Inside Ford's Plan To Stop All Those Recalls

As of publishing, Ford has issued more recalls than any other automaker in 2026, at 50. That's just three recalls shy of last year's runner-up in recalls issued for 2025: Stellantis, with 53. Ford led last year, too, with 153, and is on track to do it again. All this to say there are, undeniably, some real problems with quality control at Ford. According to an interview with Road and Track, the company has a plan to fix that.

The outlet spoke with Ford's Essex engine plant manager, Neil Wilson, to find out what steps are being taken to turn things around. The Essex plant makes the Coyote 5.0-liter V8 for the Mustang and F-150 and the 6.7-liter and 7.3-liter V8 for Super Duty trucks. Engines are the brand's biggest pain point right now, with powertrain problems leading the brand's recalls. To fix that, the automaker has implemented daily engine teardowns, something learned from one of its Spanish engine facilities.

"We're going after it," Wilson said. "And it's providing real insight on how to protect quality, and it's no longer a reactive tool. It's something that we're leaning pretty hard into. And it's paid for itself, in the respect that, you know, we can make these things better, improve our first time through, ensure that the customers are getting the best engines we can potentially put out for them." This strategy replaced Ford's once-every-three-months schedule for teardowns.

How those engines get picked is now driven by an AI that tries to pick which engines on the line could be problematic, says Wilson: "We're also using technology-which is predictive AI-based monitoring of specific measurement points of the line, key characteristics. So we identify what we believe are the leading indicators of potential failures, and we have AI systems looking at abnormalities in normal process control."

Already, the brand says it has seen a decline in warranty claim metrics. We've seen the large number of recalls that we have," a spokesperson told R&T. "We've acknowledged that. That is from an older population of vehicles. When you look at the newer vehicles, this is one of the ways that we're really putting effort into making quality come first for the company."

The brand's efforts will need to continue to expand, as its other open recalls vastly outnumber its powertrain recalls. For now, a positive upward trend is a win for owners.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 7:20 AM.