P2196: owner reports and bulletins

Powertrain (generic, all makes). We haven't written the explanation for this code yet. Below is what owners and manufacturers have filed with NHTSA.

Got P2196 on your scanner? Tell the mechanic your year, make, model and any symptoms and you'll get the likely cause and what to check first. Ask about this code.

What owners report to NHTSA

25 complaints filed with NHTSA mention P2196, 23 of them since 2015, across 12 different models. The component owners most often filed it under: engine.

Most-reported models

VehicleComplaintsModel years reported
FORD FOCUS62013, 2014, 2016, 2017
VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT32013, 2014
FORD FUSION32015, 2017, 2018
FORD EDGE32013, 2016

Manufacturer service bulletins that name P2196

41 technical service bulletins and manufacturer communications filed with NHTSA mention P2196, from 7 makes. A bulletin means the manufacturer has documented a known cause or a fix procedure for that model. Examples:

  • FORD ESCAPE (2020, 2021), bulletin 10201593: Some 2020-2021 Escape vehicles may exhibit a loss of voltage reference (VREF) or runs rough, blow fuse 44 and may or may not set DTC's P06A7,P0840,P0842,P0845,P0847,P2122,P2127,P0522,P008A,P06A6,P2196,P0192, P0212,P0340,…
  • FORD F-150 (2018, 2019, 2020), bulletin 10176003: Some 2018-2020 Model Year F-150 vehicles equipped with a 2.7L EcoBoost engine may experience an illuminated malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) with DTC P2196 and/or P2198 stored in the powertrain control module (PCM). Engi…
  • LINCOLN NAUTILUS (2019, 2020), bulletin 10168812: Some 2019-2020 Edge/Escape/Nautilus/Corsair vehicles equipped with 2.0L EcoBoost engines may exhibit low coolant, white smoke from the tailpipe, an over temperature warning in the instrument panel cluster (IPC), external…
  • SUBARU ASCENT (2019), bulletin 10146481: This bulletin announces reprogramming file availability to optimize the ECM. These new files involve the ECM?s diagnosis of DTC P0045: TURBOCHARGER / SUPERCHARGER BOOST CONTROL ?A? CIRCUIT OPEN and DTC P2196: A/F O2 SENS…
  • FORD EDGE (2019), bulletin 10155555: Some 2019 Edge/Nautilus vehicles equipped with a 2.0L EcoBoost engine, built on or before 23-Jan-2019 may exhibit an illuminated malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) with diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) P0128, P0217, P02EE, …
  • CHEVROLET MALIBU (2018), bulletin 10137161: 18009 - Service Update. The bootloader version for the engine control module (ECM) was incorrectly released, and may result in a no-start or stall, and P062B, P0171/P0172, P1133/P2195/P2196 or P300 diagnostic trouble cod…

Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaint database and manufacturer communications file, snapshots September 2026. A complaint or bulletin that mentions a code is a report about that vehicle, not a statement that the code has one cause.