HOUSTON – A Houston woman has been stranded without a set of wheels after her Ford EcoSport broke down and won’t have a fix for several months.
Devra Singer says her SUV has spent the better part of the last month sitting in the parking lot of Sterling McCall Ford in Houston. Her car broke down three and half weeks ago after an already recalled part failed in her vehicle.
“I was on the Westpark tollway and I broke down there,” Singer told KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding.
The safety recall impacts more than 136,000 Ford vehicles, including the following models:
- Ford EcoSport (2017-2022)
- Ford Focus (2016-2018)
- Ford Fiesta (2018-2018)
Ford Safety Recall 23S64 - NHTSA Notice by Gage Goulding on Scribd
The safety recall was issued by Ford in December 2023, according to documents obtained by KPRC 2.
Those documents outline an issue with a part that can result in “a loss of engine oil pressure.”
“The engine oil pump drive belt tensioner arm may fracture, separate from the tensioner backing plate, and/or the oil pump drive belt material may degrade and lose teeth, resulting in a loss of engine oil pressure,” the safety recall states.”
After being towed to Sterling McCall Ford, Singer says it took crews there nearly a month to diagnose the problem.
“They knew it was engine failure to this recall, but only they had to get the official diagnosis,” she said.
That’s a big problem. However, the even bigger issue is that the fix, according to Ford, will not be available until the first quarter of 2025.
“I have to get to work and I had to get my son to school. I need a vehicle in Houston,” Singer said.
That means this whole time already, and until the fix comes around, she will be without a car that she’s still making payments on.
“No rental car, no loaner,” she said. “I was just on this waiting list that they kept changing daily and I never got a rental car in three and a half weeks.”
It turns out there is an interim fix.
A spokesperson for the Ford Motor Company outlined the interim repair in a document shared with all Ford and Lincoln dealerships in the U.S. in June.
“Remedy parts are not currently available for this recall. If a customer experiences an engine failure related to a broken oil pump belt or oil pump belt tensioner a long block engine may be installed as an interim repair before the availability of the remedy parts. The updated oil pump belt and tensioner will be replaced once the parts become available beginning in the 1st quarter of 2025. This interim repair can currently only be performed on vehicles with engine failures at no charge to the vehicle owner,” the notice states.
According to Singer, she was never told about the interim fix.
She also never was told that she was eligible for a rental car from day one and that the cost of her tow was covered by Ford, according to documents obtained by KPRC 2.
“I haven’t heard about this,” she said.
It appears that the workers at Sterling McCall Ford weren’t aware either, never making that offer to Singer.
It was only after KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding started investigating that she was offered a rental vehicle.
“It was after you called today I was able to get help with the rental and they said they’re going to issue me one,” Singer said.
She plans on picking up her rental car on Thursday. She’s excited to finally have a set of wheels while she waits for her car to be repaired.