Ferrari Is Recalling Seventeen Years Worth Of Cars
Get out your best wide-angle lenses, the 2000s are back, baby.Photo: Axion23, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
There are, broadly, a few attributes that distinguish a Ferrari from the general rabble out on the roads. Ferraris are fast, loud, and most of all red. But now, it seems the company has found another unifying thread to weave between its models: Potential brake failure.
For the past seventeen years, nearly every Ferrari model has apparently shared that single fatal flaw. Now, the company is taking action — recalling over 23,000 vehicles to ensure the wide pedal actually does its job. That’s more than twice as many cars as it sold in 2021, a year that set sales records for the company.
Photo: Axion23, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
As you’d expect for a recall that spans seventeen years, the list of affected vehicles is exhaustive. NHTSA lists the following models on its recall acknowledgement:
2005-2009 Ferrari 4302019-2020 Ferrari 488 Pista2010-2011 Ferrari 6122005-2011 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti2018-2022 Ferrari 8122009-2017 Ferrari California2015-2017 Ferrari California T2013-2017 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta2017 Ferrari F12 TDF2016 Ferrari F60 America2020-2022 Ferrari F8 Spider2020-2022 Ferrari F8 Tributo2012-2016 Ferrari FF2017-2020 Ferrari GTC4Lusso2018-2020 Ferrari GTC4Lusso T
2013-2015 Ferrari LaFerrari2017 Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta2019-2022 Ferrari Portofino2021-2022 Ferrari Roma
Yet for all those years of issues, all those models, the fix is shockingly simple: A new brake fluid reservoir cap and an ECU update. Apparently, the stock cap simply doesn’t vent well enough, and can create a vacuum inside the fluid reservoir.
If you own an affected model, run your VIN through NHTSA’s recall site to see if your individual car needs to be fixed. Ferrari estimates that only one percent of the 23,555 listed cars will need repair, but it’s better to be safe than sorry — you’re going to need brakes to tame that much speed, noise, and red.
