Ford Halts Manufacturing of Electrical F-150 After Battery Fireplace
The Ford Motor Co. F-150 Lightning displayed on the 2023 Philadelphia Auto Present. (Matt Rourke/Related Press)
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DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor Co. has suspended manufacturing and halted shipments of the F-150 Lightning electrical pickup after a battery caught fireplace throughout a pre-delivery high quality test.
Manufacturing at Ford’s Rouge Electrical Automobile Heart in Dearborn, Mich., has been stopped till not less than Feb. 24.
The automaker stated in a Feb. 15 assertion it has no motive to imagine electrical pickups already in use by prospects are affected by the battery problem.
“By the tip of subsequent week, we anticipate to conclude our investigation and apply what we be taught to the truck’s battery manufacturing processes,” Ford spokeswoman Emma Bergg stated within the assertion. “This might take just a few weeks.”
The fireplace occurred at an outside lot close by in Dearborn the place autos are held for high quality checks. The truck with the battery downside and two close by autos had been broken by the fireplace, Bergg stated. No accidents had been reported.
The corporate believes it has recognized the basis reason for the battery downside, together with the probably inhabitants of vehicles affected by it. “We monitor automobile information to assist guarantee our autos are performing as anticipated within the discipline,” Bergg stated.
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The corporate will proceed to carry accomplished vehicles till engineering and manufacturing adjustments are made.
Batteries for the vehicles are equipped by SK Innovation, a South Korean provider with a manufacturing unit in Georgia.
The manufacturing halt comes at an inopportune time for Ford, which has struggled with high quality points, remembers and excessive guarantee prices for a number of years.
The issue additionally stops manufacturing of a well-liked product. Bergg stated the corporate remains to be working via a backlog of almost 200,000 reservations for the F-150 Lightning because it stopped taking them in December 2021. Reservation holders put down $100 deposits, which Ford was changing to orders.
Final yr, Ford offered greater than 15,000 of the vehicles in its first full yr of manufacturing.
There have been earlier issues with the lithium-ion batteries utilized in most electrical autos. Fires within the batteries can burn highly regarded and take 1000’s of gallons of water to extinguish, which has triggered problem for firefighters making an attempt to place out battery fires in a number of Teslas after crashes. Basic Motors, Hyundai, BMW and others have issued remembers of the batteries.
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