no cap —

Almost every Ferrari sold since 2005 is being recalled

A faulty brake fluid reservoir cap might not vent properly, causing brake failure.

Jonathan M. Gitlin - Aug 9, 2022 12:46 pm UTC

Enlarge / All these Ferraris have to be recalled because of a faulty brake fluid reservoir cap.
Ferrari

Spare a thought for Ferrari. Not its F1 team, repeatedly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as rival Red Bull romps away with the championships, but the road car division, which is in the process of recalling nearly every car it has sold since 2005.

The problem is the cap of the brake fluid reservoir. It's designed to vent pressure if necessary, but evidently that design isn't so hot. Venting can fail to happen, causing a vacuum to build up, resulting in a possible leak of brake fluid. And if you don't have any brake fluid in your brake lines, you aren't going to be able to slow down or stop (without hitting something large and solid).

The fix is therefore pretty simple—a new brake fluid reservoir cap, and a software patch that lets a driver know if their brake fluid reservoir is running low. (Should this occur, Ferrari says pull over immediately and get the car towed.)

The company thinks that only about 1 percent of cars are affected, but prudence requires replacing them all. Which is about 23,555 cars in the US, starting with 612 Scagliettis built in early 2004. In fact, the only Ferraris that will be exempt will be the 575M Maranello, 599 GTB, SF90, and the new 296 hybrid.

Owners should be notified toward the end of September by Ferrari about when to bring their cars in to be fixed.

Promoted Comments

dtich Ars Scholae Palatinae et Subscriptor
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Shavano wrote:
It took them 17 years to figure this out?

no, it took this guy rolling into his pond and subsequent class action suit to do it.

https://thebrakereport.com/brake-fluid- ... rari-suit/

as always.

968 posts | registered 5/15/2008
KingKrayola Ars Praetorian et Subscriptor
jump to post
dtich wrote:
show nested quotes
DistinctivelyCanuck wrote:
Because a car that by design gets driven hard, at the edge of performance envelope, really doesn't need reliable brakes.

All for the sake of, what, a $5.00 'made in china' component?

It's probably more like $0.50 .

it's not that simple (besides the fact that lots of good components are made in china, not to start a usa fight, but let's be honest, they know how to make stuff; it's often cheap, but certainly doesn't have to be - they are one of only 3 countries to land on the moon don't forget.. they can do stuff well when they want to).

brake fluid reservoir caps are not simple plastic discs, they are vented to the air but in a controlled way to minimize moisture in the system (brake fluid is hygroscopic to the detriment of its performance), and often have a small diaphragm to balance internal pressure as level goes down.. etc. so. often they are, especially in racing and high perf situations, like riding my aprilia through the twisties, upwards of $40+ and made of finely milled metal.

At the start of my career I designed a brake fluid reservoir for a tractor manufacturer. We used a cap from a production car but with a custom length float for the fluid level switch.

The valve was a little LDPE (I think) 'poppet' that sealed itself in a hole in the cap but still let air out by lifting under its own weight.

We found out in testing that when you pressure-wash a tractor enough water sits on top of the reservoir that the LDPE poppet, being less dense than water, floated and let water in. One of those facepalm moments once we figured it out. I can't rememember if the fix was to use a heavier-than-water resin for the poppet or to switch to a different cap.

I'm amazed that Ferrari didn't just raid the Fiat parts bin - I know they are now a separate company but I'm pretty sure they'll still share some parts.

590 posts | registered 7/14/2017

Promoted Comments

dtich Ars Scholae Palatinae et Subscriptor
jump to post
Shavano wrote:
It took them 17 years to figure this out?

no, it took this guy rolling into his pond and subsequent class action suit to do it.

https://thebrakereport.com/brake-fluid- ... rari-suit/

as always.

968 posts | registered 5/15/2008
KingKrayola Ars Praetorian et Subscriptor
jump to post
dtich wrote:
show nested quotes
DistinctivelyCanuck wrote:
Because a car that by design gets driven hard, at the edge of performance envelope, really doesn't need reliable brakes.

All for the sake of, what, a $5.00 'made in china' component?

It's probably more like $0.50 .

it's not that simple (besides the fact that lots of good components are made in china, not to start a usa fight, but let's be honest, they know how to make stuff; it's often cheap, but certainly doesn't have to be - they are one of only 3 countries to land on the moon don't forget.. they can do stuff well when they want to).

brake fluid reservoir caps are not simple plastic discs, they are vented to the air but in a controlled way to minimize moisture in the system (brake fluid is hygroscopic to the detriment of its performance), and often have a small diaphragm to balance internal pressure as level goes down.. etc. so. often they are, especially in racing and high perf situations, like riding my aprilia through the twisties, upwards of $40+ and made of finely milled metal.

At the start of my career I designed a brake fluid reservoir for a tractor manufacturer. We used a cap from a production car but with a custom length float for the fluid level switch.

The valve was a little LDPE (I think) 'poppet' that sealed itself in a hole in the cap but still let air out by lifting under its own weight.

We found out in testing that when you pressure-wash a tractor enough water sits on top of the reservoir that the LDPE poppet, being less dense than water, floated and let water in. One of those facepalm moments once we figured it out. I can't rememember if the fix was to use a heavier-than-water resin for the poppet or to switch to a different cap.

I'm amazed that Ferrari didn't just raid the Fiat parts bin - I know they are now a separate company but I'm pretty sure they'll still share some parts.

590 posts | registered 7/14/2017

Jonathan M. Gitlin Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

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