This could mean American buyers will have their tax credit applied to 2022 rather than 2021
The rear seat belts could detach in an accident and cause injuries to passengers
Affected vehicles include 2,304 Mustang Mach-E SUVs and 318 Maverick pickups
Many customers who have ordered a Ford Mustang Mach-E in the United States will be disappointed to know that a recall could make them loose out on their tax credit for 2021.
A problem with the rear seat belts of 2,304 units of the Mustang Mach-E and 318 units of the Maverick compact pickups is the object of this latest recall.
Dealers have been ordered to put a hold on deliveries of 2022 Mach-E and Maverick models built between October 6 and October 20, 2021.
These vehicles could have received rear floor assemblies that feature oversized bolt holes where the rear seatbelts are attached to the vehicle, which could lead to a failure of the belt in case of an accident, which is obviously dangerous to the occupants.
Dealers will receive instructions on how to repair the problem but until then, they are forbidden to deliver the vehicles or even take them out on a test drive to demonstrate them to potential customers.
2022 Ford Maverick | Photo: Olivier Delorme
This problem is more worrying for Mustang Mach-E buyers since the American incentive for electric vehicles works differently than the Canadian one, in the sense that it is a tax credit applied to the buyer’s taxes at the end of the year in which the vehicle was delivered, instead of lowering the purchase price by X amount, as it is north of the border.
Since the credit applies to the year the vehicle was delivered in irrespective of when it was bought, many Mach-E buyers will receive their tax credit for 2022 instead of 2021 due to the recall, which could lead to people paying a lot more taxes this year than they were expecting.
Ford is adamant that dealers cannot report these vehicles as delivered before the recall has been completed in order to help customers benefit from the credit by the end of the year because doing so would expose the dealership to a $21,000 penalty per vehicle.
