Production of the 2023 Ford Escape and 2023 Lincoln Corsair has been on hold for several weeks due to a software bug impacting pre-production versions of both crossovers. The issue has resulted in several downtime extensions as the automaker worked to solve the issue. Now, the Louisville Assembly plant will be idled for one more week, per Automotive News. However, it appears there is a fix in place that will allow the plant to resume normal operations in early March.
Ford confirmed to the publication that Brandon Reisinger, building chairman for the plant, told employees that the facility will remain idle until March 6th. “We do have a new re-flash to address the programming issue we have with the clusters,” Reisinger told employees. “This re-flash does appear to be good. In all of the testing, they’ve had no issues so far. I think they finally have their issue resolved.” It is still unclear if the software issue impacted all digital clusters, but the 2023 Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair share a 12.3-inch unit, with the cluster being standard on the Lincoln. The Escape has an eight-inch cluster as standard, with the 12.3-inch unit being offered with certain packages and trims, and available fairly broadly across the lineup.
Before the cluster issue surfaced, the plant had been in the middle of its pre-production phase for the 2023 Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair, which have both received a mid-cycle update. Unlike previous stoppages, this recent incident resulted in a total production shutdown for the plant. Thus far, no retail versions of the refreshed crossovers have been produced, as the examples being manufactured are intended for Ford employees and for evaluation. This latest episode came about at a time of increased scrutiny into The Blue Oval’s quality control efforts, which CEO Jim Farley says is essentially an ongoing concern that will take years to fix.
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Comments
They’ve also increased the MSRP on PHEVs…
I know for FACT this is a lie! I have a 2023 Corsair and 2023 Escape on order. The Corsair has a window sticker and was built December 22nd! The Escape also has a window sticker and was built in January. They took the subwoofer out of my Corsair and gave me a $50 credit. Won’t be taking that car. $44,000 car and no bass in the radio? F that. Have serious doubts about the Escape ST- line elite I have built sitting somewhere also. If they’re lying about not building customer cars and this only effecting pre production cars what else are they lying about. Ford is a mess right now!!!
“Pause Extended”……. sounds like they are still building something or……it really means we are dead in the water?
Kudos to corporate for not pushing the problems out into the market place.
It is concerning how long this ‘software glitch’ is taking to fix though.