Ford Recalls 158,664 Mustangs, Broncos and Explorers Over Sudden Power Loss

Ford issued two separate recalls this week covering nearly 158,700 vehicles, both tied to sudden power loss risks that can knock out headlights, air conditioning, and engine cooling while a car is on the road. Owners of the affected Mustangs, Broncos, Explorers, and Rangers should check their vehicle identification numbers now rather than wait for a letter.

148,663 Mustangs Can Lose Power From a Cracked Wire Terminal

The larger recall covers 148,663 Mustang coupes and convertibles from the 2024 through 2026 model years, built at Ford’s Flat Rock plant in Michigan between September 2022 and June 2026. The problem sits in the engine compartment wiring harness, where ground terminals can fatigue and fracture over time.

Ford’s own filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration explains the root cause: adhesive from the heat-shrink material on the wiring harness can intrude into the bolt-clearance area of the ground eyelet, an interference that bends the eyelet at assembly. That bend shortens the connection’s lifespan as the car vibrates on the road, and a fully fractured eyelet can cut power entirely.

A driver with an affected Mustang could lose motive power outright, or see the headlights, windshield washer fluid pump, air conditioning, or engine cooling fan shut off without warning. Ford says drivers can notice an illuminated check engine light, a warning message, or a chime before a full failure. Ford’s Electrical Distribution System team flagged the issue in June 2026, after a durability test produced two broken ground eyelets and a loss of motive power. NHTSA’s filing estimates that 1 percent of the recall population actually carries the defect.

Ford mailed interim notification letters to Mustang owners on August 31, 2026, warning them of the risk. The parts needed for the actual repair, replacement ground terminals with new eyelet pigtails, are still in production, so the second letter inviting owners to schedule the free fix will not go out until March 2027. In the meantime, owners can already look up their VIN on NHTSA’s recall search tool to confirm whether their car is included.

10,001 Broncos, Explorers, and Rangers Face a Piston Failure Risk

The second recall is smaller but mechanically more serious. It covers 10,001 vehicles across the Bronco, Bronco Sport, Explorer, Ranger, and Mustang lines, all built for the 2026 model year and equipped with Ford’s 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine.

Inside that engine, the pistons use a nickel-resistant insert bonded to an aluminum body. Ford found that some pistons can develop a crater crack at the point where the insert meets the aluminum, a defect known as piston dome failure. A cracked piston dome can eventually break apart inside the engine, and drivers can notice a check engine light, an engine misfire, or unusual engine noise as warning signs before that happens.

Ford’s repair plan calls for dealers to inspect each affected engine for cracks. If a crack turns up, the fix is not a patch job: Ford will swap in an entirely new engine long block built with corrected pistons, at no cost to the owner. Dealers have already been notified, and Ford began notifying individual owners this week.

The 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine has a long history in Ford’s lineup, powering everything from the Mustang to the Ranger and Explorer for more than a decade, which means a defect surfacing now in newly built 2026 units points to a manufacturing process issue rather than a design flaw baked into the engine’s architecture. Ford’s inspection-first approach, rather than a blanket engine swap for every vehicle in the recall population, reflects the same one-percent defect-rate pattern seen in the Mustang wiring recall: the company can pinpoint which specific engines carry the crack rather than replacing parts across the board, cutting repair time and cost for the roughly 99 percent of owners whose engines will pass inspection clean.

Ford’s Recall Count Keeps Climbing

These two recalls land in the middle of a difficult year for Ford’s quality record. The automaker logged 63 separate recalls in 2026 before this week, more than twice the count of the next-highest brand, according to NHTSA recall data tracked by industry outlets. A separate recall earlier this summer covered nearly 50,000 F-150 and F-250 pickups over a rearview camera menu that could block the reverse camera image on the truck’s infotainment screen. That recall affected 2021 to 2026 model-year trucks running the Sync infotainment system with an eight-inch display, and Ford traced the fault to a software bug: if a driver left the camera “Views” menu open on screen and shifted into reverse, the menu overlay failed to auto-dismiss and blocked the live camera feed.

Ford executives describe the company’s recall volume as a deliberate strategy rather than a quality failure: the company says it would rather flag and fix a potential defect before drivers experience real-world failures than wait for injury reports to force its hand. Company data lends some support to that account. The outgoing 2026 F-150 carries just one recall to its name, a sharp drop from the 12 recalls logged against the 2025 model year and the 23 against the 2022 model year. Ford also ranked first among mass-market brands in the 2026 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, a result the company credits to tighter testing protocols introduced over the past two years.

That improvement narrative sits awkwardly next to a recall count that keeps climbing. Owners caught in the middle of it are the ones dealing with the inconvenience, regardless of how automakers and analysts characterize the industry-wide trend of rising recall volume across nearly every major brand this year. NHTSA data shows the industry as a whole logged more than 300 recalls across 100-plus manufacturers in 2026, with 440 separate recall campaigns touching 2026 model-year vehicles across 206 different models, a pace that puts 2026 on track for one of the highest annual recall totals of the past five years.

What Owners Should Do Now

Mustang owners built between September 2022 and June 2026 should check their VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls or call Ford’s customer care line at 1-866-436-7332 to confirm inclusion in recall 26V547. The remedy parts will not ship until March 2027, so drivers should watch for the warning signs Ford identified: an illuminated check engine light, a chime, or a dashboard message, and pull over safely if the vehicle suddenly loses power, lighting, or cooling fan function.

Owners of 2026 Bronco, Bronco Sport, Explorer, Ranger, or Mustang models with the 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine should watch for a check engine light, misfires, or unusual engine noise and schedule a dealer inspection under recall 26V548 as soon as their notification letter arrives. Both repairs are free, and neither requires the owner to pay anything out of pocket, including loaner vehicle costs in most cases where a dealer needs to hold the car for an engine swap.

Drivers who bought a used Mustang, Bronco, Explorer, or Ranger secondhand and never registered it with Ford directly should not assume they are excluded from either recall. NHTSA’s VIN lookup tool draws on manufacturer registration data tied to the vehicle itself rather than the current owner’s contact information, so a used-car buyer can confirm coverage even if Ford has no record of the sale. Dealerships are required to perform recall repairs at no charge regardless of where a vehicle was purchased or how many owners it has had.

Anyone shopping for a used Mustang, Bronco, Explorer, or Ranger from these model years should run the VIN through NHTSA’s lookup tool before signing paperwork, not after. An open recall does not typically affect a private-party sale legally in most states, but a buyer who closes on a car with an unresolved safety recall inherits the wait for parts and the responsibility of scheduling the repair themselves.

Sources:

• WSLS: Ford recalls nearly 160,000 vehicles over power loss and engine issues
• Autoevolution: Ford Recalls 148,663 Mustangs Over Electrical Problem
• Autoblog: Ford’s Recall Count Keeps Climbing With Another F-Series Camera Issue
• NHTSA: Check for Recalls