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Ford recalls 277,000 Super Duty trucks over foggy rear-view camera

Ford has issued a recall that applies to around 277,000 units of the Super Duty pickup built between the 2017 and 2020 model years. The campaign also includes about 13,000 units of the Lincoln Continental, and it aims to fix an issue that makes the rear-view camera foggy. Assigned recall number 22V-644 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the recall includes 139,131 units of the F-250, 109,960 units of the F-350, 14,830 units of the F-450, and 13,119 units of the Continental. The affected trucks are all fitted with the Ultimate Trailer Tow Camera system and were built between November 12, 2015, and March 10, 2020, while the affected Lincoln models are equipped with the 360-degree camera and were made from November 30, 2015 to March 10, 2020.  Ford explains "degradation of the coating on an internal rear-view camera lens can lead to a progressively foggy or cloudy image." It adds ultraviolet radiation causes the problem and that this issue increases the risk of an accident, though it's not aware of accidents or injuries. Owners of affected cars and trucks who have already paid to get the issue fixed have until September 30, 2022, to ask Ford for a refund. The company will begin notifying customers about the recall by mail on September 12, 2022, and it will ask them to take their vehicle to the nearest authorized dealer to get the rear-view camera replaced free of charge. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Restoring Headlights | Autoblog Details | Complete Detail Bonus

eBay Find of the Day: 1970 Ford Torino King Cobra prototype

Over the last decade or so, competition in NASCAR has led to some pretty funky looking racecars. And when the sport was still up and coming, the tight competition actually led to some interesting production cars. The Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird are perhaps the most well-known cars of the sport's "aero wars" era but the Ford Torino King Cobra might have been the most memorable of all, if not for some different homologation rules established in 1970. The Torino King Cobra never made it to production and never competed in NASCAR, but three examples exist including this one now for sale on eBay.
Designed as a successor for the aero-tuned Torino Talladega, the Torino King Cobra has a sleeker front end with hidden headlights and a sloped nose. As the story goes, NASCAR made a rule change in 1970 requiring 3,000 of the vehicles to be produced, which was substantially more than the 500 units required by the previous rule. One of the three prototypes ever built - and the only one built with the Boss 429 engine - is now for sale on eBay with a starting bid of $500,000. With a little more than three days left on the auction there are still no bids, but in the grand scheme of things this seems like a relatively fair price for a rare piece of automobile and racing history.

Lincoln 'not true luxury' yet, says Ford design chief

Lincoln is "not true luxury," according to Ford's design boss, J Mays. His statements come from a story in The Detroit News that saw candid language on the issues facing Ford's troubled premium brand. Notably, there's a need for a strong character, with Mays saying, "Every brand needs to have a DNA and a unique selling point and things in the vehicle that make you think, 'That's that particular brand.'"
With a range of rebadged Fords, it's not hard to see why that DNA is missing. Mays hinted that a full recovery for Lincoln will be a ten-year process, that's been kicked off with the MKZ sedan. While that car is still largely a Ford Fusion under its extremely pretty wrapper, it's the first Lincoln in some time to inject its own unique take both through the exterior styling and through interior features, such as the vertical, pushbutton gear selection.
Some analysts weren't so certain about Mays' 10-year estimate. Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics thinks it'll be more like 30 years before Lincoln can show a true return to form. The issue, as Hall explains it, is that, "luxury has a degree of exclusivity," that Lincoln just doesn't have. Michelle Krebs from Edmunds adds, "it's definitely a wanna-be luxury brand," comparing the troubled American brand with Infiniti and Acura, two other brands that have struggled to find their place in the luxury market.