Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) has had 104 different recalls this year. That is more than FCA, Volkswagen, GM, Mercedes, Honda, and Hyundai together. This puts Ford on pace to hit over 160 for 2025. If its problems get worse, the number could reach 200.
The 200 number is realistic. Its most recent set of recalls numbered six in two days. At that pace, it would hit 200 before the end of November. Ford’s manufacturing and warranty history is so bad that its warranty costs reached $1 billion last year, and it is on pace to top that figure in 2025. The strain on Ford’s earnings is remarkable.
Ford has promised, during each quarterly earnings call, an improvement in quality. It sold 1,302,699 vehicles this year through July. The vehicles recalled this year will be well above that number.
Management has not stepped forward in a public meeting to address only the recall issue, even though it may be the largest Ford faces. In many ways, it is worse than the company’s electric vehicle (EV) record. At least EVs are in a very early stage of development. A huge number of the Ford recalls are for gasoline-powered vehicles.
Questions About Ford’s Future
The recall trouble raises at least two other questions about Ford’s future. The first is that it has announced a new manufacturing plan. The Ford Universal EV Platform is a complex move from the traditional car assembly model. At its launch, management said, “As with the Model T, Ford is again betting big on America. In Louisville, Kentucky, the reinvention of our company begins in earnest, with the implementation of an innovative manufacturing process to bring this platform to life.” It is betting big against the long odds of Ford’s recalls.
The other open wound is why Jim Farley and Bill Ford still run Ford. Farley has been at the helm for both the EV debacle and the worst of the massive recall issues. At most American large corporations, these problems would cost him his job.
However, final responsibility for these catastrophes belongs to William Clay Ford, Jr. He has been board chair of Ford since 1999. The Ford family has a controlling interest in Ford’s stock. They could force him out, and should. (Farley and Ford both made over $20 million in 2023, and Farley’s compensation topped that number three years in a row.)
Ford could reach 200 recalls this year. The blame belongs with Farley and Ford.
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