The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a safety recall for more than 35,000 Ford Lincoln Navigators due to a fire hazard.
The vehicles involved in the recall are all Lincoln Navigators manufactured in the Ford Motor Company’s Kentucky Truck assembly plant.
Affected vehicles are Lincoln Navigators with model year 2015 and production dates Jan.17, 2014, through June 26, 2015; model year 2016, with production dates March 9, 2015, through May 22, 2016; and model year 2017, with production dates March 8, 2016, through June 30, 2017.
All 35,328 vehicles are considered to have the defect.
According to the Ford Motor Company, the defect was brought to the company’s attention in September last year. A few months prior in July, Transport Canada, the country’s federal transportation department, received notice of a fire involving the exterior mirror on a 2017 Lincoln Navigator.
By August, four fire reports on 2016–2017 Lincoln Navigators had been reported.
Ford launched an investigation and its engineering team discovered that for the 2015 model year, the puddle light was changed from an incandescent bulb to an LED projector logo lamp.
“This change coincided with an increase in exterior mirror fire, smoke, and melt reports,” Ford said.
Field-returned LED logo lamps exhibited corrosion on their electrical terminals. A car-wash test on one of the cars revealed that water entered the inner mirror assembly, dripping onto the LED logo lamp.
The investigation concluded that the potting material on the LED logo lamps did not properly adhere to the wire terminals, leaving gaps or cracks where water could penetrate the LED logo lamp printed circuit board (PCB), causing corrosion and, ultimately, a short circuit.
An additional problem also came to the surface: the vehicles’ short detection parameters had not been updated when the switch from incandescent to LED lamps was made, the NHTSA said. In other words, the car’s Electronic Control Unit was unable to detect shorts occurring in the affected mirrors, greatly increasing the odds of a fire breaking out.
As of Feb. 4, 2025, Ford was aware of four warranty claims, two field reports, and three customer service reports of fire in the United States associated with this issue, the automaker said.
Owners will be notified by mail from March 24 through 28 and instructed to take their vehicle to a Ford or Lincoln dealer to disconnect the power wire to the LED logo lamp.
The automaker did not mention providing immediate replacement of the mirrors or LED lights, but referred to a general reimbursement plan sent to vehicle owners in May 2023 prior to this recall.
Owners who have paid for these repairs out of their own pocket may be eligible for reimbursement, the NHTSA said.
Ford customer service is available at 866-436-7332 during office hours. Ford's number for this recall is 25S08.