1996 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Sport Utility 4-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

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NHTSA and Ford investigating steering issues in Crown Vic, Grand Marquis and Marauder

There may be more steering woes for the Ford Crown Victoria. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a preliminary evaluation into the Crown Vic and Mercury Grand Marquis from the 2004 to 2007 model years and the Mercury Marauder for the 2004 and 2005 model years because the steering shaft can jam. The issue could potentially affect an estimated 500,000 vehicles.
According to the regulator, there is a possibility that the driver's side heat shield for the exhaust manifold can rust, dislodge, and then wedge into the steering shaft. If this occurs, it leads to a situation where the driver can no longer control the car.
NHTSA has received five complaints of this happening, including one alleged case with an injury. In that situation, the car was driving onto the highway, lost control and rolled over. One occupant was hurt in the accident.

Ford spills SEMA all over its Expeditions

If you're going to this year's SEMA Show in Las Vegas, it's going to be tough to miss the Ford booth, simply for its size. The Blue Oval is bringing over a dozen customized examples of the 2015 Mustang and a quintet of modded Transits. The latest announced addition is a trio of upgraded 2015 Expeditions showing different takes on the recently refreshed SUV.
Any vehicle tuned by Dub Magazine needs to ride on massive wheels, and the Expedition (pictured above) that it has for SEMA is no exception. The SUV has 26-inch Dropstars wheels wrapped in Pirelli tires, and, making them look even larger, the suspension is also lowered. The rest of the custom has some mild upgrades like mesh grilles in front, tinted windows, an integrated radar detector and new upholstery inside.
Tijn wants to boost the performance of the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 for its take on the Expedition. The company claims to add 40 horsepower to bring total output to a claimed 405 by upgrading the engine with a charge cooler from Vortech Engineering, a custom side exhaust and a custom tune. To match the extra grunt, the SUV also gets bigger brakes, an Air Lift suspension and 24-inch, copper-colored wheels with custom fender flares.

2015 Ford Focus sedan shows its fresh face in New York

That handsome fellow you see above is the 2015 Ford Focus sedan. We liked the looks of the 2014 Focus, and the updates for 2015 only improve things to our eyes, with the adoption of the Aston Martin-inspired grille that has been permeating Ford's lineup these last few years. Sweeping, slightly bulbous headlamps join a revised, more demure lower grille opening to round out the styling updates up front. The rest of the car's look is just slightly massaged, including new taillamp clusters that look much like they did last year.
New for 2015 is the availability of Ford's 1.0-liter three-cylinder EcoBoost engine, mated exclusively to a six-speed manual transmission. There's also a new SE Sport Package that adds more aggressive suspension tuning, paddle shifters (when equipped with Ford's six-speed dual-clutch automatic) and a few body kit bits and pieces. Rounding out the mechanical changes are an updated electronic steering rack that promises better feel, suspension tweaks to make the ride more comfortable and some software updates designed to make the dual-clutch gearbox better behave itself.
In addition, inside there are a few interior upgrades, as well as some added comfort and safety tech that includes available blind-spot detection and lane-keeping assist, along with other more incremental changes that all add up to a better vehicle. We suggest you check out the official press release below for all the details, but not before scrolling through our image gallery of live shots above.