One of the first mainstream electric pickup trucks in the auto market, Ford F-150 Lightning has lately dominated most media headlines following the recent incidence of a fire outbreak caused by a battery malfunction that razed one of the latest Ford F-15 Lightning electric pickup trucks. It was gathered that the fire later gutted another vehicle in the facility where other vehicles are kept to undergo a quality assessment before shipment to dealers. It has been reported that the fire incident happened on February 4, 2023, in one of its operational bases, Ford’s Rouge plant.
Tongues have been wagging over the fire incident which has led the company to announce a recall of 18 of the Ford F-150 Lightning in a bid to replace their battery packs which have quite a high voltage to avoid any further recurrence, as announced by Ford’s media representative Emma Bergg.
It could be recalled that on January 27, 2023, Ford served a customer service action for some small units, of the truck, precisely 100 Ford F-150 Lightning pickup trucks were involved. It was to change some parts in an attempt to avoid any degradation in the performance of the high-voltage battery of the truck, even though there were claims that it was not connected to a fire incident that happened one week later.
The notice was issued after the company discovered a battery module issue, where the car will display what is described as a “wrench” warning display on the dashboard which can gradually degenerate into a restrained performance mode or, worse still, make the car immobile as it may not shift to the drive mode.
What’s more, Ford has informed its customers, that the company has taken it upon itself to replace these high-voltage battery modules initially installed in vehicles with new parts all for free, to tackle the anomaly. However, the CXS, Ford Concern Team Battery Electric Specialist stated that the process for fixing the new parts would take only a day, per customer.
Nevertheless, Ford Spokeswoman Bergg has stated clearly that the Ford F-15 electric itself will not be replaced but only the high-voltage battery pack will be replaced. Ford has reiterated that dealers and customers should not panic and pack their trucks but they can continue using the vehicle.
Additionally, Ford has revealed that it would provide a free loaner vehicle to the affected owners, though it may not be the F-150 Lightning electric truck.
In this regard, and following the fire incident, the company has decided to halt further production assembling, or sales of the Ford F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup truck temporarily to rectify the issue. Even though investigations revealed that Ford tried to silently sweep off the incident under the carpet yet it got to the knowledge of the public after the Dearborn Fire Department came into the scene as they responded to the fire at Ford’s Rouge plant where the F-150 Lightning is produced.
Nevertheless, there is no cause for alarm as Ford has reassured that it is unaware of any similar incidents or issues regarding the fire incident with any Ford F-150 pickup trucks already sold and delivered to its customers and dealers.
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For good measure, Ford has admitted that their engineers have to unravel the root cause of the February fire. Albeit the outcome of the investigation would hopefully be made public in due course, meanwhile, possible adjustments on the battery production process of the truck may take a few weeks.
Meantime, it was later gathered that the problem stems from the battery itself which apparently implies that the fault is from the battery production firm in Atlanta which Ford partners with for the supply of the battery, which entails that the Rawsonville Ford Plant in Ypsilanti, that handled the assembling of the battery packs is exonerated.
Ford’s CEO Jim Farley hinted that Ford could not afford to allow the situation to degenerate into a costly recall that may affect a large number of the vehicles like that experienced by Chevrolet Bolt, hence the decision to halt the production of the Ford F-150 electric pickup truck the storm is completely over
On the other hand, it should be noted that such fire incidents are not peculiar only to Ford vehicles alone as other auto companies have experienced such issues for instance, Stellantis’ Ram Trucks recently had to recall as much as 340,000 of its large diesel pickup trucks to replace a faulty electric connector after experiencing six fire incidences that rammed the trucks other auto companies that have experienced same include Chevrolet Bolt, which was recalled after GM reported at least 19 battery fires as a result of flawed cells used the battery supplier LG. The situation got worst and led to a temporary shutdown of production after all efforts to curtail the fires proved abortive, but on a lighter note, Chevy resumed production last year after developing new battery packs. Also, BMW had issued a recall for several of its 2022 i4 sedans and iX SUVs to avert a risk of battery fires, in addition to the Toyota bZ4X recall when the auto company discovered that loose hub bolts could cause the wheels to become detached while driving.
Invariably this is what Ford is trying to curtail by halting the production of the Ford F-150 pickup truck.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has lamented that Ford is losing funds on every F-150 Lightning Pickup truck it produces which explains why the company cannot afford to allow the situation to escalate into mass and costly recall which led to the halt in production of the electric truck. This situation may likely temper with Ford’s target of hitting the 600,000 EVs production capacity by the end of 2023.
However, this is not the first time that Ford is issuing a recall of its vehicles, it is a known fact that
in the past year, Ford had issued a recall for 49,000 Mustang Mach-E SUVs noticing a safety defect that could most likely leave the vehicle immobile.
Since it launched in April 2022, the Ford F-15 lightening pickup truck has been one of the coolest all-electric luxury trucks on the car stand with its latest technology and comfortable interior design. This has made the company sell over 15,000 units of the Ford F-150 Lightning pickup trucks in 2022 and these sales may likely double by the end of this year. The company has been America’s best-selling truck for over 49 years according to its Instagram page.
