MC

The Ministry of Commerce and Investment has revealed a factory defect that could lead to fire risk while driving in the extreme conditions. This is in 16,556 vehicles, Ford Expedition, model 2015-2017, and Lincoln Navigator, model 2015-2016 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Ministry explained that it has initiated an immediate investigation and a technical team has been formed to identify these cases, and to find out the real causes.

The results of the technical investigation showed that there is a manufacturing defect that may lead to the possibility of leakage of fuel vapors from the engine, which may result in making fire in the vehicle under heavy driving conditions (the problem begins after starting the engine for more than three hours, and during driving in high roads and mountains). In this case the gas pedal may not respond, so the engine may stop completely, and after attempting to restart the engine, the vehicle could catch fire.

Based on these results, MCI addressed the manufacturer and asked for an official investigation and for recalling 16,556 vehicles in the Kingdom through the local agents (Al-Jazeera Agencies, and Al Naghi Ford Agencies).

The Ministry calls on the users of these cars to stop immediately using such vehicles, including (16402) Ford Expedition cars, model (2015-2017) and 154 Lincoln Navigator cars, model (2015-2016), and to contact the agents to make the necessary repair.

The Ministry has received seven complaints about engine burning in such cars in the southern region and the western region, including five cases in the Asir region, in addition to two cases in Medina. After examining and inspecting the damaged vehicles, it was found that the sites of starting the fire are similar and under similar conditions, and for the same engine capacity.

MCI requires the manufacturer and its agents to commit to a time plan to address such defects and to provide alternative vehicles for those affected, until the defect is repaired. They should as well circulate these cases to all branches, because they may receive reports about similar cases, and should respond immediately and do the necessary repair. These procedures come as part of the Ministry's efforts to protect the consumer and to preserve his rights, besides ensuring the safety of products and to be free of any manufacturing defects.

The Ministry of Commerce and Investment is keen to carry out recalling campaigns for defective products, upon discovering the defect by the manufacturer, or after using such item by the consumer, as reported in the above mentioned cases. 

It is worth mentioning that the Recall Center for Defective Products is one of the initiatives of the Ministry of Commerce and Investment for the realization of the National Transformation Program 2020, and the Kingdom's Vision 2030.This center aims to protect the consumers and to follow up their complaints related to manufacturing defects and to work on solving such defects. This center also monitors the recall campaigns by the manufacturers to ensure the quality of products and to verify that they are free of any defect. It aims to promote consumer safety and preserve his rights, besides reducing the financial waste of the national economy.

Notably, the "Recall" website allows you to search and identify the defective products that have been subjected to recall campaigns during the past period, it does display the latest recalled products. Through this site, it is possible to report unsafe products that may affect the safety of consumers, also it is possible to verify the safety of vehicles by entering the chassis number or serial number to see if they are included in any previous recall campaign. You may avail of all the services of this website through the following link: Recalls.sa​.