While it has issued far more recalls throughout the course of 2025 than any other automaker thus far, Ford has stated that it has also improved its initial quality – at least, as it pertains to the current model year. Ford Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra recently said that the automaker has made great strides in terms of improving initial quality for 2025 model year vehicles, specifically, and the recently-released 2025 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS) largely backed up those claims, as the automaker secured four category wins. However, it seems as if the 2025 Ford Explorer launch actually hampered those efforts.
“The new 2025 Explorer launched earlier than Ford’s other 2025 model year resulting in a 55 percent overall brand survey weighting,” Mike Levine, communications director at Ford Blue, told Ford Authority in a statement. “Unexpected early quality issues are disproportionately represented compared to Explorer’s typical sales mix. We have addressed these early quality issues since the IQS survey was conducted. All Ford models finished better than their segment average except for the new 2025 Explorer, which had early quality issues that we have since addressed.”
As a brand, Ford ranked just below the industry average of 192 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) with a score of 193, but in 2024, the automaker’s PP100 score was 172, signaling a bit of a year-over-year slip in that regard. The Blue Oval did secure four segment wins, however – with the Ford Mustang, the Ford F-150, the Ford Escape, and the Ford Super Duty all ranking atop their respective classes. That was the most of any automotive brand, but Ford’s cross-town rival, General Motors, brought home five total category wins – the most of any automaker.
As for Lincoln, Ford’s luxury arm did post a strong improvement in the latest IQS, year-over-year. It had a PP100 score of 225 in 2024, which was among the worst in the luxury vehicle space, but it improved to 206 in 2025 – still a bit below the average of 192 PP100, however.
Comments
The Explorer has been a drag on Ford’s quality results ever since the start of the prior generation, so at least 10 years.
The new generation 2020 till now seems like a nightmare with all the electronic glitches and the mechanical issues that have plagued this model since 2020