It’s no secret that Ford has faced its fair share of quality issues in recent history, leading to it becoming the most recalled manufacturer in 2022. Ford also ranked well below average in the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study and Consumer Reports‘ annual reliability study, though the automaker has made several moves to rectify this ongoing issue over the past several months. In the meantime, FoMoCo’s quality nightmares continue as 2023 Ford Escape production is currently on hold due to software issues, and now, the Ford F-150 Lightning is affected as well, according to CNBC.
Ford F-150 Lightning production is reportedly being affected by a “potential battery issue” discovered during pre-delivery quality inspections, though the automaker didn’t provide any specific details as to what that problem might be. As a result, Ford issued a stop-shipment last week, and has also idled production of the EV pickup at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. The Blue Oval is currently investigating the matter, and has no timeline on when production and shipments will resume.
“The team is diligently working on the root cause analysis,” said Ford spokeswoman Emma Bergg, adding the company is “doing the right thing by our customers.” Bergg said that the automaker is also unaware of any incidents or issues that have arisen as a result of this potential problem, and dealers can continue selling Ford F-150 Lightning stock that they have on their lots at the moment.
In an effort to take action and make quality a point of focus in its operations, CEO Jim Farley recently brought in turnaround expert Josh Halliburton to be the company’s new executive director of quality. However, while Halliburton believes Ford’s quality woes will begin to subside this year, CEO Jim Farley isn’t quite as optimistic.
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Comments
Once again Ford is a day late and a dollar short! Production Shutdown. Question of the day is. Will Jimbob Farley be seen in Daytona and how big will Steaks, Lobster and shrimp be in the Ford Suite bee?
Big, tasty, heavenly.
Ps M(angy) S(illy) Dogs are not invited.
RWFA tell me why on everyone who tells you the truth you breathe fire
Truth? LoL. Oh Tomasz, at my BBQs here I only roast BS.
Just another normal day at FoMoCo. The worst automaker in the auto industry.
LoL you don’t know much about the industry.
Things like this happen to everyone. With new tech it can happen more frequently.
No need to lose your perspective.
Ford has the most recalls and yes, is a total disaster right now. They can’t get a launch right and have few units on dealer lots because they are in the worst position regarding chips. GM is slaughtering Ford these days.
Yes problems due to chips.
Problems locked in from strategies and long term contracts made years ago. (Both at the OEM and supplier levels.)
Difficulty and excess costs to buy chips on the spot market from brokers.
Thousands of chips in a vehicle. Stability of supply is paramount.
New contracts with Global Foundries last year, for upcoming programs, actually ahead of GM doing same.
Current chip situation is improving and looks to be much better by mid year.
As new product with new chip sources comes on line this problem should dissipate. Similar can be expected for the Q issues.
The path forward is clear, the plan just has to continue to be executed with necessary dispatch and care.
And realistic expectations.
I believe that honour is already attributed to Chrysler/Jeep
I applaud them for not passing the buck down the road to the public. It sucks the Suppliers are that bad, but damn I would rather wait and get a good vehicle then deal with recalls, or worse problems in the field after I have traded in another car to use these instead.
Agree, it’s the right thing to do.
+1.
The wright thing to do is get it wright the first time. This is nothing new since the Explorer and Aviator lanch with poor quality and bad software. Ford needs to quit trying to max the bottom line and just come out with a good product and that is what will make your customer happy. My maverick has so many rattles its just so sad because the truck is a good ideal but made so cheap and with poor quality. I get the top of the line and ford is so cheap they take the nav out, auto wipers and no control over the headlight delay when the vehicle shuts off like my ranger had and the escape has. It the little details that kills this small truck. I will not buy one again. I know it selling so fast ford cannot keep up but when the honeymoon is over and the poor quality shows it ugly head the customer may not come back for second go around.
“The wright thing to do is get it wright the first time.”
Please take what this obvious expert in quality control says to heart, and with a grain of salt.
Indeed…sounds like a chronic whiner. We’ve all encountered the type, they’re never happy.
And, for the record, I am extremely pleased with my 2022 Maverick…a year into ownership and it’s squeak-and-rattle free.
Worse than a chronic whiner, more likely a paid troll. This site is lousy with them.
Glad to hear you like your Mav and it likes you!
We love our F350 which will be a year old in March.
As for “electric” vehicles, in my view, Ford and others, have pushed too hard and too fast with electric which is a system that has a LONG way to go before it’s truly ready.
