Ford Motor Company has issued another safety recall for the seventh-generation Mustang. It’s the fifth recall since November 2023, when the 2024 Mustang was recalled for a potentially loose brake pedal.
The vehicles included in the latest recall were produced at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant between July 25, 2023, and September 15, 2023. It is suspected that the rear suspension joints may be failing, a problem attributed to the supplier rather than Ford Motor Company.
The supplier in question is North Carolina-based Citic Dicastal, while the rear wheel knuckle and bushing assemblies carry part numbers PR3C-5B758-BB for the right assembly and PR3C-5B759-BB for the left assembly. Dearborn’s favorite son learned of the recall on June 11.
The Critical Concern Review Group immediately began reviewing the warranty report that started it all, with Ford also examining supplier production records to identify suspect parts. To date, Ford is aware of two reports of broken or cracked knuckles.
Fortunately for owners and the automaker’s legal team, there have been no reports of accidents or injuries so far. An estimated 4,595 vehicles have received the questionable assemblies, which have casting imperfections. The reason for the imperfections? A debris filter had been improperly positioned during the casting process. This allowed debris to enter the cavity, thereby causing the casting imperfections.
Photo: Ford
Dealers have been instructed to replace the suspect rear suspension joints with properly cast parts at no cost to owners, with notifications to owners to wait until August 30th at the latest. Notification letters will be sent via first class mail starting August 26th.
Unfortunately, Ford didn’t mention which versions of the Mustang were produced with the fail-prone rear suspension knuckles. For the 2024 model year, the Mustang is available in EcoBoost, GT, and Dark Horse flavors. The most affordable of the bunch obviously uses the turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost inline-four, which, unlike the previous-generation Mustang, is available exclusively with the 10R automatic transmission.
The GT and Dark Horse with the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 can be had with either a manual or 10R transmission. The emphasis is on the plural form of manual because Ford uses a Getrag in the GT instead of a Tremec in the Dark Horse. For one reason or another, the manual Mustang Dark Horse comes with a soft limiter that limits engine speed to 7,250 rpm instead of the automatic's 7,500.
In any case, it’s not even close to Chevrolet’s 8,600-rpm LT6 flat-crank V8. Its twin-turbocharged twin is dubbed the LT7, and it’s a monster of an engine. Compared to the Z06’s 670 horsepower and 460 pound-feet (624 Nm), the ZR1 makes a whopping 1,064 horsepower and 828 pound-feet (1,123 Nm).
That’s quite a bit more than Ford’s estimate for the Mustang GTD, which uses an 800-plus-horsepower version of the 5.2-liter Predator V8. In addition to the previous-generation Mustang Shelby GT500, the supercharged powerplant can also be found under the hood of the F-150 Raptor R.