When the electric power steering boost failed in my Escape, my research turned up cases involving mostly Escapes, but also Flex's etc. So either the failure became common enough on those other models that Ford saw fit to recall them, or they chose to fix the biggest problem first and then address the other models, perhaps as parts (such as steering columns) were again available.
An interesting question comes up. Manufacturers are under pressure from other manufacturers to offer (or force upon) their customers the latest and greatest innovations. Like software, this pressure to be first or early to the market may mean some systems reach the market before they are fully debugged. There must be a delicate balance between attracting customers with early offerings of new systems, or losing customers due to unreliable new systems. Just like software.
Presumably a car company that's smart enough to be early to market with new (or cheaper) systems AND have those systems reliable, will win/keep customers, not have to do costly recalls, and so be able to offer more competitive pricing and thereby gain market share. Or the other way around.
