Ford C-Max, Ford Escape, Ford Fusion, Lincoln Mkz, model years 2013 to 2014. Filed by Ford Motor Company and reported to NHTSA on 2 April 2014. 43,135 vehicles potentially affected.
What the notice says Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2013-2014 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles manufactured August 15, 2012, through September 10, 2013, 2013-2014 Ford Escape vehicles manufactured June 5, 2012, through August 12, 2013, and 2013-2014 Ford C-Max vehicles manufactured from July 23, 2012, …
Is your vehicle included? Check with your VIN at NHTSA, or ask a dealer. This page is an independent copy of the notice, kept so you can see what changed after it was published. It is not the authority, and the authority’s own text is the one to act on.
Ford's own number for this recall: 14C03. That is the number on the owner letter and on the dealer paperwork. 14V164 is the number NHTSA gave the same campaign, and the number this page is filed under. They are one recall, written two ways.
What owners ask about this recall
- Which vehicles does recall 14V164 cover?
- Ford C-Max, Ford Escape, Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, model years 2013-2014.
- What is wrong with them?
- Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2013-2014 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles manufactured August 15, 2012, through September 10, 2013, 2013-2014 Ford Escape vehicles manufactured June 5, 2012, through August 12, 2013, and 2013-2014 Ford C-Max vehicles manufactured from...
- What can happen if it is not put right?
- The back of the subject seats may become loose or lean while driving and potentially increase the risk of injury in certain crashes.
- Is there a fix yet?
- Yes, and it is free. Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the seatback, free of charge. The recall began on May 30, 2014. Owners may contact Ford at 1-800-392-3673. Ford's number for this recall is 14C03.
- What should I do now?
- Check your own vehicle by its VIN with NHTSA, which is the record to act on. Ford calls this recall 14C03, which is the number on the owner letter and the dealer paperwork.
Answered from the register this site holds. NHTSA is the record to act on.
What the authority says can happen if this is not fixed: “The back of the subject seats may become loose or lean while driving and potentially increase the risk of injury in certain crashes.”
affected
in the notice
caught
| Campaign | 14V164 |
|---|---|
| Filed by | Ford Motor Company |
| System at fault | Seats:Front Assembly:Recliner |
| Reported to NHTSA | 2 April 2014 |
| Model years | 2013-2014 |
| Vehicles named | FORD C-MAX, FORD ESCAPE, FORD FUSION, LINCOLN MKZ |
What the notice says today
The consequence
The back of the subject seats may become loose or lean while driving and potentially increase the risk of injury in certain crashes.
The remedy
Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the seatback, free of charge. The recall began on May 30, 2014. Owners may contact Ford at 1-800-392-3673. Ford's number for this recall is 14C03.
What it said before
This campaign is in the register but not yet in the dated wording archive, so we cannot yet say whether its text has moved. It enters the archive on the next pass.
This is one of 459 notices in the record whose component field names seats. Across that group the median wait before owners were written to was 44 days.
Last checked . No change has been recorded in the wording.
The same recall in other countries
This campaign carries a manufacturer code that also appears in another country’s register, which means the same defect was recalled there too.
- Canada: Transport Canada recall 2014109, recorded 2 April 2014 (within a week of the American filing)
Matched on 14C03, the manufacturer’s own number for this campaign, which is the only field the registers share. Exact match, nothing paired on brand and date. The two dates are adjacent instruments rather than the same one, so a difference of a day or two means nothing.
How often the two countries file on the same day · The European alerts
The models named here, across their whole recall history
- Ford C-Max recalls: 12 US campaigns
- Ford Escape recalls: 78 US campaigns
- Ford Fusion recalls: 46 US campaigns
- Lincoln MKZ recalls: 32 US campaigns
How to cite this record
Quoting the wording on this page means quoting a version, so the date belongs in the citation:
CarsMultiverse, recall 14V164, wording as read on 17 September 2026. https://carsmultiverse.com/recall/14v164/
The cross-border matches used on this site are deposited as a citable dataset: doi:10.5281/zenodo.22087136. The recall wording itself is published by the national authority named above and is theirs, not ours.
The recall record and its wording are published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are US Government public domain. The dated archive, the comparison and any before-and-after above are CarsMultiverse. How fresh every engine behind this page is, is public on the status page. To check a specific vehicle, use NHTSA’s own VIN lookup.
Other Ford notices we hold
- 26V579: 2026-2027 Transit
- 26V578: 2023-2027 F-150
- 26V577: 2026 F-150
- 26V576: 2026 F-150
- 26V550: 2026 Maverick, F-150, and Bronco Sport
- 26V548: 2026 Explorer, Bronco, Bronco Sport, Mustang, and Ranger
- 26V547: 2024-2026 Mustang
- 26V532: 2026 Explorer
All 776 Ford campaigns we hold · Every manufacturer in the record
The fingerprint of this notice
We take a SHA-256 of each of the three blocks of text the authority publishes and keep the first eight characters. As we last read campaign 14V164 on 23 August 2026, they were:
- Defect summary
c884a5e1 - Consequence
fd00d215 - Remedy
0a4a08bc
We first read this notice on 21 August 2026. It has not moved since. If it ever does, these characters will not match, and the change will be dated here.
The wording we hold for 14V164 · how the whole register is watched
This notice names one vehicle among several registers that have written about it. Every notice this site holds for the Ford Escape, in all seven, is kept on that vehicle's own page, with the newest in each.
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Owners of these cars
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