WASHINGTON — Ford Motor Co. is recalling nearly 557,000 F-150 pickups in Canada and the United States because the front windshield wiper motor may stop working, resulting in reduced visibility in certain conditions and increasing the risk of a crash.
The recall covers F-150 pickups from the 2021-22 model years, 454,000 of them are in the United States while 103,076 are in Canada.
In a safety recall report submitted Tuesday to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ford said vehicles built at its Dearborn, Mich., truck plant are excluded from the recall because they were built with a different wiper motor design, citing microchip shortages at the time.
A similar filing was made to Transport Canada.
Ford told the NHTSA that as of Oct. 13, it was aware of 1,378 warranty reports globally that were received from May 6, 2021, through Oct. 12, 2022 The automaker said it was not aware of any reports of accident or injury related to the defect.
The front wiper motor is supplied by Trico Componentes in Mexico, according to the U.S. recall report.
To fix the issue in the United States, dealers will replace the faulty wiper motor with a new motor manufactured on or after Aug. 1. Dealers and vehicle owners will be notified starting Jan. 3.
A recall notice from Transport Canada says Ford will notify Canadian owners by mail and instruct them to take their truck to a dealer to replace the windshield wiper motor.
Greg Layson of Automotive News Canada contributed to this report.
