Enlarge / All these Ferraris have to be recalled because of a faulty brake fluid reservoir cap. (credit: 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.)