- Ford has already damaged the file for many security remembers in a yr
In 2014, Normal Motors set the file for probably the most security remembers an automaker issued in a yr. Amid a scandal over defective ignition switches, the automaker referred to as again automobiles for pressing repairs 77 occasions.
Ford has issued 89 remembers up to now in 2025. The yr is 53% over.
Ford has issued extra remembers in 2025 than the following 5 automakers mixed.
What Is a Recall?
- A recall is a legally required free repair for a security downside
Federal legislation requires automakers to repair issues of safety with their automobiles without cost. The legislation additionally requires them to aim to contact registered homeowners to allow them to know of the issue. The federal authorities’s Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) oversees the method.
Virtually each automaker points a number of remembers yearly. Automakers persistently inform us their greatest frustration within the course of is homeowners who ignore recall notices.
Not each high quality downside is a security downside. Peeling paint gained’t set off a recall, however a defective airbag or a component that may fall off into site visitors will.
The legislation technically lets automakers off the hook 15 years after a automotive is first offered. However many automakers proceed to restore even older automobiles without cost. In significantly threatening circumstances, they could even ask drivers to cease utilizing automobiles altogether and order sellers to cease promoting them till they’re mounted.
Ford Had Been Making Progress
- Ford led the auto trade in remembers for a number of years, however did higher in 2024
The information is especially devastating for Ford as a result of the corporate had been making progress on an outdated recall downside.
Ford led the auto trade in remembers in each 2022 and 2023. It paid a $165 million superb and entered right into a consent decree with NHTSA requiring a plan to handle its recall downside.
Final yr, the corporate employed a brand new head of high quality and held tens of 1000’s of automobiles for additional inspections earlier than delivering them to sellers. It gave the impression to be working. In 2024, Tesla and Stellantis shared the doubtful recall crown.
So, What Occurred?
- A software program audit pressured Ford to repeat some older remembers
- Even with out these repeats, the corporate leads the trade in remembers
There’s no single clarification for Ford’s nightmare 2025 recall problem. However there’s an evidence for greater than a 3rd of it. Thirty-three of the 89 have been partial repeats of outdated remembers.
Many remembers in as we speak’s automobiles relate to software program issues. Early this yr, Ford found an issue with the best way its sellers uploaded software program fixes.
The system they used might sometimes report success even when an add failed. Ford developed a brand new course of to repair that, and launched an audit of software-related remembers from prior years.
“The overwhelming majority of recall repairs had been profitable, with the proper software program model put in on the related module,” Ford says. However, in lots of prior remembers, a small proportion of automobiles didn’t get the proper replace.
Sellers believed that they had, and returned the automobiles to homeowners as mounted.
Ford’s audits recognized the automobiles that had been lacking the updates. Thirty-three occasions up to now in 2025, the corporate has issued a second recall to carry again these automobiles to have the proper software program put in.
Take away these 33, nonetheless, and Ford nonetheless has 56 remembers, barely greater than midway by means of the yr. Ford would possibly beat GM’s 2014 file even with out the software program audit at that tempo.
What Is Ford Doing About It?
- Ford has employed extra inspectors and elevated inner testing
- Executives are spending time on manufacturing unit flooring
Ford has taken a number of steps to handle the problem.
An organization spokesperson advised trade publication Automotive Information that Ford “has greater than doubled its staff of security and technical specialists up to now two years and considerably elevated testing to failure on important techniques equivalent to powertrains, steering, and braking.”
The corporate can be “turning to in-house options equivalent to AI-powered software program techniques to assist catch defects extra shortly,” AN reviews.
Fan website Ford Authority reviews executives have additionally begun conducting “gemba walks” — a Japanese method that entails visiting manufacturing unit flooring to check how work is carried out and work together instantly with front-line employees.
