Ford audit query AQ22002
Healey Brothers Ford / Open Recall Sale. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this audit query about the control/drive module on 1 model year (2021). Opened Jun 3, 2022 and still open — 4.4 years so far. open
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedNHTSA is opening this audit query to investigate whether Healey Brothers Ford, LLC of Beacon, New York, has complied with the requirements of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. The Safety Act requires, among other things, that a manufacturer notify its dealers of defects related to motor vehicle safety and noncompliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and in turn that a dealer not deliver a new vehicle subject to a recall unless the recall remedy has been performed. 49 U.S.C. § 30120(i).NHTSA is in receipt of information that indicates this dealer delivered at least one new vehicle to a first purchaser without having performed required recall repairs. Accordingly, we are opening this audit query to seek additional information concerning this issue.
A Audit Query is an audit of whether the manufacturer met its early-warning reporting obligations — the data and reports it must send NHTSA — rather than of a vehicle condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.
The paperwork NHTSA filed
Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov- Opening resume — ODI’s own summary of why it opened this — the subject, what prompted it, and the vehicles in scope.
| Document | Code | Filed | At NHTSA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening resume | INOA | 2022 | |
| Information request to the manufacturer | INIM | 2022 | |
| Manufacturer's response — full submission | INRL | 2022 | 3 files 123 |
| Memo granting a response extension | INRE | 2022 | |
| Filed document | INIP | 2022 |
These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.
What owners had already reported
Source: complaints on file the day it openedWhen NHTSA opened this on Jun 3, 2022, owners had filed 32 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 2 named the fuel/propulsion system NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal, and more can be filed while an action is open.
This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one is open. Nothing is owed on the vehicle today; if it becomes a recall, owners are written to and the repair is free. The moment to know is the day the campaign number appears — Recall Watch checks each VIN against every new NHTSA campaign and emails you when one lands, or take a free one-line alert by model year.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themA vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
An investigation is not a recall. Yet.
If NHTSA’s questions become a recall, the campaign lands in the federal file first. Recall Watch checks your VINs against every new campaign the night it is filed.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs AQ22002 a recall?
No. A audit query is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one has not produced one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Is AQ22002 still open?
Yes, as of NHTSA’s latest file: opened Jun 3, 2022, 4.4 years ago.
Which vehicles does AQ22002 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2021 Ford Escape. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.