r/Ford • u/Xochiqueso • 10h ago
Question ❔ Recalls inspected but “no repair needed”
Is it normal to have recalls and then have the dealer decide they not need repaired?
This week I took my ‘26 F150 & ‘17 Mustang GT to the dealer for recalls. I bought the truck last month and got a recall notice for the fuel tank strap maybe two weeks later. The mustang has had two recalls that were probably 2-3 years old atp. One for the “Front Seat Belt Anchor Pre-tensioner Cables” the other for the rear view camera image (which imo should have qualified for the repair because the quality is shit.)
I brought them in on separate days, the truck was ready after 30 minutes but was quoted an hour on it (probably because it’s new new)
When I dropped the Mustang off they said it was likely not going to be ready until the next day due to the recalls it had. But then after only two hours I received an inspection report saying it needed a new oil pan and oil change paired with a heavy estimate of course, but that the recalls did not need repaired.
Idk I’m just apprehensive because in the past when I had recalls on my non ford vehicles the dealers did the remedies just because the vins were included so I thought that was standard practice?
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u/Handmedownfords 10h ago
I’m not 100% sure but I believe the fuel tank straps are a visually check because many straps did not get seated into the saddle correctly at the factory? Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
I got mine a little over a month ago as well and was pretty bummed to immediately get a recall but I climbed underneath and they seem to be seated just fine. They will have to check when I go for service I guess
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u/Hotsaltynutz 9h ago
We've done hundreds of those. Haven't seen one yet that wasn't seated
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u/drunkenup 9h ago
Feel like many of these Ford recalls are just smoke and mirrors to please the feds with few truly affected. My dealer finally did the rear axle wiring harness and brake controller recalls on my 21 F150 without asking and added virtually no time to my oil change. You never hear about something happening cause of these either
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u/Hotsaltynutz 7h ago
I have occasionally seen the actual problem on some of the recalls. Drpends on which one. They usually tell us the percentages on failure and some are very small like affecting, .1% within a build date and manufacturing plant
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u/Handmedownfords 9h ago
Is that what the issue is supposed to be? I couldn’t remember exactly
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u/5FVeNOM 8h ago
Yes. From reading the recall notice, it’s that the quality control cameras weren’t functioning on that particular portion of the assembly line so they had presumably an issue but couldn’t verify how long it had been going on so it became a pretty broad recall.
I just inspected my new truck myself, the dealers around me are miserable and want me to drop the truck then wait 2-3 days to get it in.
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u/Hotsaltynutz 7h ago
My dealer and all those around me are so overwhelmed with recalls and regular work, add to that massive qualified tech shortages we literally cannot make anyone happy. I stopped caring years ago. I just go in every day knowing everyone will be pissed as well as my boss so I just do what I can and go home at the end of the day. Its like working at a super busy popular restaurant that has a line around the corner when we close. But instead of those people going home, they are still there in the morning with a hundred more customers behind them
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u/Aware-Pea2092 1h ago
I got one too and got the recall notice maybe a week afterwords and I tried to look
For them and have no idea what I am
Looking at.0
u/Alternative_Ask_8360 10h ago
That yellow stang looks clean even sideways, GT badge pops nice against the paint
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u/Ford_Trans_Guy 7h ago
A lot of recalls are just inspections. It would help if you posted the recall #s you think should have work done. Ford has a million camera recalls. If you can tell me what the camera recalls are, I explain why they might have passed with no replacement needed
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u/Xochiqueso 6h ago
Ford safety recall 25S89 - for the camera
Ford safety recall 25S92 - for the seat belt anchor pretensioner*maybe five times or so the camera has shown a blank screen that I have noticed and its quality is not good during the day and it’s nearly impossible to see anything in it at night
*I am not entirely sure what the seat belt recall looks for. If it has to do with potential rust issues, this is was my daily year round through winter up until I got the truck.. it has trudged through its fair share of heavy snow fall and has been through 10 winters with me in the rust belt 🥶
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u/howie2092 Explorer Sport 3.5L TT 10h ago
Seems like that is normal now. My 2013 explorer has 2 open recalls for the past 5 years. Dealer sends me a letter twice a year, I call, and parts are not available. Thus year they sent a tech out and determined one is not necessary because I live in a low corrosion risk area, the other, they don't have parts. Shrug.
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u/SearchIndividual5491 10h ago
Ive had my 2013 explorer into the dealership 3 times over the past 4 years for the same open "A-pillar applique" recall. Still open, yet its been inspected 3 times. Still get the letters. Still have the open recall on the Carfax report.
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u/howie2092 Explorer Sport 3.5L TT 9h ago
The tech who inspected my a-pillars broke both of them, reassembled them with black duct tape, and said he would be back in 'a week or two' with the parts. 6 months later I had the windshield replaced. Safelite put on new a-pillar trim. Problem solved, but not with Ford.
They declined to replace the rear suspension toe links because i'm not in a 'high corrosion risk' area. I'm fine with that because the new toe links are not adjustable like the old ones. Still, 2 open recalls on the Carfax.
