Ford Mustang LA 12

Ford has announced that it has issued a safety recall for 2015 Ford Mustang models equipped with the 2.3 litre EcoBoost engine in North America to rectify an issue with elevated underbody temperatures. Affected S550s are those built between February 2014 to February this year at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan.

The automaker say that nearly 19,500 Mustang 2.3L EcoBoost vehicles (19,095 in US, 391 in Canada) are involved in the recall - the company says that prolonged exposure to elevated underbody temperatures might cause degradation of the fuel tank and fuel vapour lines that could eventually result in a fuel leak, which in the presence of an ignition source increases the risk of a fire.

In addition, prolonged exposure to elevated underbody temperatures might cause the parking brake cable seals to degrade, potentially affecting parking brake functions. An impaired parking brake function, the automaker says, could result in unexpected vehicle movement, increasing the risk of injury.

Ford says dealers will replace the current fuel tank shield with a shield with better insulating capability, install thermal patches on the fuel tank and parking brake cable and also install thermal wraps on the fuel vapour lines. No accidents, injuries or fires resulting from this condition have been reported.

The Mustang 2.3L EcoBoost is of course one of the two variants of the pony car set to make its market debut here in early 2016 - the burning question (pun unintended) is whether the rectification work will be able to beat off the higher operating - and ambient - temperatures that will be seen here.