Ford was forced to shut down production of the F-150 Lightning for more than one month after one of the electric pickup trucks caught fire during a routine quality inspection. After an investigation the automaker said the issue was related to the high voltage battery pack, but declined to reveal the specifics of the root cause.
Since the issue ended up impacting eighteen F-150 Lightning trucks already delivered to customers, Ford was also forced to issue a recall for those trucks, which has now been published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealing the exact cause.
According to the recall notice the issue occurs when the battery is fully charged or near fully charged. When this happens there could be “an internal short circuit in the battery which could result in a fire.” That short circuit was due to “production process deviations at the supplier” where “the cathode aluminum tabs may contact the anode electrode material.”
Ford goes on to say in a separate document that the 18 F-150 trucks that are part of the recall were built between January 20 and January 26, 2023 the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. Owners of the impacted trucks have already been contacted by phone by Ford and were instructed to take their Lightning to a dealer to have the battery pack replaced.
Since this is a NHTSA recall the 18 trucks were delivered to US customers. Transport Canada has not yet published a similar recall for Canada.
Ford worked with their battery supplier SK On to correct the issue and was able to restart production on March 13, 2023.
You can read the full recall notice below. (via InsideEVs)
RCLRPT-23V168-8458
