Purchasing a car, whether new or used, is one of the largest financial decisions the average American will make in any given year. With so much money on the line, you want to make sure you end up purchasing a vehicle that is safe, reliable, and suitable for your daily needs.
Over the past few years, a seemingly endless series of recall orders has investors, buyers, and car enthusiasts alike questioning the build quality of Ford Motor Company vehicles. Issues range from fires caused by faulty wiring to defective backup cameras to brake malfunctions, increasing the risk of injury caused by a crash.
Read on to learn more about Ford’s history of vehicle recalls over the past five years.
Ford Penalized for Delayed Recalls in 2024
1. In November of 2024, Ford was fined $165,000,000 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for failing to comply with federal recall requirements. Ford was found to have failed to recall vehicles with defective backup cameras in a timely manner. The civil penalty amount of $165,000,000 was the second-largest in NHTSA history, surpassed only by the Takata air bag consent order.
2. Near the end of 2024, Ford became subject to third-party oversight regarding the automaker’s compliance with federal regulations, the Vehicle Safety Act, and an NHTSA consent order. The following year, the number of recalls issued by Ford more than doubled.
Ford Shatters the Annual Recall Record in 2025
3. Ford issued a record-breaking 153 recall orders in 2025. Previously, General Motors held the dubious honor of issuing the most recall orders in a year (77 recalls in 2014).
4. Ford has led all automakers in the number of recall orders issued in four of the past five years (2022, 2023, 2025, and 2026). Stellantis and Tesla briefly surpassed Ford in recalls issued in 2024.
5. Ford issued 22 recall orders in both May and June of 2025. Combined, these months accounted for more recall orders than most other automakers issued throughout the entire calendar year. Chrysler (53) was the only other automaker to exceed 44 recall orders throughout 2025.
6. In 2025, Ford issued three recalls affecting at least 1,000,000 vehicles. The largest recall order, 25V572000, affected 1,456,417 vehicles with defective backup cameras.
7. Five of Ford’s 2025 recalls affected at least 500,000 vehicles.
8. Sixteen of the recalls issued in 2025 involved a fire risk.
The Financial Toll of Warranty Work
9. Ford’s warranty costs have consistently cost the company over $4 billion annually, with a single 2025 fuel injector recall covering 694,000 Bronco Sports and Escapes costing an estimated $570,000,000. In 2023, Ford spent $4.8 billion on repairs of customer vehicles.
Ford Still Leads the Pack in Recalls in 2026
10. As of July 1st, 2026, Ford has issued 56 individual recall orders throughout the year. This leads all automakers by a wide margin, with Chrysler (21 recall orders) trailing by a significant margin. Currently, Ford is on-track to have the second-worst recall year of all time, second only to their own record from the previous year.
11. Ford issued 16 recall orders in the month of June. Chrysler (21) and General Motors (19) are the only other automakers to exceed 16 recall orders throughout the entire year to date.
12. Over the first six months of 2026, Ford issued seven recalls affecting at least 500,000 vehicles, compared to five recalls of this scale in the entirety of 2025.
13. Ford’s largest recall issued in 2026, 26V104000, affected an unprecedented 4,381,878 vehicles. Affected vehicles experienced issues with trailer brake light and brake functionality, necessitating an over-the-air update.
14. Six of the recalls announced in 2026 pose a fire risk.
Recalls by Manufacturer, 2026
| Manufacturer | Number of Recalls, 2026 |
| Ford Motor Company | 56 |
| Chrysler (FCA US, LLC) | 21 |
| General Motors, LLC | 19 |
| Hyundai Motor America | 15 |
| Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing | 15 |
| Nissan North America, Inc. | 10 |
| Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. | 10 |
| Honda (American Honda Motor Co.) | 9 |
| Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC | 9 |
| Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC | 8 |
| BMW of North America, LLC | 7 |
| Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC | 8 |
| Kia America, Inc. | 6 |
| Lucid USA, Inc. | 5 |
| Volvo Car USA, LLC | 4 |
| Aston Martin The Americas | 3 |
| Bentley Motors, Inc. | 3 |
| Tesla, Inc. | 3 |
| Rivian Automotive, LLC | 2 |
| Subaru of America, Inc. | 2 |
| Waymo LLC | 2 |
Ford Recalls by Model
15. The most-recalled Ford model over the past eighteen months is the Ford Explorer, which was affected by 35 recalls.
16. The Ford F-150 (31 recalls) and Ford Bronco (27 recalls) had the second- and third-most recalls over the same timeframe, respectively. We tallied recalls of the Ford F-150 Lightning (8 total) and Ford Bronco Sport (14 total) separately.
17. Ford’s least-recalled models over the past eighteen months are primarily vehicles that went out of production some time ago. The Lincoln Continental (final model year 2020) and Ford Fiesta (final model year 2019) both make an appearance for a single recall order.
18. The Lincoln MKZ (2 recalls), Ford Taurus (2 recalls), and Ford Transit Connect (3 recalls) are additional models affected by relatively few NHTSA orders over the past eighteen months.
