Ford $F ( ▲ 2.45% ) wrapped 2025 by shattering a record that the company would prefer not to own: having the most recall notices issued by an automaker in one year.
Snapshot: Ford issued 152 recall notices last year, nearly double the previous record set by General Motors $GM ( ▼ 1.17% ) (77 recalls) in 2014, according to the latest NHTSA data.
The details: Across all recalls, just under 13 million Ford and Lincoln vehicles are affected, again the most of any automaker (but well below the ~30 million units GM also reported in 2014).
Still, Ford recalled more units than the next nine automakers combined.
Ford/Lincoln: 152 recalls, 12.96 million vehicles
Toyota/Lexus: 15 recalls, 3.22 million vehicles
Chrysler (Stellantis $STLA ( ▼ 1.95% )): 53 recalls, 2.78 million vehicles
Honda/Acura: 21 recalls, 1.56 million vehicles
Hyundai/Genesis: 21 recalls, 1.08 million vehicles
General Motors: 27 recalls, 998,260 vehicles
Tesla: 11 recalls, 745,075 vehicles
Volkswagen: 24 recalls, 635,895 vehicles
BMW: 21 recalls, 508,338 vehicles
Mercedes‑Benz: 21 recalls, 142,359 vehicles
Why it matters: Even in a year when more than 24 million vehicles were affected across the largest brands, Ford stands out for both the sheer number of campaigns and the breadth of vehicles involved.
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Between the lines: The company has publicly emphasized quality for several years, hiring more inspectors, rolling out AI tools to flag potential defects earlier, and sending senior executives to the factory floor to work alongside line employees.
Yet the recall count keeps climbing, suggesting Ford is still struggling with how it designs, validates, and signs off on vehicles before they hit customer driveways.
And while other brands clearly have issues too (Chrysler with plug‑in hybrid fire risk, GM with engine failures, Toyota with software), none are issuing recall campaigns at Ford’s cadence.
The kicker: Franchise car dealers are the only institutions authorized to complete recall work, creating a guaranteed revenue stream with the right strategy. The most elite dealers are leveraging technology and proactive outreach to capture more of these customers who might not otherwise visit the dealership.
Bottom line: Dealers who can scale their recall operations without sacrificing the customer experience will likely come out ahead.
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