USAFord ranked first among mass-market brands in J.D. Power’s 2026 Initial Quality Study, but CEO Jim Farley says the win does not change how he sees the company’s biggest problem: Ford still issues more recalls than any other automaker.
Farley says he is proud of the quality ranking but considers it only a step toward being the industry’s best brand across every measure, recalls included. Ford has issued 56 recall campaigns covering 12.1 million vehicles since the start of 2026. That follows a record 2025, when the company issued 153 recalls covering nearly 13 million vehicles, more than any other automaker that year.
To close the gap between new-vehicle quality and recall volume, Ford says it has strengthened testing, brought suppliers into development earlier, rehired experienced engineers, and merged its engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and quality functions into a single organization. Farley has said he expects the changes to sharply cut future recall numbers.
The real test comes next. Ford is preparing to fully refresh its North American lineup over the coming years, and Farley says those launches need to go out, in his words, flawlessly.