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u/SearchIndividual5491 9h ago
Got to love it. You get notified time and time again, yet no parts available for the fix. Oh well, my explorer is still going strong at 136k miles.
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u/Camdenn67 9h ago
Something tells me that you really just wanted to post a pic of your two vehicles…..nothing more and nothing less.😂
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u/Xochiqueso 6h ago
I thought about not using a photo but I figured it would help get people to read my question and hopefully give insight and it worked lol.
I was a little concerned since with the truck they told me it’d take maybe an hour as it was just an inspection but I’d likely need to leave the mustang over night for repair. But when I received the inspection video they didn’t mention the recalls just the basic maintenance things.
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u/JesusTriplets 9h ago
My '17 F150 work truck was supposed to go in for a computer reprogramming for the transmission regarding unintended transmission downshift and possible rear wheel lockup. I received a letter in the mail... called to make my appointment this past week and was told the update has been put on hold for now. Seems the update has been causing issues... rather than fixing them.
Safety Recall Reference # 26s28
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u/Xochiqueso 5h ago
Yeah I saw they had put out a recall for the F150 6r80 transmission lead frames A WEEK BEFORE I HAD MINE REPLACED. It kept going into limp mode when I’d accelerate on the interstat - not a fun problem to appear when you are three hours from home lol. I wished they would have done it for the mustangs that share the same transmission because wtf
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u/JesusTriplets 4h ago
From what I understand... there have been instances of people on the highway where their tranny has suddenly downshifted from 6th to first, locking up the rearend causing the vehicle to go out of control. Looks like NHTSA got involved since its a safety matter. The recall is a reprogramming, so when the wires in the leadframe fry, the vehicle will only drop to 5th instead of 1st. Now... this update is causing even more problems than it was supposed to fix. Not sure if its Mustangs also... but yeah, its the same tranny behind the 5.0... up until 2017 in the F150 anyway. 2018 they went with the 10spd.
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u/matphones 9h ago
all 3 of the recalls you mentioned have inspections. the fuel tank strap you check if they are present and in the right spots, haven't seen one fail yet. if they are, you do nothing and recall is complete. for the front seat belt anchor pretensioner, you check if these little rubber plugs are present in the lower A-pillar by the door, and check the seatbelt pretensioner for rust. if the plugs are present and the seatbelt isn't rusty, congrats it passed. for the rear view camera, you scan it, if certain codes are present you check power and ground at the camera, if those are ok, replace the camera. if the codes aren't present, you check the quality of the video, if it isn't intermittent, distorted, flickering, inverted, etc then its good. it specifically doesn't mention foggy or cloudy video.
what you described is normal. your vehicles have been checked for those recalls and everything is good.
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u/Goivacon2 9h ago
You very normal, for the seatbelts they want you to inspect a few things and if everything passes they don’t need to replace anything
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u/mckeeganator 8h ago
Yes 90% of my backup cam inspections from cars between 2014-1019 end up passing
I think some customers come in hoping for a new free part but if the camera works with no codes then it’s not getting replaced just how it be
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u/Xochiqueso 6h ago
The camera quality is just so poor so I was hopeful. Its view is distorted/blurry during the day and at night it’s nearly impossible to see anything at all. It’s only blacked out a handful of times that I know of but it was before there was a remedy available.
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u/mckeeganator 4h ago
It’s an annoying recall cause like distortion and color fuck up are grounds for replacement but not blurry picture for whatever reason
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u/aquatone61 4h ago
Yes because recalls are designed to catch possible issues in a range of vehicles not necessarily fix every single one of the vehicles in the recall.
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u/c0elacanthhh 1h ago
i used to work at a service dept at a ford dealer. there are SOOOO many open recalls (once saw an escape with TEN !!! recalls), but about 90% of them are just inspections to see if a certain part needs replacing. it’s very normal tbh
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u/Neuvirths_Glove 35m ago
I've seen this both in the automotive and aviation industries, if there is a clear measurement/inspection that can indicate go/no-go.
For instance, I worked for a company that made automotive accelerator cables. The machine on the assembly line had a faulty pressure sensor on a reservoir. Pneumatic pressure from the reservoir was used to crimp the end onto the cable. The sensor allowed the pressure to get too low before the compressor kicked on to recharge it, so about one in twenty cables was defective. It was easy to determine which ones because the diameter of the crimp was too big, meaning the metal fitting wasn't squeezed hard enough to properly seat the end fitting onto the cable. I spent about 8 hours on a Friday evening measuring every cable in stock at the assembly plant with calipers to determine which ones were bad.
Although it wasn't a recall, it was a service bulletin to the dealers for all vehicles of that model over a certain period of time, that the cable end had to be inspected when the vehicle was there for service. This wasn't an actual recall, but it's an example where an inspection could definitively determine whether the part needed to be replaced.
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u/dfvisnotacat 10h ago
Many recalls will have the tech inspect a part and then not replace it if it passes the manufacturers inspection requirements for the recall. If it fails the inspection it gets replaced. It’s very common. Not every vehicle under the recall will need a repair.