DETROIT, June 25, 2026, 11:01 EDT
- Ford’s initial-quality score rose to 152 problems per 100 vehicles, up from 193, a gain of 41 points and ahead of the industry’s 17-point increase.
- J.D. Power said U.S. new-vehicle quality saw its biggest year-over-year gain since 1997. Infotainment was the only area that got worse.
- Ford had 51 U.S. recalls this year, the most in the industry. Its warranty and field-service bill for the first quarter was $17.028 billion.
- Ford shares picked up 39.5 cents to trade at $14.235 this morning.
Ford Motor NYSE:F is giving investors an uncommon look at how its focus on quality is going. The automaker’s new-vehicle quality score improved by 41 problems per 100 vehicles. That compares to a 17-point improvement for the industry. Ford’s gain is about 2.4 times faster than the industry average. The question is if that will turn up as lower warranty costs.
U.S. auto quality improved, with the industry’s problem score dropping to 175 per 100 vehicles compared to 192 last year, according to J.D. Power’s 2026 U.S. Initial Quality Study. Ford led mass-market brands with 152 problems, followed by Nissan and Buick. Porsche came in first overall at 138.
Ford CEO Jim Farley on Wednesday called the outcome “a culmination of a lot of hard work by thousands of our team members across North America,” speaking at a press conference, Reuters reported. Reuters
Ford sees quality as a margin issue more than just a branding one. At March 31, Ford listed $17.028 billion in expected future warranty and field-service costs, down from $17.190 billion at the quarter’s start. The company set aside $1.374 billion for new warranties in the quarter, down from $1.689 billion a year ago. Warranty payments rose to $1.487 billion from $1.457 billion.
Ford said in its latest quarterly filing that it’s possible costs above what it has set aside for material field service and customer satisfaction could reach $2.0 billion. For investors, that’s what the J.D. Power result means: 2026 models need to have fewer problems that actually lower future payouts, not just improve a survey ranking.
Ford’s recall numbers are still high. The automaker has had 51 recalls this year, Reuters said, while Stellantis NYSE:STLA counts 19. Ford has topped the industry’s recall list since 2020, when Farley took over as CEO and set quality as a main focus.
Ford is under a three-year U.S. safety consent order after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2024 said the automaker didn’t recall vehicles with faulty rearview cameras fast enough. The consent order comes with a $165 million civil penalty. Ford has to review recalls from the last three years.
Ford says most of its recall volume is from older models. Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra told reporters newer vehicles are getting better, especially compared to those built from 2013 to 2020, according to Reuters.
Ford has pointed to overreliance on automation as a factor in its earlier quality issues. Charles Poon, Ford’s VP of vehicle hardware engineering, told reporters that the company counted too much on AI and changes in design rules to lift quality, according to The Verge. Ford responded by hiring, promoting or bringing back over 350 veteran engineers, building a 40-person software quality group, and rolling out more than 100,000 tests powered by AI.
Ford is shifting away from a “find-and-fix mentality” to stop problems earlier, Galhotra told The Verge. Poon said veteran engineers now help spot issues “before they creep into the system.” The Verge
J.D. Power’s data shows nine out of 10 categories got better, but infotainment is still a weak spot. Mass-market infotainment issues reached 44.4 per 100 vehicles. Premium brands had 38.3. Problems with Android Auto from Alphabet NASDAQ:GOOGL and CarPlay from Apple NASDAQ:AAPL added 1.4 problems per 100 vehicles, making those systems the biggest headache here.
“As more technology is introduced into vehicles, keeping the experience simple matters more than ever,” Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking at J.D. Power, said. Of owners who said they had a distracted-driving problem, 46% pointed to infotainment or the touchscreen. Only 18% blamed driver-assistance alerts. JD Power
Ford traded up 39.5 cents to $14.235 at 10:46 a.m. EDT. General Motors NYSE:GM gained $1.21 to $80.16, Stellantis picked up 3.5 cents at $5.875, and Tesla NASDAQ:TSLA was up 59 cents to $376.12.
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