458/488 Brake Recall

You hold the handle. Go out on an empty piece of road and try it. It's not very dramatic. It's a pretty controlled slow-down. If you read in the owners manual, it's actually described as a means to stop the car in an emergency.

 

Ferrari said that subsequent Ferrari’s uses a different booster which is why the F8 is not included in the recall or notice with the NHTSA.

 

for reference: direct link

https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=21V833000

 

I did a self-recall a few months ago:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/intermittent-brake-failure-fixed.639751/

Still, thanks to the NHTSA for stepping in! I plan to call Ferrari and see what they say...

 

Does anyone know if Ferrari offers complementary enclosed transport service to the dealership for recalls like these? the closest dealership is two hours away.

 

Probably should provide a loaner too

 

https://www.autoblog.com/2021/11/01/ferrari-brake-failure-recall/

 

Some of these sites are posting wrong info it seems. Like this one below?

“According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the recall population is estimated at 5,601 vehicles in North America, with an unknown defect rate. This includes the 2010-2015 458 Italia, 2012-2015 458 Spider, 2014-2015 458 Speciale, 2015 458 Speciale Aperta, and 2016-2019 488 GTB and 488 Spider.”

So this means only 5,600 458’s sold in USA if it was correct

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/ferrari-announces-rather-big-recall-in-the-us-says-it-cannot-fix-the-supercars-yet-173097.html

 

They don't. It may just be me, but a two hour drive isn't exactly a long drive. Why not just enjoy the drive and take it there yourself? Then request an interesting loaner and enjoy that for a few days. Roma, Porto, MC20. Something fun.

 

So what is everyone doing? Just park it and wait an indefinite period of time? Or call your dealer now?

 

There is much more information here than there was in speaking to my dealer today. Very sad.

 

5600 of both 458 and 488. Much less than I expected.

 

Park it if the warning light comes on.

 

Just … no. Think for a minute about how massive a problem, not to mention the liability, this must actually be for Ferrari to do a recall. What percentage of owners actually post on FChat? I’m guessing less than 5% worldwide. Maybe higher for the US. Maybe. So for every issue or potential issue that you’ve seen here, there are likely dozens more you don’t know about.

Drive the car two hours to the dealer??? Insane. What makes you think you can actually just pull over and park it? You are really going to put your life, and everyone else on the road, in the hands of the electronic wizards at Ferrari who designed the warning system? That’s a stretch. Let them come fetch it or at least reimburse for a tow.

And yes I realize there have been millions of miles on these cars with likely few relative incidents but why risk it?


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I'm guessing they've identified certain production lots of the booster to be vulnerable. I was going to get the fluid flushed and the car checked out before a track day next month. I wonder if the issue would be noticeable by a knowledgeable 3rd party tech? Shame there isn't a handy web page to plug your VIN into to tell if it is affected.

 

@Jason B

It states:

Potential Number of Units Affected 9,985

(not 5600)

https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=21V833000

 

I’m going off the official released PDF file seen here which says for 5600, which isn’t a lot of USA cars for 458/488. Just makes these Cara much rarer also.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2021/RCLRPT-21V833-4048.PDF

 

Here's an interesting tidbit from the Amendment 2 PDF:
Production Dates : SEP 26, 2009 - DEC 02, 2015 VIN Range 1 : Begin : ZFF67NHB000170100 End : ZFF75VFA4F0213136

My VIN starts ZFF67NFA so it sounds like my car is not supposed to be affected, but I'll take that with a grain of salt until they know more

 

VIN range is not sequential and, read in conjunction with the production dates, means EVERY 458 and 488 is part of the recall at least for now

 

Thank you,

However, this PDF is more recent (notice the sequence number increasing, "4048" above.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2021/RCAK-21V833-9373.pdf

and this too:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2021/RCLRPT-21V833-8072.PDF

and:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2021/RCLRPT-21V833-9965.PDF

it refers to 9,985, it appears that Ferrari is still trying to determine its total manufacturing exposure, so these values could further increase

Here is the backgrounder:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2021/RMISC-21V833-4408.pdf

Chronology of Defect

Ferrari was made aware of an issue involving a potential braking issue in March 2021 in connection with a MY 2018 Ferrari 488 GTB that had experienced a brake failure in the USA.

A vehicle technical and insurance subrogation inspection on such car took place in May 2021. The result of the inspection showed that the master cylinder failed causing the loss of brakes. It was not possible to determine the cause of the failure. Ferrari performed certain preliminary verifications on brake booster components without finding the root cause of the failure.

Given that such brake components are assemblies entirely manufactured by Bosch, in June 2021, Ferrari requested Bosch to have such components inspected. Bosch inspected one of the assembly and was not able to identify the root cause of the failure.

In September 2021, Ferrari was made aware about two 488s that experienced brake failure in the US. Ferrari began performing service history reviews of both of these vehicles. In September 2021, Ferrari requested again Bosch to inspect another assembly. Also for such assembly, Bosch was not able to ascertain the root cause of the relevant failure.

In early October 2021, Ferrari was contacted by NHTSA concerning two Vehicle Owner Questionnaires involving 3 VINs, i.e. VIN 232813, VIN 232226 and VIN 234234. Ferrari investigated VIN 234234 and found that the vehicle was repaired under warranty at a dealer. Ferrari obtained the master cylinder/brake booster assembly from the dealer and inspections by the supplier are expected to be carried out also on this component.

Additionally, Ferrari sent over to Bosch the assembly of VIN 232226 for its analysis. In October 2021, Ferrari informed Bosch about the inquiry submitted to Ferrari by NHTSA , since Bosch is the owner of all technical information, design and drawings of the brake booster components.

Ferrari, in particular, requested Bosch assistance in: (i) providing any documents/information about this component, (ii) continuing to investigate the root cause of the issue as quickly as possible.

In October 2021, Ferrari participated in a vehicle inspection of VIN 232226 noticed by State Farm Insurance. At the inspection, it was observed that the brake fluid had leaked into the brake booster chamber. Ferrari has been able to have a representative from Bosch to participate at the inspection. Also a representative from NHTSA was present at this inspection. Although Ferrari and Bosch continue to investigate the issue, including the scope of the affected vehicle population and the root cause behind a potential brake fluid leakage, Ferrari decided to conduct a safety recall to address this issue on October 20th, 2021.

Verification of the number of warranty claims is still being researched.

Ferrari has had no reports of injuries or deaths as a consequence of this issue.

 

At this time after 35k km, multiple fluid changes, several pad changes, more track days that I care to remember, and not a single issue. I'll keep driving while I wait if they haven't resolved it by spring.

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Pull the parking brake.

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