Ford Still Suffering With More Recalls Than Any Other Brand In 2023

In 2022, Ford issued more recalls than any other US company - automotive or otherwise - and 2023 appears to be following the same trend, with the NHTSA's figures revealing that the Blue Oval has the most automotive recalls in the first half of the year. As per the NHTSA, Ford has already issued some 31 recalls this year, pertaining to more than 4.1 million vehicles in America. At the same point last year, Ford had issued 44 recalls affecting over 6.7 million vehicles, so things may be improving slightly. However, it's still very concerning that Ford continues to struggle with quality.

The worst affected vehicles include the Ford Fusion and the Lincoln MKZ, of which some 1.3 million older models were recalled for front brake hoses that may rupture. Ford CEO Jim Farley has admitted that improving quality will be a long process that may take several years to resolve, but Ford is trying to get there. The 2023 Super Duty truck range is the first to be manufactured using new quality control methods, so this will be the first real test of Ford's promise to improve how well-built its vehicles are.

That being said, it's worth remembering that it is better for an automaker to issue recalls than to keep quiet about potential quality problems, particularly when they could affect safety.

"Our goal is to have best-in-class quality performance for F-150, Super Duty, Bronco, and Ranger trucks and Transit vans by 2025 - and to be among the leaders in all other segments," said Ford spokesperson Maria Buczkowski in a statement to Automotive News. "Where we didn't prevent quality issues in the first place, our obligation to customers is to detect and resolve them as quickly as possible. Recalls are one way to do that and a particularly visible part of overall quality performance."

The second-highest number of recalls came from Stellantis North America, with 26 recalls affecting over 1.7 million vehicles. This suggests that Ford has a very long way to go achieve those goals of leading the industry in terms of quality, but at least things look a little better than they did last year.