Remembers have been a bugaboo for Ford all yr.
Between January 2024 and mid-2025, Ford initiated 94 recollects affecting practically 6 million autos. By July, Ford had issued its 89th recall of 2025, simply surpassing GM’s 2014 report of 78 recollects for all the yr.
Ford has now issued over 100 recollects in 2025, with 4 weeks remaining within the yr.
The problem has been so unhealthy that the corporate addressed its high quality management points throughout its third-quarter earnings name.
COO Kumar Galhotra opened his feedback on the corporate’s third-quarter earnings name, addressing the problem.
“Improving quality is the single biggest driver to close our cost gap. Better quality
lowers warranty expense and reduces recalls,” Galhotra mentioned.
Nonetheless, he additionally admitted that Ford had a construct downside throughout the Covid pandemic, and lots of the autos from that space are being recalled.
“You need time to clear the car park of old issues. It all starts with a clean launch. A bad launch creates years of warranty and recall problems. Over the past two years, we have radically improved our launch quality,” Galhotra mentioned.
This week, Ford is recalling quite a few autos from that period for the second time as a consequence of a difficulty that might not be resolved with a software program replace.
Ford is asking Ford Escape PHEV homeowners to not cost their autos totally.
Picture by Bloomberg on Getty Pictures
Ford recollects Ford Escape, Lincoln Corsair PHEVs for a second time
Ford and its Lincoln luxurious division are recalling 20,558 Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid SUVs, mannequin years 2020-2024, and Lincoln Corsair PHEV SUVs, mannequin years 2021-2024, as a consequence of a battery difficulty that might trigger a hearth.
Ford’s complete U.S. gross sales by yr:
- 2024: 2.08 million autos offered, +4.2%
- 2023: 1.99 million autos offered, +7.1%
- 2022: 1.77 million autos offered, -2.2%
- 2021: 1.9 million autos offered, -6.8%
That is the second time Ford is issuing this recall, because the cells throughout the batteries of those autos can short-circuit, resulting in a lack of propulsion and probably a hearth.
Ford initially offered a protecting software program replace supposed to detect brief circuits; nevertheless, it has since been decided that the software program might not have the ability to detect each brief circuit.
The corporate is creating a brand new resolution, however within the meantime, it’s asking homeowners to maintain their autos in Auto EV mode and restrict their state of cost.
Ford says it has a plan to repair high quality points
This week, Ford issued a recall for greater than 200,000 2025-2026 Broncos and Bronco Sport fashions, that are being recalled as a result of their instrument panel shows don’t present crucial info, equivalent to warning lights or automobile velocity.
The failures enhance the danger of a crash, so some fashions are being recalled for “instrument panel display failure.”
Associated: Ford suffers one other main F-150 setback
That recall means that Ford’s high quality management difficulty is not only a factor of the previous, as the corporate claims.
Nonetheless, a number of the numbers counsel that Ford is bettering.
In 2023, Ford spent $4.8 billion fixing buyer autos, a 15% enhance from the earlier yr. It put aside $1,203 for guarantee repairs on every automotive it offered that yr, in line with Guarantee Week.
A current research by iSeeCars.com, analyzing 31 years of recall historical past, discovered that Ford is the least proactive automotive model in terms of issuing recollects. Fewer than 30% of the vehicles recalled during the last three many years resulted from an issue Ford discovered by itself.
Associated: Ford recollects one among its best-selling autos
To treatment this downside, in 2024, Ford initiated a brand new high quality assurance program that comes with “testing vehicles to failure,” operating them “at extremely high mileage” to search out potential issues earlier than clients do.
On the time, CEO Jim Farley mentioned the brand new method would “cut back guarantee (prices) over time.”
Ford says it is already making progress and is “on track” for best-in-class performance across six of its nameplates, with three other nameplates in the top quartile, according to J.D. Power warranty analytics data.
The company also reported lower year-over-year third-quarter warranty costs, down $450 million.
Associated: Ford CEO Jim Farley will get actual about his retirement
