Who will we blame now? No one ever accountable.
Ford Authority:
Ford’s quality woes have been well documented to this point, with the automaker having issued more recalls than any other automotive manufacturer for years now. That trend started back in 2021 when The Blue Oval took the “crown” of being the most recalled manufacturer in the U.S., and continued into 2022, as well as the first half of 2023. Unfortunately for Ford, things didn’t change in the second half of the year, and the automaker has once again taken the not-so-desirable title of being the most recalled manufacturer in 2023 as well, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that was first uncovered by Automotive News.
NHTSA Most Recalled Automotive Manufacturers 2023
Thus far, Ford has issued 54 recalls in 2023, which accounts for 16 percent of the overall market and covers 5,692,135 vehicles. That gives it the lead by a large margin, as second-place Chrysler issued 45 recalls, followed by Forest River (37), BMW (29), Mercedes-Benz (27), General Motors (22), Nissan (22), Daimler Trucks (21), Kia (20), Honda (19), Jaguar (19), and Volkswagen (19). It is worth noting that Ford’s figure is down around 21 percent versus last year, when it issued 68 recalls affecting more than 8.7 million vehicles, and GM had the most affected vehicles this year at around eight million, but it’s obviously still not great news, regardless.
“We’re constantly working to improve vehicle quality and deliver the best experience for our customers,” said Ford spokesperson Maria Buczkowski. “Voluntary recalls are one of the ways we proactively protect customers from experiencing an issue. Our initial quality is improving, and customers with our latest vehicles are benefiting from it.”
Indeed, Ford has been keen to admit that it has made some mistakes over the years that led to this growth in quality issues and recalls, but it also has a comprehensive plan on how to rectify the issue – including shutting down production when a problem is discovered, though such moves have proven costly thus far. Regardless ,the automaker has set “best-in-class quality targets” for a number of its models, with some expected to reach that point by 2025, too.