Folks at the Blue Oval definitely had something to be blue about when the recall numbers started coming in for 2025. Despite continued efforts to improve quality in recent years, including some key leadership changes, Ford still continues leading the industry — by far — in the total number of recall campaigns. If that doesn't change by the end of December, it will mean Ford has issued the most recalls in the auto industry for four out of the past five years.
This year, per CarEdge, Ford had issued 51 separate recalls through May 15, 2025, with those campaigns affecting about 1.8 million Ford and Lincoln vehicles. The automaker was then at it again at the end of May: Ford just recalled 1.1 million trucks for busted rearview cameras. This makes for a stark difference compared to Ford's rivals. The company with the next highest recall total through mid-May was the Volkswagen Group, which had tallied 14 recall campaigns during the time. Even Stellantis, after leading all automakers in recall campaigns last year, seems to have gotten things under better control this year, tying General Motors with 11 recall campaigns at this point in the year.
The recent crop of Ford recalls have caught up some of the company's major players, starting with the F Series trucks. Both the F-150 (model years 2021-2024) and its Super Duty siblings (model years 2023-2024) were part of the recent rearview camera recall. The risk is that the cameras won't function properly when the vehicles are put in reverse, which isn't ideal considering the already-compromised rear visibility in a big truck.
The F-150, along with the Ford Expedition/Lincoln Navigator, was also part of a large April recall for leaking braking fluid that extended to more than 123,000 vehicles (from the 2017-2018 model years). Meanwhile, almost 30,000 F-150 Lightnings — 2024 and 2025 models — were just recalled for suspension defects. Ford's popular small truck, the 2025 Maverick, added nearly 64,000 units to the automaker's total, this time for faulty airbag-indicator lights.
The 2025 Ford Explorer did its share as well with 492,145 recalled for detaching door trim. To illustrate how bad it's been, the Explorer recall was issued on May 27, 2025, and it was only one of 13 Ford recalls announced on the same day. And Ford faces yet another massive safety probe over faulty F-150s that could lead to another seven-figure recall situation in the future.
None of this, of course, is news to Ford. The company is well aware of its recall issues and its negative effect on its bottom line, and there's reason to believe Ford might finally be ready to fix its quality issues. For example, Ford has delayed the launch of some new products to provide more time for quality inspections. Also, as mentioned, it's hiring someone new to oversee vehicle quality as a whole.
But if you've got a Ford now — or any other vehicle — you can get info about recalls for yourself in a few simple ways. You can visit the automaker's own recall lookup system at its online Support Center or go right to the source by checking the NHTSA database, which also lets you search for car-seat, tire, and equipment recalls on the same page. To see the actual NHTSA recall notices over time, you can use the organization's Search Safety Issues page. Nor is it all doom and gloom for Ford. The company did move from 23rd on the 2023 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study up to ninth place in the 2024 study, going from below average to above average at the same time.
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