What's Up With All The Ford Recalls?

Ford Motor Co. has taken its share of criticism in recent years for the number of recalls attached to its vehicles, including from yours truly, but the automaker says the raw numbers don’t tell the whole story. Fox News did a story on the Ford recalls, and I think they were misleading with the headline. It read: Ford in deep water after sweeping recalls hit every model since 2020. I think they intended to imply that every Ford built since 2020 has been recalled, and that is far from accurate. If you take every single model (Mustang, Explorer, Edge, etc.) almost 13 million Fords have been sold since 2020 and if one single vehicle in a model line was recalled, it would make the statement true, but again, it was a sensational headline and one I expect is likely true for every automaker in America.

Behind the scenes, Ford has launched a sweeping effort to improve vehicle quality, strengthen testing, and identify problems earlier—even if that means issuing more recalls in the short term.

For consumers, the word “recall” usually signals trouble. At Ford, executives say it increasingly reflects a strategy to find and fix potential issues quickly, sometimes before customers even experience them.

I reached out to Mark Truby, Ford’s Chief Communications Officer, for clarity on what the company is doing to address the issue. You might remember Mark, he was on the show with me when I took the Ford CEO, Jim Farley to task for putting so much of Ford’s resources into electric cars. According to information Mark provided, the automaker has expanded its quality oversight, testing programs, and engineering resources as part of a broader effort to reach what it describes as world-class levels for safety, quality, and customer satisfaction.

One of the biggest changes has been the expansion of Ford’s technical and safety teams. Over the past two years, the company has more than doubled the number of safety and technical experts focused specifically on vehicle quality and reliability. These teams are tasked with identifying potential problems earlier in the development cycle and ensuring engineering standards are more rigorous before vehicles reach customers.

Ford has also significantly expanded what engineers call “testing to failure,” a process designed to push components beyond their expected limits in order to uncover weaknesses before vehicles are on the road. Critical systems including powertrains, steering components, and braking systems are now subjected to extended durability testing. In some cases, Ford says it has doubled the number of hours engines are tested, running them well beyond expected warranty life to identify potential issues earlier.

Another major focus area is software. Modern vehicles rely heavily on complex software systems, and many recent recalls across the auto industry involve software glitches rather than mechanical failures. Ford says it has strengthened its software validation process to ensure vehicles receive the correct software before delivery and to monitor potential issues after vehicles are in customer hands.

That shift toward software solutions is also changing how many recalls are handled. According to Ford, roughly 80 percent of its recalls so far in 2026 involve software fixes that can be addressed through updates rather than traditional repairs. In many cases, those updates can be delivered over the air, similar to a smartphone update, or installed quickly at a dealership or by a mobile service technician at the customer’s location. These are much easier and much quicker repairs since there are no parts involved.

Recent recalls illustrate how that process works. Two recalls affecting about 1.7 million Ford vehicles involve how the backup camera image appears on the infotainment screen, and both issues can be corrected through a software update. Another recall affecting approximately 4.3 million vehicles related to a trailer control module can also be resolved through an over-the-air update.

Ford officials say the company is also looking more aggressively for potential issues on earlier model years. As testing and engineering reviews become more rigorous, the company sometimes identifies problems that have not yet been reported by customers. When that happens, Ford says it moves to correct the issue rather than waiting for complaints to accumulate.

While recall totals have drawn attention, some independent quality measures suggest Ford’s broader strategy may already be producing results.

In the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study, Ford was the most awarded brand, with four vehicles leading their respective segments. Consumer Reports’ 2026 reliability rankings also showed the Ford brand climbing to No. 11 overall, its highest placement in fifteen years.

Two Ford vehicles also made Consumer Reports’ “Top 10 Picks of 2026” list: the Ford Maverick compact pickup and the Ford F-150 full-size truck.

Ford says the goal is not simply to reduce recall numbers, but to improve the systems that identify and fix problems before they grow larger. The company has set aggressive internal targets for improving launch quality and overall vehicle reliability.

In the meantime, Ford’s message to customers is straightforward: a higher number of recalls does not necessarily mean vehicles are getting worse. In many cases, the company says it reflects a more aggressive effort to detect and resolve issues quickly—an approach Ford believes will lead to stronger quality and customer confidence over time.

As I’ve told you many times on the Car Pro Show, there is no correlation between recalls and long term reliability. In this world of seemingly never ending recalls, it seems to me Ford is taking the recalls seriously and making an earnest effort to correct the problems. Given my close association with Ford more than 20 years ago, I know I tend to be harder on them than some other automakers, but I have been asked many times lately “What’s up with all the Ford recalls?” so I felt I needed to address it.

Photo: Ford's New World Headquarters. November 2025. Credit: Ford.