Seventeen recalls in a single year. Over 7.3 million vehicles. And now, 1.74 million more added to the pile. Ford‘s latest recall campaign involves a cross-section of its most popular SUV lineup, along with a couple of Lincoln‘s premium entries. The issue? Rearview cameras. Two separate defects, two separate headaches, one very long year for Dearborn’s finest.
The first recall covers roughly 850,000 Ford Bronco and Ford Edge vehicles. The culprit is a computerized module embedded in the vehicle’s display system. The component responsible for pushing that rearview image onto your center screen the moment you drop into reverse. Under certain conditions, this module overheats and shuts itself down. No warning, no graceful degradation. Just a blank screen where your rear bumper used to be.
The second recall is simultaneously more benign and more disorienting. About 890,000 Ford Escape and Ford Explorer SUVs, plus the Lincoln Corsair and Lincoln Aviator, may display a flipped or mirrored image when reversing. The camera works. The image arrives. It’s just wrong. Left becomes right, near looks far, and parking lot confidence evaporates instantly. It’s the automotive equivalent of reading a map upside down.
Ford says it’s working on fixes for both issues. No timeline, no firm rollout date. Just the automotive industry’s favorite phrase: “we’re working on it”. Affected owners will be notified through the dealership network once a solution is ready.
Hyundai, the second-most active automaker in US recalls so far this year, has launched five campaigns covering roughly 700,000 vehicles. Ford has nearly lapped them twice. None of this is entirely surprising. As vehicles absorb more software, more sensors, and more driver-assistance architecture, the attack surface for this kind of failure grows. Recalls tied to display modules, camera systems, and onboard computing aren’t anomalies anymore. They’re the new normal. Seventeen down. The year isn’t over yet.
