Ford’s quality control professionals have had a rough month. Last year, the automaker finally worked its way out of an unfortunate spot. The company had led the auto industry in recalls for years. But, after a major quality control push, Ford wasn’t the automaker with the most safety recalls in 2024.
It’s early, but Ford looks destined to win the ignominious crown again in 2025 because of a problem in its software update process. Ford is suddenly repeating many old recalls after discovering that the tool dealers use to install new software sometimes registers a car as fixed without actually fixing it.
It happened at least five times last week. This week, it has started again.
In 2022, Ford recalled nearly 400,000 trucks and SUVs equipped with tow packages because the trailer braking system in the vehicles didn’t always trigger trailer brakes. Dealers fixed it with a software update.
Today, Ford is asking 10,627 owners who thought their vehicles were fixed in 2022 to bring them back in because the system may have recorded them as fixed without uploading the new software.
Recalled models include some, but not all, examples of the:
- 2021-2022 Ford F-150
- 2022 Ford Maverick
- 2022 Ford Expedition
- 2022 Lincoln Navigator
- 2022 Ford F-Series Super Duty
Dealers will fix the problem with the same software update the vehicles were supposed to get in 2022. Technicians have a new process to verify that the upload worked before returning the car to the owner, Ford says.
Recall repairs are always free. But automakers consistently tell us they have trouble getting owners to bring their cars in for the free repair. Check whether your car has ever been recalled at our recall center.
