Another day, another Ford recall. Maybe we should dedicate an entire column to Ford recalls… I think we’d have plenty of content to fill. Anyway, Ford issued a recall yesterday to 18 F-150 Lightning owners to fix what it says were defective battery cells. But this one may be good news: it means Ford may have caught the defect that caused at least one F-150 Lightning to catch fire in February, and at a holding lot affiliated with the Dearborn, Michigan factory, nonetheless.
CNBC reports the issue was found to be improperly produced battery cells made in Georgia by South Korean supplier SK On. The fire at the factory led to a four-week production hiatus. The news outlet reported Ford won’t say how many trucks in holding that may have the issue, but that it’s working to correct the problem now.
The Feb. 4 fire caused a four-week production hiatus. Ford took this time to investigate the cause of the battery defect, working with SK On to discover the issue, according to news reports. Ford declined to specify the exact issue within the battery cell, identifying it as “defective.” The 18 owners, a mixture of dealers and customers, will be notified “as soon as possible,” Ford officials said. If you own one of these, call your dealer or wait for a notice in the mail. According to The Verge, Ford says it’s okay to continue driving, charging, frunk-ing, or whatever Lightning owners do with their trucks.
Production will begin again this Monday, March 13th. Lucky number 13! Ford should be grateful the 13th is on a Monday and not a Friday… Us superstitious folks wouldn’t dare touch a car built on a Friday the 13th. I’m kidding. But maybe not.
Jokes aside, it is good news that this recall caught a potentially dangerous problem. As we’ve reported extensively, Ford has been struggling with recalls in recent years—both with the costs involved and the negative customer perception around quality. The F-150 Lightning is also a massively important product for Ford, but one that’s had a rocky start with slow production, low supply and high demand, and some annoying defects.
Then again, as our own Thomas Hundal pointed out this week, nearly every automaker has had problems producing this new crop of EVs. From quality issues to software headaches, the auto industry’s transition is proving to be a tricky one so far. But Ford’s problem is that it’s had quality issues across the board, so now it has to sort out the EVs on top of that.
Here’s a toast to good luck for future electric Ford products.
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Maybe all these Ford recalls will help with the high demand low supply problem? LOL
You’d think that Monday the 13th would be unluckier than Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th is still a Friday.
Welcome aboard the goodship, Rob!
Wearing a Subaru shirt while wrenching (just assuming here) on a LR? Sounds like you’re our kind of people: welcome, Rob!
I definitely welcome an oasis article in the weekend desert
Everybody! We’re doing something new around here these days: publishing on the weekends. Please welcome Long Island’s own Rob Spiteri. He’ll be joining us this weekend and may be sticking around as a contributor after. He has all kinds of bad ideas and poor taste in wrenching decisions, so he’ll fit in great, we think. Say hi!
The next hire should probably be someone who digs nicer cars that actually run. There’s only so much shitbox content a reader can tolerate in a week!
J/k (or am I?)