230,000 Ford Focus owners told to take their cars for a software update

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It seems that Ford’s recall is nearly three times the size of Toyota’s recall, but seems to be without the furor that was attached to the Toyota RAV4 recall in China. Ford’s recall is less problematic than a stuck accelerator pedal or non working brakes, instead it appears to be a firmware update to the car’s ECU.

Ford’s Chinese company has announced a voluntary recall of about 230,000 Focus cars after reports of engines stalling at low speeds.

According to Ford, the cars require a software update to cope with fluctuations in local fuel quality.

“It’s very easy. When an owner goes into a service station, they simply wire up the engine, upgrade the software and reboot,” said a spokesperson for Changan Ford Mazda Automobile.

Ford said there had been no reports of accidents or injuries caused by the stalling and less than two per cent of Focus drivers had reported the problem.

The engine calibration software used in the vehicles is the same as in Ford cars elsewhere, but the spokesperson said there had been no reports of the problem occurring outside China.

“The stalling primarily occurs when it’s a cold start or if you’re moving toward a slow turn or you’re backing into a parking space, for example,” they said.

“We do not have any incidences of this anywhere else. It’s a localised issue and very much to do with fuel quality.”

It was possible to calibrate the software differently for different markets, Ford said, and it would not be updating it elsewhere in the world.

“Not unless we see a need to,” the spokesperson said.