Ford just won a prize. JD Power’s latest study says the mainstream brand has the best initial quality. Great. But they also lead the industry in recalls. 56 this year. For 12.1 million cars.
Jim Farley isn’t happy about that gap. Not really.
“Obviously none of us are satisfied,” Farley told CNBC, noting that they still have “so much left to do” to truly own the top spot in quality.
He’s proud of the win. Obviously. But he knows the badge on the wall doesn’t fix the warranty bills stacking up on the ledger.
Since 2023 he’s pushed hard on this. More rigorous testing. Hired more technical specialists. Forced teams to collaborate instead of silo off. It’s a rebuild from the ground up.
And it came at a cost. The feds stepped in in 2024.
The NHTSA fined Ford for missing the mark on recall disclosures. $65 million total. They had to pay $55 million right then, but the deal deferred part of it. Actually, $45 million was tied to specific performance goals. A carrot and stick. The consent deal forced Ford to go back three years, dig into old records, and re-scope recalls that were too narrow. Or file new ones.
It’s a messy fix for a systemic problem.
The Recall Ledger
The numbers tell a wild story.
2026 so far: 56 recalls. 12.1 million units affected. That leads the industry again.
Look closer. They’re issuing fewer recall campaigns than last year. Last year was a record, a staggering 153 recalls covering nearly 13 million cars. This year they have the fewest notices. But those notices hit so many more cars it matters less.
This isn’t new behavior.
- 2024: Second worst behind Stellantis (67 vs 72)
- 2023: Led the pack
- 2022: Led the pack
- 2021: Led the pack
Ford has been the king of recalls for three straight years before the pandemic weirdness faded. And now it’s happening again.
Why?
It costs them a fortune. Warranty expenses hit a record $4.8 billion in 2023—the highest ever for the company. The numbers have dropped since then. They are coming down. But they are still coming down. Which implies the damage was worse.
Farley says they are cutting through it. Reducing costs. Shrinking the recall footprint.
Is one win on JD Power enough to change how people see the Blue Oval?
Probably not. Changing consumer sentiment is slow. It takes years. Farley seems to get that. It’s not about one trophy. It’s about stopping the bleeding.
They’ll keep testing. They’ll keep hiring. They’ll keep filing those hard-to-admit recalls.
It’s better to find the defect before the driver does, I guess.
Just don’t expect them to relax anytime soon. There is still work. Lots of it.
