Ford India has currently stopped the deliveries of its Ecosport diesel. A lot of customers were recently complaining about their dealers, communicating that the cars wouldn’t be delivered on time and that Ford has currently put it on hold. This is most likely due to the software update needed for the BS6 calibration for the engine. Reports suggest that Ford could possibly perform the software update for the existing BS6 cars too, to prevent any issues. One of the most common issues in the newer diesel engines is the clogging of the DPF (Diesel particulate filter).
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This results in the check engine light being turned on. This is usually caused due to frequent short drives and driving a lot in the city where the engine doesn’t get to cruise at a constant speed. This leads to the DPF filter getting clogged.
The solution is to perform a DPF regeneration by driving the car on highways and open roads at higher RPMs to clear out the filter or take it to the service centre to get it cleared out. Many diesel BS6 cars were seen facing this issue initially like the 1.5-litre diesel engine of the Seltos where owners had reported check engine light being turned on.
Ford could issue a check-up or recall for the current BS6 cars to update their software but there isn’t any official word on it yet. The BS6 Ecosport diesel is powered by a 1.5-litre TDCI engine which produces 100hp and 215Nm of torque. The transmission duties are taken care of by a 5-speed manual. This engine is shared with the Figo, Freestyle and the Aspire. There aren’t any reports of deliveries being delayed for these models yet even though they share the same powertrain. Ford had recently introduced a new version of the Ecosport called the Ecosport SE which come with the same 1.5-litre diesel engine. It is good to see Ford being proactive about their vehicles and issuing recalls. There is no word yet on how long the delay will be but expect it to be by a few weeks.