Ford has announced a recall of its much-hyped F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck due to battery problems, forcing the U.S. automaker to stop production of the electric vehicle. A total of 18 electric pickups from the 2023 model year are being recalled, the automaker said. These affected Ford F-150 Lightning electric vehicles came with a potentially defective battery that may have been delivered to a customer, the automaker discovered after a quality inspection detected the problem with the battery.
Ford claims it is not aware of any injuries or accidents involving an F-150 Lightning related to the issue. The battery packs in the affected electric pickups will be replaced at no cost to customers, the automaker said. It also said owners of vehicles affected by the recall will be notified soon. In the meantime, it claims, the affected trucks can drive and charge without concern.
Also read: BYD teases electric SUV under new sub-brand to rival G-Class
The recall stems from a fire at a Ford Rouge EV center on February 4 this year. An assembled Ford F-150 Lighting EV caught fire during quality inspection, bringing the entire assembly line to a standstill, followed by an internal ingestion to find the root cause of the incident. It turned out that an unspecified flaw in battery production was behind the whole scenario.
Later, a deeper investigation found possible defects in the battery cells over a four-week period beginning late last year. The automaker said it has identified the root cause of the problem and made changes to address it. With this, the automaker is preparing to restart production of the F-150 Lightning with a new battery pack on March 13, ending a five-week shutdown.
First published date: March 12, 2023 at 17:38 PM CST
https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/electric-vehicles/ford-recalls-18-f-150-lightning-production-to-resume-on-march-13-details-here-41678622081474.html