Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is as much in the recall and warranty business as it is in the business of selling cars. In the past several days, it first recalled 1.1 million vehicles. Almost immediately, it recalled another 555,000. Ford sold just over 2 million new cars in the United States last year.
The first recall was for defective rearview mirror software. This included some 2021 through 2024 model year Bronco, F-150, Edge, and 2023-2024 Escape, Corsair, F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550 and F-600 vehicles. The second recall was actually two sets of recalls. The first was for 2025 Mavericks which had airbag indicator light issues. The second was for 492,145 2016-2017 Explorers that had sections that could fall off the outside of the vehicle.
Ford’s Quality Problems
It is staggering to think the recalls equal the equivalent of three-quarters of Ford’s annual sales. This comes after years of acknowledging quality problems and promising to provide a process that would reduce recall rates to well below the industry average. Ford has abrogated its responsibility to shareholders and customers.
The company has paid a price by taking hundreds of millions of dollars in write-offs for warranty costs. Its financial management has made it clear that without lower warranty costs, Ford’s earnings will continue to be dented.
Despite these broken promises, Ford does not have a sales problem in the United States today. May sales rose 16.3% to 229,959, but the announcement did include a disappointment. Electric vehicle (EV) sales dropped 25% to 6,723, This is all Ford has to show for years of EV development and billions of dollars invested in an attempt to have a meaningful market share in the segment. In 2023, CEO Jim Farley said EV annual sales rate at the end of the year would be 400,000 annually. Somehow, Farley has managed to keep his job,
The two recalls show one thing for certain. Ford’s quality problems are worsening instead of getting better.
Ford Stock Price Prediction and Forecast 2025-2030
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