There have been a growing number of anecdotal accounts online in owner forums and even on YouTube that Ford has shifted production of the 2.5-liter Atkinson Cycle engines found in the Ford Maverick Hybrid from Mexico to the US amid quality concerns rooted the fire safety recalls that have been ongoing.
The confusion and rumors that production has been moved to the US originated from owners and dealership staff who have been seeing parts content window stickers this spring on new 2023 Ford Maverick Hybrids arriving which state that the engine and transmission are sourced from the US.
The parts content window stickers are required by the federal government, part of the American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA). The stickers are designed to inform customers of the percentage of parts content of their vehicles built in North America. The data itself is monitored by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).
In the case of 2023 Ford Maverick Hybrid models produced in the Hermosillo, Mexico assembly plant which have been surfacing with AALA stickers indicating an engine produced in the US, the engine itself has in fact been produced in the Ford Chihuahua Engine Plant in Mexico. This is clearly indicated by the serial number sticker on the engine.
If you own one of these vehicles or have access to one, you can verify this yourself by looking at the top side of the black plastic engine valve cover at the serial sticker on the passenger side. There you will find the acronym code “CHEP” which stands for Chihuahua Engine Plant.
Because of this discrepancy there have been a lot of rumors and speculation swirling on owners forums, news sites and a couple video on YouTube where people are suggesting that Ford has moved production of the 2.5-liter Atkinson Cycle engines to the US. In some cases people have theorized that Ford had quality concerns around the plant in Mexico and then moved production to the US. Not so.
There were indeed isolated machining issues that were had with a small number of engines in Ford Maverick, Ford Escape, and Lincoln Corsair Hybrids that resulted in engine failures. The failure numbers were something like less than a 15th of a percent of production. Very infinitesimal.
Due to a concern however that a catastrophic engine failure can result in a fire, widespread recalls have been issued to mitigate that risk which have fueled a good deal of salacious reporting in the media. That’s another story all together.
The hybrid powertrain is currently offered in the Ford Maverick, Ford Escape and the Lincoln Corsair. All of them feature the same 2.5-liter Atkinson Cycle engines produced at the Chihuahua Engine Plant in Mexico and paired with Hybrid Electric transmissions built at the Van Dyke plant in Michigan.
Confirmed by Ford Motor Company for me this week, this combination of factory sources continues through today’s current production. They state further that no changes in the production locations have been made for 2.5-liter Atkinson Cycle engines for hybrid powertrains.
In the final analysis, engine production has not been moved to another plant in the US. Ford has stated that emphatically and that the core issues around of the machining problems at the plant in Chihuahua, Mexico have been dealt with. They continue to build the engines there and only there.