Top-10 Recalled Ford Models, 2022 – 2026
| Vehicle Make & Model | Number of Recalls |
| Ford F-150 (Gas, Hybrid) | 64 |
| Ford Explorer | 58 |
| Ford Bronco | 46 |
| Ford Maverick | 43 |
| Ford Escape | 42 |
| Lincoln Navigator | 39 |
| Ford F-250 SD | 35 |
| Lincoln Aviator | 35 |
| Ford Transit | 35 |
| Ford F-350 SD | 34 |
Ford Company Performance Amidst Recall Turmoil
19. Ford CEO Jim Farley received a significant increase in compensation in 2025. Accounting for salary, stock awards, incentive plan compensation, and other payments, Farley received $27,500,000 in compensation. This marks an approximate 11% increase in compensation from the previous year, despite Ford setting an annual record for the number of recalls issued.
20. CEO Farley’s increased compensation has been tied largely to the company hitting “various performance targets,” such as Ford’s #1 ranking among mass market brands in JD Power’s 2026 U.S. Initial Quality Study. This ranking stands in stark contrast to the rate of recalls issued by the company in 2025 and 2026, totaling 25,152,845 recalled units over eighteen months.
21. Ford’s profits in terms of electric vehicle (EV) sales are particularly brutal, with some sources indicating Ford loses approximately $50,000 per EV sold in the United States.
Leading Causes of Ford Recalls
22. The most common cause of Ford recalls from January 1, 2022 through June 30, 2026 was “electrical system issues” (57). Power train problems (52), back over prevention issues (45), and visibility defects (31) also resulted in a significant number of recalls over that timeframe.
23. To improve vehicle build quality, Ford implemented an AI Quality Assurance (QA) system called Mobile Artificial Intelligence Vision System (MAIVS) into several of its facilities. This system uses cameras to detect vehicle defects in real time through computer vision and machine learning.
24. Despite implementing MAIVS to improve build quality, Ford acknowledged in June of 2026 that the system had its limitations. Charles Poon, the company’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, noted that AI is “only as good as the information you use to train it.” He went on to admit that the company may have undervalued the experience of longtime Ford engineers. Ford recently hired back approximately 300 veteran engineers to continue the company’s push for improved build quality.
Why Ford Recalls Occur, 2022 – 2026
| Component | Number of Recalls |
| Electrical System | 57 |
| Power Train | 52 |
| Back Over Prevention | 45 |
| Uncategorized | 41 |
| Visibility | 31 |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic | 22 |
| Exterior Lighting | 19 |
| Fuel System, Gasoline | 17 |
| Air Bags | 15 |
| Structure | 15 |
| Equipment | 14 |
| Steering | 14 |
| Engine and Engine Cooling | 12 |
| Suspension | 12 |
| Seat Belts | 9 |
| Seats | 6 |
| Latches / Locks / Linkages | 6 |
| Fuel System, Diesel | 3 |
| Wheels | 3 |
| Child Seat | 2 |
| Forward Collision Avoidance | 2 |
| Parking Brake | 2 |
| Tires | 2 |
| Lane Departure | 1 |
Ford’s Repeat Recall Woes
25. When the NHTSA fined Ford in 2024 for a lack of timely recall actions, they forced the automaker to review the efficiency of past recall orders. When Ford complied, they discovered an issue with the system the company used to perform software updates. In some instances, the software would report that an update was successfully installed when, in reality, the update had failed. Ford was forced to issue multiple new recalls to confirm whether previous recalls had truly been carried out to completion.
26. In 2025, approximately 27% of Ford’s recalls (42) were issued to remedy a vehicle that had been previously recalled but “repaired incorrectly.”
27. Approximately 20% of Ford’s recalls issued throughout the first six months of 2026 (11) were either expansions of previous recall orders or new recalls issued for vehicles that had been previously “repaired incorrectly.”
Average Wait Time for Ford Recall Remedies
28. Many remedies can be implemented as soon as a vehicle’s owner is notified that their vehicle has been recalled, particularly those where the solution is a software update. A significant number of software updates can be performed remotely as “over-the-air” updates. Owners can have their vehicle update itself remotely at home, work, or any other convenient location, as opposed to driving to a dealership and waiting for service. Ford issued 16 over-the-air updates between January 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026.
29. While some recalls are carried out quickly, those involving substantial repair work or parts that are in short supply can take far longer. For recalls that had a specified repair timeline and no immediate fix, it took an average of 198 days for a recall remedy to be available after owners were first notified by letter. This estimate optimistically assumes that recall remedies will be available upon the first date of the month specified in NHTSA recall documentation, with no delays.
30. The longest anticipated wait between an announced recall and the applicable remedy over the past 18 months was 514 days. Ford recall 25V347000 was issued in June of 2025, with no remedy expected until November of 2026.
31. A small number of recalls were announced with no expected remedy date, the largest of which affected 889,950 vehicles.
Methodology
To create this study, we primarily drew upon NHTSA recall data from January 1st, 2022 through June 30, 2026. We also referenced reputable news and automotive sources to provide additional statistics and context.
You are welcome to reference this study in published or social media. If you choose to use any of the visuals or statistics found in this study, we ask that you provide a link back to this page.