Federal vehicle safety regulators are now investigating a wider swath of Ford models over an engine-failure issue.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration widened its review to encompass an estimated 709,000 vehicles among the 2021 and 2022 F-150 pickup truck, the Bronco, Edge and Explorer sports-utility vehicles and the Lincoln Aviator and Nautilus SUVs.
Its investigation started in the spring of 2022 with the Bronco after the agency received complaints from three owners about the vehicle losing power during operation.
The NHTSA has since gathered more than 850 reports involving all six models now in question. It says engines in the models can lose power during normal driving operation due to catastrophic engine failure related to allegedly defective valves in the 2.7- or 3.0-liter EcoBoost engines.
The agency’s investigation will determine in part whether manufacturing improvements implemented by Ford are effectively addressing the issue.
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