Ford has announced a recall of certain Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan vehicles after an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A total of 128,616 2010 and 2011 models equipped with steel wheels may have been manufactured with wheel studs that could crack and split over time. If that happens, the vehicle may experience a wheel separation.

According to The Detroit News, the company is aware of a total of 30 wheel separation incidents, one of which occurred on the front of the vehicle. Even so, no injuries have been reported as a result of the defect. Read More »

We can’t get enough of the Boss Mustang 302, and it appears Ford Racing can’t, either. Mustang Daily reports that Ford unleashed the newest member of the Boss family at the PRI show in Florida; the Boss 302SX. The Boss 302 concept is called the ultimate track car, and its stats tell the story.

The SX package delivers the updated looks of the 2013 model, and adds a bit more kick under the hood. The overhauled 5.0-liter V8 will reportedly crank out over 500 horsepower due to changes that include the same intake manifold as the 2013 Mustang Cobra Jet. Read More »

Ford has taken it on the chin from J.D. Power since the carmaker rolled out its new MyFord Touch system in the 2011 Explorer. Ford’s ranking in the influential Initial Quality Survey dropped from fifth last year all the way down to 23rd, in large measure because of customer dissatisfaction with the new technology and its voice recognition interface, but also because of refinement complaints about the PowerShift dual-clutch transmission in the Fiesta. But unlike, say, the Houston Cougars, who plummeted in the Bowl Championship Series rankings after getting blown out in the Conference USA title game this weekend, Ford can make a pretty good case that it’s getting jobbed. Read More »

We’re not strangers to the allure of Craigslist. The classified ad site is our go-to distraction when it comes time to contemplate our next project vehicle, and we’ve been tempted by the occasional decommissioned Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor more often than we care to admit. As one Chattanooga, Tennessee man recently found out, those vehicles may be more trouble than they’re worth. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Luke Ridings was recently stopped by authorities as he was driving his newly acquired Crown Vic, complete with lights, camera and radar equipment. Ridings said that he bought the vehicle for $4,000 from an individual in Georgia.
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We at Autoblog like the Ford Flex, lackluster sales numbers aside. Ever since its launch in 2008, we’ve grown quite fond of not only its boxy styling, but its high levels of overall comfort, refinement and usability. Adding the EcoBoost engine in 2009 only sweetened the deal, and now, there’s a lot more to like about the Flex for 2013… if you can get past the styling.

As we stated before, Ford is certainly embracing the weirdness of the Flex, and the new front fascia certainly reflects that. Even in person here at the LA Auto Show, we don’t love it as much as the old model (but we certainly don’t hate it), and there’s no reason for us to believe that the Flex won’t still be a wonderful people-and-things hauler.

Ford has updated the base 3.5-liter V6 (it has 20 more horsepower for 285 total) and will continue to offer the slick 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost six. Inside, the Flex’s cabin gets a healthy dose of freshness and includes the reworked MyFord Touch system that will make its way into the rest of the Blue Oval lineup. The new Flex goes on sale early next year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the crossover’s demise, we hope it sticks around for many years to come, funky face and all.
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650 horsepower. 600 pound-feet of torque. 200-plus miles per hour. With specs like these, you don’t need long-form introductions. This is the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500, and all we can say is, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has officially been put on notice.
The heart of the new Ford stunner is a 5.8-liter, aluminum-block V8, complete with a larger, more efficient supercharger. Nearly the entire powertrain has been upgraded for 2013, including a new cross-drilled block and heads, updated camshaft profiles, a carbon fiber driveshaft and upgraded clutch, transmission and axle. The cooling system has also been upgraded, and the new six-speed manual transmission now has a final drive ratio of 3.31-to-1 – optimized to handle the massive amounts of torque put down by the new engine.

Further enhancements can be had in the GT500 Performance Pack, which incorporates SVT-designed Blistein electronic adjustable dampers with ‘normal’ and ‘sport’ modes and a Torsen limited-slip differential. What’s more, the Track Package adds an external engine oil cooler, rear differential cooler and transmission cooler. Like the current GT500, 19-inch wheels are standard up front (20-inch rollers are found out back) and a Brembo braking system keeps everything in check when its time to control all that force. The whole package weighs in at just 3,850 pounds – 270 less than the Camaro ZL1 – and Ford says it will not be subject to the dreaded Gas Guzzler Tax.
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The 2011 model year brought big powertrain upgrades for the Ford Mustang – that’s when the 5.0-liter V8 and 3.7-liter V6 were introduced – and for 2013, Ford’s Pony Car is getting some updated style, tech and packaging to make it a more competitive offering in the segment.

Up front, all Mustangs get a new front fascia with revised lower air intakes and a new splitter. High-intensity discharge headlamps are also now standard across the board, and GT models get a new hood with functional air extractors, as well as optional HID foglamps. New body-colored rocker panels flank both sides, and new 17-, 18- and 19-inch wheels are also available. Around back, there’s now a high-gloss black panel that connects the slightly redesigned taillamps, and the side mirrors have a pretty cool gee-whiz feature: there are LED lamps in them that project Ford’s legendary pony logo onto the ground when the doors are unlocked. New colors including Gotta Have It Green and Deep Impact Blue are also available.
Other changes to the 2013 Mustang include a Recaro seat option for both V6 and GT models, an available SelectShift function on automatic-equipped V8 cars, a GT Track Pack with a Torsen differential from the Boss 302 and Brembo brakes (only available on cars with the 3.73 axle and a manual transmission) and the availability of the V6 Performance Pack on automatic-equipped cars. There’s also a Track Apps function inside the instrument cluster that shows a whole host of performance stats. Speaking of performance, the 5.0-liter V8 now makes 420 horsepower for 2013, up from 402 and still six shy of the current Chevrolet Camaro.
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