Stuck Throttle

In a letter dated July 25, 2012 Ford Motor Company (Ford) submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR), NHTSA Recall No. 12V-353 to NHTSA identifying a safety defect involving inadequate clearance between the engine cover and the speed control cable connector, which could result in a stuck throttle condition. The vehicles involved are model year (MY) 2001 through MY 2004 Ford Escape vehicles equipped with 3.0L V6 engines and speed (cruise) control. A redesigned engine cover was implemented in production beginning in MY 2005, which provided additional clearance of the speed control cable to the engine cover. Similarly on July 26, 2012 Mazda North American Operations (Mazda) on behalf of Mazda Motor Corporation of Hiroshima, Japan submitted a DIR to NHTSA, NHTSA Recall No. 12V-357, identifying the safety defect described above in MY 2001 through MY 2006 and MY 2008 Mazda Tribute vehicles (no Tribute vehicles were produced in MY 2007) equipped with 3.0L V6 engines and speed control. Unlike the Ford Escape recall scope, the Mazda Tribute scope is broader as Mazda Tribute vehicles incorporated a similar engine cover design as related to the clearance to the speed control cable in MYs 2001 through 2006 and MY 2008. The failure report summary above reflects reports identified by ODI in review of data submitted to the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) and reports submitted to Ford and to Mazda. ODI identified 44 reports likely related to the safety defect described in the DIRs; 39 involving Ford Escape vehicles and 5 involving Mazda Tribute vehicles. This Preliminary Evaluation is closed. The ODI report cited above can be reviewed at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchNHTSAID under the following identification (ODI) numbers: 10116267, 10128545, 10128681, 10137520, 10153327, 10165007, 10199728, 10234846, 10335779, 10466261, and 10468307.