Ford COO Kumar Galhotra Says Addressing Quality Issues Resulted In More Recalls

As many are already well aware, Ford has issued more recalls than any other manufacturer for quite some time now, and that trend has only accelerated halfway into 2025. In fact, as Ford Authority recently reported, The Blue Oval held a commanding lead in regard to how many recalls it had issued near the conclusion of June, closing out the first half of the year with 88 of them – a new all-time record not only for a six-month period, but also, an entire calendar year. However, one Ford exec recently stated that this influx of recalls is actually part of a broader plan.

“Ford has significantly improved product quality. Our 2025 initial quality is on track to become among our best ever, and Ford was the most awarded brand in the recent J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study, with four Ford vehicles topping their segments,” Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s chief operating officer said in a statement.

“The increase in recalls reflects our intensive strategy to quickly find and fix hardware and software issues and go the extra mile to help protect customers. Ford has more than doubled its team of safety and technical experts in the past two years and significantly increased testing to failure on critical systems in current Ford vehicles such as powertrains, steering and braking. Insights from this testing are being incorporated into current production.

We are making progress on software quality, using an enhanced software validation process to help ensure the right software is present on vehicles and using over-the-air updates to address potential warranty issues before they become customer issues.

Modern digital safety systems require new talent, tools, and standards. Ford has deeply invested in those capabilities like connected data signaling and dramatically increased testing on all new products across broad variations in customer use.

In applying these new standards, we can and do find issues that exist on earlier model years, including ones that have not even been reported. We will not compromise our responsibility to all our customers, not just those buying new vehicles.

We believe this approach will lead to systemic and lasting positive change and help us reach world-class levels for quality, safety and customer satisfaction.”

As Ford Authority previously reported, part of Ford’s consent order and agreement with the NHTSA requires the automaker to review every recall issued over the last three years (dating back to November 2021) to ensure they’ve been properly handled and to issue a new recall if necessary, too.

As such, it’s pretty much a given that we’ll continue to see a large number of recalls issued by Ford in the coming months, and that’s certainly been the case in July thus far. In fact, The Blue Oval just recalled 850k 2021-2023 Ford Bronco, Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator, Ford Super Duty F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550, 2021-2022 Lincoln Navigator, Ford Mustang, Ford F-150, and 2022 Ford Expedition models over an issue with the fuel pump, as well as 700k 2021-2024 Ford Bronco Sport and 2020-2022 Ford Escape models due to faulty fuel injectors.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

Brett Foote

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

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    • I have a HUGE loyal base of Ford customers at a local Ford dealer. I have owned about 12 myself, no problems with mine. I love them. Ford has better handing, power, looks, tech than almost any manufacturer.

      • I wish that there was a like button. I’m not denying the recalls, the inconvenience, etc… but I’m a long term ford enthusiast and owner. I’ve never had a problem with any of my many fords.

  • An feeble attempt to spin reality.
    No one wants to deal with endless recalls. No one.
    I refuse to live at the Ford dealership

  • Yeah, good one, that's funny. Then why is it a battle to get things covered under my Premium Care extended warranties every time? Tell people about possible problems with recalls and fix that stuff but refuse to fix many others. Can't wait for my next 3.5EB cam phaser rattle repair.

  • I am a retiree with 36.5 years on the job with Ford in MS&S.Basically Ford has become King Of The Recalls.
    Could you imagine a Ford dealer selling a vehicle and possibly within days that same customer is back with a recall.Where is Allan Mullaway when we need him.

  • Poor designed, poorly engineered leads to poorly manufactured. I swore after I wrecked my Yukon I would never buy Detroit 3 again. Two Lexus vehicles, a Toyota, and a BMW. Their reliability is impeccable. My son bought a CPO 2022 Ford F-150 Raptor last September. I made an error by not doing enough homework and the Ford dealer was vague. Turns out it was made in Dearborn and shipped and sold in Canada. Someone brought it home and recertified it in a Ford dealer in NY. They screwed up the ICM so we had no parking brake light on the cluster, no oil pressure on the gauge and couldn't fill up the fuel take. Finally fixed but it took the dealer 40 days to fix it. Ford's technical service wasn't very good. Finally fixed it with Forscan. Has both design and engineering issues. Great truck and I love driving it but the quality has been found wanting. 22,500 mile and it just lunched a battery. Jeff Freeman, service manager and Joe Swafford at Suburban Romeo Ford are my heroes. They have taken care of me. I'm just an old accountant with years of experience in the job shop business who they should hire as QC Director because I sadly know more about making vehicles than FMC.

  • Part of the plan. What are you people smoking? Was it part of the plan to say that Ford's primary focus is on cost reduction, then deliver cars loaded with flaws? Is that your plan "catch me if you can"?

    Maybe if we had car guys running this company instead of tree huggers and professional bureaucrats we'd fire the overpaid executive and hire back some of the engineers and deliver a quality product.

  • Improving quality via recalls sounds like a good idea. But my experience with recalls are a nightmare when Ford dealership service is so terrible.
    And Fords OTA's are a crap shoot.
    Some work ok, but some OTA's turn off settings setup when vehicle was initially purchased. So back to the owners manual to get your vehicle to where it was the day before.
    And OTA's that kills the 12V battery and leaves you stranded.
    And the latest OTA that activated "walk away lock", but didn't turn it on. FordPass states that it can be turned on at the lock tab but when you go there, nothing about "walk away lock".

  • If they truly wanted to go the extra mile then Ford would make sure that all their vehicle were made correctly to begin with

  • How did a company that has been making vehicles for over a hundred years forget how to do so? The message I hear is don't buy a used Ford, don't buy a new Ford for at least a couple years until this is sorted out, and enjoy your non-Ford vehicle that you bought instead.