Remember, these batteries still have CHINA parts, if not all, that go into the batteries. Do you really TRUST China??
Electric is STILL not powerful enough from what I use my F350 for, and I doubt will be within 10 years.
A new handle echoes K-Street’s pushing equivalence between two different use cases in order to sway folks off Lightning.
With a bit of nationalist fervor thrown in.
So obviously a sockpuppet.
Ford is the really up against it. They have several hot products they can not produce at scale. They also have had several huge issues like the class action lawsuit for the 2.0L eco-boost engine flaw. This is entirely internal and I think a lot of upper and middle managers need to get dumped. Stinks of corporate politics. Ford used to say, “Quality is job one”. What is it now?
LoL Bob yesterday was warning folks about already remediated engine fires.
What’s his ultimate objective?
Don’t forget about lifters failing at 30-40k miles on Ford’s new 7.3 motor. As stated the Mach e was already banned by Consumer Reports. But EVs are problematic in general.
“Banned by CR” tell you all you need to know about the quality veracity of V.Cherian’s posts.
MachE recently dropped by Consumer Reports due to poor quality, now this. Not a surprise the Execs stated EVs aren’t profitable.
And K-street Dave, here to be later amped by his troll team colleagues with his scripted CR talking point, and misrepresentation about what expects have actually said.
A fake truck that can’t even tow for 80 miles is having problems just like their fake Mustang…got it.
Fake Derek lives in a world where everything is fake but the sock puppets.
If you think GM builds quality… I got swamp land to sell you. The reason car companies dont have large supplies of chips and other components is because everyone copied Toyota’s model for manufacturing. 5S and lean manufacturing means they no longer stock-pile parts. Instead, they have them delivered J ust I n T ime. Now they are all paying for it big-time! Perhaps, Toyota isnt as smart as everyone thinks?
The Ford CEO stated last week at the earnings call, “Toyota isn’t having these issues.” Toyota is top of the charts in most categories.
Toyota is very smart. Anybody who thinks otherwise does it at their own peril. (Farley from his decade and a half at Toyota knows this too.)
TMC has also suffered production plan cuts due to chip shortages but because TMC has tighter control over its supply base and the advantage of size they have been able to weather these times relatively better than most.
Ford also suffered because it was buying chips that were not current generation because the costs were lower.
Problem is that the profits for the chipmakers were lower as well, so when capacity push came to delivery shove, older low profit chips were deprioritized.
Ford’s purchase strategy never contemplated a pandemic driven black swan taking a big dump on the chip supply pipeline. Ford was definitely not alone in this oversight.
Thankfully Super Dutys are selling like crazy which is suppressing EVs. They are forced to divert chips and resources to the hot sellers. EVs are stuck in irrelevance.
Larry has a bird flying about between his ears stirring up little ideas.
Oh wait, I almost mistook him for
someone else, but Larry is a member of Big Oil’s anti EV K-street Troll tag team who are ineffectual little birds depositing disinformation on folks heads.
Ps Big Oil likes to promote SD because it locks in sales of their Texas tea.
States are finally implementing a tax on EVs only, about time. Everyone pays a tax at the pump, so taxing the small amount of EVs is the moral thing to do.
Another K-streeter, this time JasonR posting bad faith sockpuppet themes.
This time its the EV’s should pay road tax, trying to frighten prospective customers away by raising the specter of road taxes.
The “tax EVs is the moral thing to do”is a Big Oil argument trying to find traction in order to dampen or kill EV demand growth because white paper studies say that until EV’s represent a significant part of the current fleet, they acquit themselves quite well tax wise due to the higher excise and state sales taxes paid on their higher transaction prices.
I will note it’s usually Shelly K-street pushing this scripted point but also Last Chance Larry has as well.
So they do switch it up a bit but it doesn’t matter because they are as obvious as ducks in an arcade target game.
We just ordered a diesel Super Duty. We will now have 3 diesels in the family. Order banks are still open on certain trims of Super Duty trucks. 300K units so far and counting, order away folks.
Here we have DereK-street pushing the scripted diesel Super Duty angle.
Big Oil likes this scripted theme primarily because it “locks in” revenue. They push high mileage durability because they know that BEVs are low maintenance machines.
So obvious and shameless in their sock puppetry.
But then again, think of the desperation they must be feeling in the halls of Big Oil when they look at production forecasts 5 years out.
The result is internal desperation and external acts of sociopathy.