Ford is the most-recalled automaker for the third year running

Ford has struggled with quality issues for a while now, but despite its efforts, the automaker has earned yet another undesirable record: For the third year in a row, The Blue Oval is the most-recalled automaker in the United States, issuing 54 recalls through December 18.

While many of the automakers with multiple recalls did so because of electrical system issues, Ford’s most-recalled component category was powertrains. The company recalled 5,692,135 vehicles in 2023, more than twice the number of the next closest automaker on the list, Stellantis. As Automotive News pointed out, General Motors recalled more vehicles, but they were spread across other brands in the company’s portfolio. Tesla had the largest single recall of the year, with more than 2 million vehicles recently recalled for Autopilot’s driver monitoring issues.

Though it’s still “leading” the pack, Ford is making progress. By this time last year, the automaker had issued 68 recalls with more than 8.7 million vehicles affected. This year’s numbers are obviously better than that, but they’re worse than in 2021 when the company had 53 recalls involving 5.4 million vehicles.

Ford’s efforts will take time. The company is simplifying its manufacturing process and has implemented more testing and quality control procedures. Ford also said that its suppliers are providing better traceability and noted that connected vehicles and better warranty practices allow it to identify and fix problems much quicker than before.

To be fair to Ford, it sells millions of vehicles each year, so there’s plenty of opportunity for things to go wrong. Some of its recalls involve simple issues like software glitches, but some are more serious. Though the number is something Ford would like to reduce, it also shows that the automaker is serious about identifying and fixing problems. Experts agree, with one telling Automotive News that Ford’s willingness to recall vehicles for even minor issues is promising and should be considered positive.