Ford halts deliveries of Mustang Mach-E, upsetting buyers counting on 2020 tax break

More than 1,000 customers who thought they'd get a new 2022 all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E this year and qualify for a $7,500 tax rebate may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Ford Motor Co. alerted its dealers to needed seatbelt repair involving certain new Mach-E SUVs, triggering a hold on any undelivered new vehicles built from Oct. 5 to Nov. 18, according to a letter obtained by the Detroit Free Press.

Ford spokesperson Said Deep confirmed Monday that 2,304 Mach-E vehicles are affected by the recall. Of that number, 741 are in customer hands and 1,563 are on hold by dealers, he said.

"We can understand customer disappointment if they may have been counting on applying the credit" on their calendar year 2021 taxes, Deep told the Free Press. "However, delivering vehicles with quality continues to be a top priority."

Customers can still apply for the federal tax credit, it just may shift to calendar year 2022 for some buyers, Deep said. The credit is applied to the year a vehicle is delivered, not ordered.

Right now, the vehicles may have a rear seat belt that could detach and fail to restrain an occupant during a crash.

The letter, sent by David Johnson, director of service engineering operations for Ford customer service, tells the dealers there's a new vehicle demonstration and delivery hold on both the 2022 Mach-E, and the 2022 Ford Maverick built between Oct. 6 and Oct. 20.

These vehicles need a rear seatbelt anchor thread repair, the letter said.

The affected vehicles may not conform to federal crash safety requirements because, the letter said, "rear floor assemblies were produced with tapping plates that may have oversized extruded bolt holes used to attach the rear seatbelt buckles. Oversized extruded bolt holes may decrease the strength of the fastener joint causing inadequate attachment of the rear seat belts during loading."

In this case, the compliance recall reflects the fact that a supplier produced steel plates with extruded bolt holes that were not within specification, Deep said.

Dealers cannot report these vehicles sold until the work has been completed.

If a vehicle is delivered to a buyer or lessee unrepaired, the dealer could face civil penalties of up to $21,000 per vehicle, Ford included in its letter.

The letter sent late Friday has been the focus of concern among Ford customers over the weekend on social media, including Reddit.

On a Mach-E Reddit site with 4,800 members, comments included:

The Reddit discussion noted that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) didn't have the recall posted on its website yet. The Ford letter lists the situation as Compliance Recall 21C36.