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An unpleasant, oily stench enveloped Taylor McKnight’s 2024 Ford Escape as she waited at a stoplight in Austin. After she hobbled home after the engine light flicked on, a dealer service adviser informed her the following morning that Ford had recently filed Recall 25V-372.Since a single missing steel ball the size of a jellybean may convert a regular errand into a roadside conflagration, the business now advises some owners to park outside and halt driving.
The fine print in one gulp
The action, which was submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on June 3, 2025, concerns 404 automobiles in the United States:
- 2023-2025 Ford Escape built with the 1.5-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder, and
- 2025 Ford Bronco Sport, which using the same engine.
- Ford s internal reference is 25S61. Dealers will replace the entire cylinder head, free of charge, once parts arrive.
- Inside every 1.5-liter EcoBoost head, a steel ball plug seals an oil passage. Supplier Nemak Monterrey heat-treats those heads so aluminum shrinks tightly around the plug. Two power outages in 2024 interrupted that heat cycle, leaving some heads too soft to grip the ball. Under load and heat the plug can wiggle out, letting pressurized oil gush into the exhaust manifold or pool atop the block. The result:
- Oil on a red-hot catalytic converter, which ends up in a fire, or
- Sudden oil starvation; which translates to a seized engine, loss of motive power.
You lose in either case.
How Ford caught it
In March 2025, an Escape engine that was locked up was mentioned in a warranty claim. An empty plug bore was discovered by Ford’s dismantling crew. In April, a second Escape—this one pouring oil—arrived. The defect was found in heads cast between February 28 and November 4, 2024, according to lab hardness tests. Before the factory converted to in-spec parts, engineers identified 404 units made with such heads (plus a few service long blocks).
The following replacements should be anticipated if a dealer orders a fix:
- Cylinder head PV4Z-6049-A (cast February 28 Nov 4 2024)
- Long block PV4Z-6006-A (built June 10 Sept 24 2024)
The replacement heads include a laser-etched date code and now satisfy Ford’s hardness requirements.
What owners must do today
Park outside, apart from structures.
Give 1-866-436-7332 a call and mention recall 25S61.
If you see smoke or smell oil, ask for a free tow.
In addition to fresh coolant and oil, dealers require around eight hours of shop time to replace the head.
Nemak s mea culpa and the supply-chain lesson
Both power outages occurred during the crucial quench stage of heat treatment, Nemak informed Ford. The softer heads sped through machining and assembly without being noticed by quality inspections.
The supplier installed backup generators and additional hardness probes on the line following Ford’s root-cause audit. Although there are still fewer than 600 impacted individuals globally, Ford limited the scope of their recall to cars that were already in the hands of customers.
How this fits Ford s recall streak
Weeks after Ford’s million-car rear-camera recall and in the midst of an ongoing NHTSA investigation into injector cracks on previous Escapes, the oil leak notice is issued. Even if the 404-unit campaign is small in terms of volume, it still has a significant impact because it affects two of Ford’s best-selling crossovers, occurs during the busiest summer travel season, and is at least the company’s thirteenth safety measure in 2025.
Staying ahead of the next bulletin
A straightforward rule is emphasized in the Ford episode: even if no letter arrives, verify your VIN every three months. Contemporary supply networks can push a one-in-a-thousand flaw into your driveway and span continents. Regulators and automakers will monitor it; you must take action in the end.
