2014 Ford F150 on 2040-cars

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New 2020 Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator recalled for minor safety issues

Ford has announced a small recall on 2020 Explorers and 2020 Lincoln Aviators. Select units might be missing a manual park release cover, while others might have instrument clusters stuck in Factory Mode. The recall affects 14,135 SUVs in total.  While a vehicle is in production in a manufacturing facility, Ford might put them in what is known as Factory Mode to help reduce battery drain. Affecting the instrument cluster, this mode disables warning alerts, warning chimes, and does not show the PRNDL gear selector display. Ford says one vehicle was in an accident at a production facility as a result of the issue, but nobody was injured.  Separately, Ford found that some of these Explorers and Aviators might be lacking a manual park release cover. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards require a manual park release cover that is only removable with a tool. Without the cover, there is a very minor chance the manual park release could be accidentally actuated, which could allow the vehicle to move on its own.  The recalls affect 13,896 vehicles in the U.S. and 239 in Canada. The Explorers were built between March 27, 2019, and July 24, 2019. The Aviators were built between April 10, 2019, and July 24, 2019. Owners can use Ford's recall number 19C06, and if affected, can take their vehicles in for fixes.

Ford wins second consecutive International Van of the Year award with Transit Connect

The redesigned 2014 Ford Transit Connect isn't even on sale yet, but it's already making its presence felt around the world. At a commercial vehicle expo in Russia, the Transit Connect was named the International Van of the Year.
Ford's small work van edged out the new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter by just seven points to allow Ford to grab this honor for the second consecutive year, which it won last year with the Transit Custom. Not only does this make Ford the first to ever win the award in back-to-back years, but it's also the fifth time the automaker has won this award since 2003 (two with the Transit Connect, two with the fullsize Transit and once with the Transit Custom). Ford congratulates itself for the accomplishment in a press release posted below.

Amazon looking to bring Kindle to your next car?

Maybe so. The online retailer and digital media monolith recently announced the Amazon Cloud Player, an application for Ford Sync that allows users to stream media from their Amazon Cloud account directly to a Ford vehicle. This foray into automotive technology got the minds at Gigaom.com thinking about what could be next for Amazon. As Kevin Fitchard writes, the logical step is to make audio versions of your Kindle library selections available in your car. As he points out, Amazon has already laid the groundwork for such a move.
Amazon pulled the sheets back on Whispersync for Voice last year. The tech pairs ebooks with an Audible book for a small extra fee, allowing users to either read along with a narrator or switch between audio and text versions on command. Fitchard says it wouldn't be some great leap to apply the same principles to a car, where voice recognition software would allow users to pause or select chapters without ever taking their eyes off of the road.
It all sounds just fine to us, but Amazon hasn't said a thing about such a move. Still, we wouldn't be surprised to see the company come down this road in the near future just the same.