Ford Motor Co. is recalling 18 electric pickup trucks because of a battery defect that led to the production shutdown of the Lightning after a battery fire in a holding lot in Dearborn in early February, the automaker disclosed Friday.
A battery cell manufacturing defect occurred over a four-week period starting at the end of last year, Ford spokeswoman Emma Bergg told the Detroit Free Press.
“We recently established that 18 vehicles containing cells from that four-week period had made it to dealers and customers,” she said. “On Feb. 4, during a standard quality check, one vehicle displayed a battery issue and caught fire. The root cause identified was related to battery cell production at the SK On plant in Georgia.”
Ford is not aware of any reports of accident or injury related to this 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning recall, Bergg said. “Together with SK On, we have confirmed the root causes and have implemented quality actions.”
When asked the root cause of the battery issue, she said the battery production process created “a potential for an internal short circuit. The recall is related to when the vehicle’s high voltage battery is at a high state of charge, the battery could experience a short that could result in a vehicle fire.”
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After the fire incident and production shutdown last month, Ford initially said it was confident no Lightnings with defective batteries had been delivered to dealers or their customers. Bergg told the Free Press on Friday that the automaker “recently discovered” the affected vehicles had been delivered.
“We learned this when we reverified the locations of the trucks built with battery cells from the four-week window in question,” she said. “Customers will be notified as soon as possible to make arrangements with their dealer to have their battery pack replaced. Customers will receive a loan vehicle and, once repaired, their vehicle will be returned to them.
Customers may continue to drive and charge their vehicles, Bergg said, however tucks should be taken for repair as soon as possible. The Lightnings passed a pre-delivery quality check and connected vehicle data shows no anomalies, she told the Free Press.
Production of the Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Plant in Dearborn is “on track to resume Monday with clean stock of battery packs,” Bergg said.
She confirmed Friday that production will ramp up slowly and begin with just one of three UAW factory shifts.
While Ford doesn’t usually notify the news media of a small recall, the company initially said there would be no recall because the company was confident the issue had been contained.
Earlier this week, Ford ranked among the worst in the 2023 J.D. Power U.S. Customer Service Index Study, which noted that recalls torpedo consumer satisfaction with vehicles.
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Read more about Ford. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid