Something’s seriously wrong at Ford. The company’srecall issuesaren’t slowing down—in fact, they seem to be picking up speed.
Many have been skeptical of Ford’s handling of these situations, often seeming to prioritize legal strategy over customer safety. But withrecalls being costlyand bad for the brand, you’d think there’d be a stronger push for change.
Yet here we are in April 2025, and Ford has already logged 40 recalls, according to NHTSA data compiled byMotor1. That includes149,434 F-150s recalleda few weeks ago, and even a “recall of a recall” on the Lincoln Navigator.
Ford’s Turning a Corner—Just Not at Full Speed
Fordis averaging nearly one recall every three days—that’s a wild pace, even by industry standards. But here’s the surprising part: the total number of vehicles recalled so far in 2025 is actually down by almost a million compared to this time last year.
A big reason for that drop? About half of these recalls are coming from Ford’s own internal audits, not outside investigations.
In a March 2025 press release, Ford said it’s been reviewing past software-related recalls to improve how they’re handled. Some of these new recalls are basically double-checks—precautionary moves to make sure earlier fixes were done right.
That audit softens the blow a bit, but not by much. Ford toldMotor1that the 18 recalls tied to the audit have now climbed to 21.
Even if you subtract those, Ford tops the 2025 recall list with 19. That’s ahead of Volkswagen with 12, GM with 9, and both Honda and Stellantis with 8.
Ford still leads with over a million vehicles recalled, followed by Tesla. Sure, Ford’s dealing with serious issues like brake system issues, but at least it’s not body panels flying off like with theCybertruck, where trucks must be glued back together.
Looking at the data,General Motorsstill leads the recall charts, with 1,680 recalls to Ford’s 1,560. Chrysler is third with 1,446, while Volkswagen trails with just 571. There’s a noticeable drop-off once you leave the top three, unless you count RV maker Forest River.
There has not been a huge difference between Ford and GM over time, so this recent spike in Ford’s recalls is probably just a temporary blip. However, when we look at Ford specifically, fuel systems top the list with 175 recalls, followed by powertrains (155) and electrical systems (124).
There’s been a noticeable shift from 2020 to 2025, with electrical system issues (46) nearly matching powertrain problems (52). That’s a big deal considering how much software and electrical systems have evolved in that time.
