Ford Fiesta Delayed Again

Nearly 6,800 Fiestas are being inspected for a third-party-produced part that Ford has declined to name. According to Reuters, two unnamed sources with knowledge of the stop-shipment order have said the affected part is a seat lever. 

Nearly 2,300 of the Fiestas have been inspected and only 12 of those didn’t meet Ford’s specs, according to Ford spokesman Said Deep. The units that passed the inspection are now heading to dealer lots, with another 4,500 cars remaining to be inspected. 

The issue was caught before any of the models were placed on dealer lots or in customers’ hands, Deep said. Ford said it does not believe that any of the vehicles with potential defects had been sold to consumers. 

The Fiesta has run into more than its fair share of logistics-related issues since the car went on sale in May. The Fiesta suffered delays after a hurricane prevented shipments of the subcompact. The Fiesta is produced at Ford’s Cuautitlan plant in Mexico. The hurricane and the part issue are not related despite both events cropping up so closely together, Deep said. 

Buyers who’ve waited longer than a month for their Fiestas have been or will be issued a MasterCard gift card worth $50, according to The Detroit News. Ford has sold 4,377 Fiestas since the end of July, and another 6,500 to 7,000 are in transit to dealerships, according to Ford spokeswoman Angie Kozleski. Nearly 24,276 Fiestas have been produced so far for North America.

2011|Ford|Fiesta