Prior To This Month's Fire, Ford Warned Owners About EV Battery Issues

The Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire earlier this month due to a faulty battery, but that isn't the only issue the Detroit automaker has recently faced with its new all-electric pickup truck.

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A small number of cars needed to have certain parts updated on Jan. 27, one week before the incident, in order to "avoid performance degradation" of the high-voltage battery. According to Ford Motor, the issue has so far only affected roughly 100 vehicles and is not thought to be related to the incident on February 4. Ford claimed to be remotely monitoring the vehicles and proactively getting in touch with customers when a problem is discovered.

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While the relatively small number of affected vehicles, it continues a pattern of issues Ford and other automakers are seeing as they invest billions in bringing electric vehicles to market as quickly as possible. Many of the problems facing the sector have been small. But, when they include the expensive and sophisticated batteries of the vehicles, major safety issues, notably fires, can develop.

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According to CEO Jim Farley's remarks to investors days prior to the fire that broke out at a Ford holding yard, the F-150 Lightning concerns are a part of continuous quality and operational challenges for Ford.

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He stated on February 2 on a call to discuss the fourth quarter results that "we have deeply ingrained flaws in our industrial system that have proven tough to weed out." "Truthfully, this dysfunctionality has been concealed for a very long period by the power of our products and revenue. But it isn't an explanation, it is our reality. And we're working on it right away.

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Ford is not the only manufacturer encountering issues with its most recent EV launches; officials have said that Ford was the most recalled automaker over the past two years.

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Because to the possibility that the wheels could come loose, Toyota Motor had to recall its first mass-produced global EV last year. Due to fire problems, General Motors recalled all of its Chevy Bolt EV cars two years ago. Several manufacturers, including Hyundai, BMW, and Volvo, have also recently recalled electric vehicles owing to fire hazards, including plug-in hybrids.

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To be clear, fire risks are not unique to electric vehicles; they have traditionally been issues for the automotive industry and still persist. After reports of six fires, Stellantis' Ram Trucks this week announced a recall of 340,000 big diesel pickup trucks to replace an electrical link.

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The battery module issue that led to Ford's notification on January 27 might cause the car to first display a "wrench" warning on the dash before sluggishly entering a constrained performance mode or, at worst, becoming immobile by failing to engage drive.

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This is not a recall for safety. In an email, Ford spokesperson Marty Gunsberg said, "This is a proactive investigation to assist stop consumers of the identified vehicles from suffering a decrease in battery performance and to gather field parts for examination."

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It was not immediately clear how many "customer service actions" Ford had issued for the F-150 Lightning since its launch in April 2022.

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Customers have been informed that Ford will free of charge replace "certain high-voltage battery module(s)" from the affected vehicles with new components. A "CXS, Ford Concern Team Battery Electric Expert" informed at least one client that the patch would take one day to complete.

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Ford stated that it is not aware of any occurrences or problems involving vehicles that have already been delivered to dealers or customers in relation to the problem that resulted in the fire and forced Ford to cease manufacturing and shipments of the vehicle early last week.

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Ford stated on Wednesday that it thinks its engineers have discovered the fire's primary cause. By the end of the following week, the study into the issue is anticipated to be finished, after which the truck's battery production process will need to be modified, which "may take a few weeks."

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Investors are paying careful attention to the F-150 Lightning since it represents Ford's major entry into the electric pickup truck market and is the first widely available model. By fall 2023, the business plans to roughly double the vehicle's production capacity at a plant in Michigan to 150,000 vehicles.

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Ford does not publicly disclose its F-150 Lightning production figures, yet more than 2,200 of the trucks were sold in a single month. Ford reported sales of more than 15,600 units of the vehicle.