be huge.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here in the UK I hardly ever see a pick-up truck, of any brand, yet in the USA they are the most popular vehicle? What’s the appeal?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I can haul a piece of plywood!

I never do, but I can

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This has effected 0.03% of the vehicles (so far). It's good they're getting after it early before their vehicles start actively killing their occupants.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That's ~~2550~~ 255 vehicles for the lazy.

Edit:

I suck at math, but according to the upvotes so does everyone else

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not 3%, but 0.03%.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

My bad. Fixed.