- Ford has already broken the record for most safety recalls in a year
In 2014, General Motors set the record for the most safety recalls an automaker issued in a year. Amid a scandal over faulty ignition switches, the automaker called back cars for urgent repairs 77 times.
Ford has issued 89 recalls so far in 2025. The year is 53% over.
Ford has issued more recalls in 2025 than the next five automakers combined.
What Is a Recall?
- A recall is a legally required free fix for a safety problem
Federal law requires automakers to fix safety issues with their cars for free. The law also requires them to attempt to contact registered owners to let them know of the problem. The federal government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) oversees the process.
Almost every automaker issues a few recalls every year. Automakers consistently tell us their biggest frustration in the process is owners who ignore recall notices.
Not every quality problem is a safety problem. Peeling paint won’t trigger a recall, but a faulty airbag or a part that can fall off into traffic will.
The law technically lets automakers off the hook 15 years after a car is first sold. But many automakers continue to repair even older vehicles for free. In particularly threatening cases, they may even ask drivers to stop using cars altogether and order dealers to stop selling them until they’re fixed.
Ford Had Been Making Progress
- Ford led the auto industry in recalls for several years, but did better in 2024
The news is particularly devastating for Ford because the company had been making progress on an old recall problem.
Ford led the auto industry in recalls in both 2022 and 2023. It paid a $165 million fine and entered into a consent decree with NHTSA requiring a plan to address its recall problem.
Last year, the company hired a new head of quality and held tens of thousands of vehicles for extra inspections before delivering them to dealers. It seemed to be working. In 2024, Tesla and Stellantis shared the dubious recall crown.
So, What Happened?
- A software audit forced Ford to repeat some older recalls
- Even without those repeats, the company leads the industry in recalls
There’s no single explanation for Ford’s nightmare 2025 recall issue. But there’s an explanation for more than a third of it. Thirty-three of the 89 have been partial repeats of old recalls.
Many recalls in today’s cars relate to software problems. Early this year, Ford discovered a problem with the way its dealers uploaded software fixes.
The system they used could occasionally report success even when an upload failed. Ford developed a new process to fix that, and launched an audit of software-related recalls from prior years.
“The vast majority of recall repairs were successful, with the correct software version installed on the relevant module,” Ford says. But, in many prior recalls, a small percentage of cars didn’t get the correct update.
Dealers believed they had, and returned the cars to owners as fixed.
Ford’s audits identified the cars that were missing the updates. Thirty-three times so far in 2025, the company has issued a second recall to bring back those cars to have the correct software installed.
Remove those 33, however, and Ford still has 56 recalls, barely more than halfway through the year. Ford might beat GM’s 2014 record even without the software audit at that pace.
What Is Ford Doing About It?
- Ford has hired more inspectors and increased internal testing
- Executives are spending time on factory floors
Ford has taken several steps to address the issue.
A company spokesperson told industry publication Automotive News that Ford “has more than doubled its team of safety and technical experts in the past two years and significantly increased testing to failure on critical systems such as powertrains, steering, and braking.”
The company is also “turning to in-house solutions such as AI-powered software systems to help catch defects more quickly,” AN reports.
Fan site Ford Authority reports executives have also begun conducting “gemba walks” — a Japanese technique that involves visiting factory floors to study how work is performed and interact directly with front-line workers.