Ford announced it’s recalling almost 185,000 F-150 full-size pickups. The 2021 and 2022 model-year trucks are experiencing driveshaft problems that could cause it to fracture.
Ford is recalling nearly 185,000 F-150 pickups from the 2021 and 2022 model years.
The truck’s underbody thermal/acoustic insulators can loosen over time. If they come in contact with the truck’s aluminum driveshaft, they can cause scoring or marks. If this goes on long enough, the heat generated each time can eventually crack the driveshaft.
Potential results if the issue is not repaired
“A fractured driveshaft may result in loss of motive power,” the report states, “unintended vehicle movement while the vehicle is in park if the parking brake is not applied, and may result in secondary damage to surrounding components.”
Additionally, once fractured, the driveshaft could break loose and touch the ground, causing the driver to lose control of the pickup, potentially resulting in a crash. The company is unaware of any accidents or injuries caused by the problem.
Some Ford F-150 pickups are facing issues with the aluminum driveshaft on the truck.
Owners are advised to look for a “loose underbody insulator.” They should also listen for a rattling, clicking or clunking noise due to the loose insulator coming in contact with the driveshaft. The scoring or marking on the driveshaft described earlier may also be visible.
Next steps
Ford’s taken steps to resolve the problem during production by swapping the underbody thermal acoustic insulator for an under-carpet thermal patch at the two plants — Dearborn (MI) Truck and Kansas City (KS) Assembly — already.
Dealers received the notice Tuesday, and owners will begin receiving notices in the mail shortly. They will be instructed to make an appointment with their dealer to have “positive attachment features adde to the underbody insulators.”
They’ll also inspect the driveshaft for scoring or marks that may have already occurred. This will be done at no expense to the truck owner.
As of Dec. 7, Ford received 27 reports of fractured aluminum driveshafts possibly related to sagging underbody insulators on the F-150s, the automaker said in an Automotive News report.
Charging is key to the transition to electric vehicles and while more chargers are one the way, Ford Motor Co. is launching a new program to ensure the juice needed to run an EV does not contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases.
Ford’s program can be used by current owners of the Mustang Mach-E, E-Transit and Escape PHEV.
With help of one auto industry’s traditional foes, the California Air Resource Board, Ford is beginning what it describes as a “sustainable charging program,” which allows owners of plug-in electric vehicles in California to opt for only carbon-neutral charging at home.
“Ford’s electric vehicle customers are beginning to realize all the possibilities associated with their vehicles and sustainable energy management,” said Matt Stover, director of charging and energy services, Ford Motor Co.
“By working with regulators, utilities and customers for home integration services, we’re enabling EV drivers to lower their carbon footprints, potentially save money and help protect the grid, all through their smartphones.”
California-based owners of all current Ford all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, including the Mustang Mach-E, the E-Transit and the Escape PHEV, plus the F-150 Lightning coming in 2022, are eligible for the program.
Only green energy wanted
The idea is to only use electricity made with renewable sources rather than oil, gas or coal, reducing the carbon footprint of the energy used to power the vehicles.
Ford plans to participate in CARB’s “Low Carbon Fuel Standard,” which will offer customers a new way to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change by matching the use of electricity used to charge plug-in electric vehicles at home with 100% local renewable energy, the automaker said.
CARB, which has control of air quality standards throughout California, has long warred with automakers about emissions. Significant health concerns, created by automotive-related air pollution in Southern California, have given CARB enormous influence over emission standards not only across California but also across the United States.
Once enrolled, the FordPass app automatically tracks the amount of electricity used while charging at home. Ford generates, or buys, an equivalent amount of California-sourced Renewable Energy Certificates, an EPA-recognized program that records the generation and usage of green energy.
Ford then sends evidence of the matching amounts to CARB, ensuring that all home plug-in charging activity is matched with zero-carbon electricity.
Ford is investing more than $30 billion in electric vehicles and batteries through 2025. The push supports the company’s longer-term goal of creating a sustainable American manufacturing ecosystem, and to accelerate its progress towards achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2050. Overall, Ford expects 40% to 50% of its global vehicle volume to be fully electric by 2030.
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As far as Corey Williams is concerned, we’re walking on “hallowed ground.”
Model A sedans roll down the line at the old Rouge Assembly Plant, one of the first factories with a moving assembly line.
A year ago, there was nothing but a dusty parking lot where Ford Motor Co.’s new Electric Vehicle Center now stands. But dig deeper into the past and you realize this was the site of the original Ford Rouge Assembly Plant where generations of blue-collar workers built everything from Model A sedans to Mustangs to F-Series pickups — as well as armor, engines and tanks as part of the “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II.
Starting next spring, this new factory will begin building the new Ford F-150 Lightning, the all-electric pickup truck has so far garnered over 150,000 advance reservations since it was unveiled in May. That’s part of a $30 billion electrification plan Detroit’s second-largest automaker has in play.
Rolling out the first battery-powered version of Ford’s iconic pickup — the nation’s top-selling truck for 44 years — might be significant enough on its own. But the new Electric Vehicle Center is also functioning as a research lab that could radically change the way cars and trucks are built all over the world.
“This is hallowed ground. This is history,” said Williams, the plant manager. “This is where we are going from the past to the future.”
Where’s the assembly line?
Automated Guided Vehicles, or AGVs, replace the moving assembly line at the Electric Vehicle Center.
Take a tour of the center, which is slowly launching early prototype production, and you can’t help but notice something missing. The moving assembly line that was originally introduced by company founder Henry Ford 108 years ago is gone. The assembly line is a fixture at all but the lowest-volume plants building cars virtually by hand — and slowly, very slowly.
That’s not the case here. With the $250 million expansion Ford announced on Thursday, the Electric Vehicle Center will be capable of producing as many as 80,000 Lightnings annually. That’s not quite as fast as the plant next door where traditional, gas and diesel trucks or built, but quickly enough that this is a radical departure.
Instead of a fixed line, partially assembled pickups are loaded onto AGVs, or Automated Guided Vehicles. These are, essentially, robotic pallets that creep along the shop floor, guided by thin magnetic ribbons carved into the concrete. Sonar sensors help make sure they don’t collide with one another or with the hundreds of workers who’ll soon populate the plant.
It’s not the first time AGVs have shown up in factories. General Motors started using them in the 1980s, primarily to deliver parts to workstations along the line. This is the first time they’ve been put to use in such a high-volume operation completely abandoning Henry Ford’s movable assembly line.
Getting workers plugged in
An F-150 Lightning body is “married” to a chassis containing its electric drive system.
A major change, yes, but as far as Williams is concerned, one of the real hallmarks of the Center is the way workers become active, intelligent parts of the production process. Reaching their post, they log in at one of three tablet-style screens and can check on what happened during earlier shifts, then report in during their own.
Among other things, that will help Ford track and quickly resolve problems, explains Christopher Skaggs, who oversees Ford’s EV planning and implementation.
The AGVs not only move vehicles from workstation to workstation but they recognize the operators at each point, rising or lowering to maximize ergonomics, reducing stress and strains.
As is today’s norm, even in traditional assembly plants, there’s a high dependence on robots, including Transformer-sized beasts that can weld, glue and handle jobs like mounting windshields.
Robots and cobots
Cobots — “collaborative robots” — check out a partially assembled Lightning
The center also introduces what Ford has dubbed “cobots,” or collaborative robots. Rather than being isolated and fenced off, they operate right alongside human workers. They can do tasks like sanding or, in this case, help their flesh-and-blood colleagues examine bodies for minor dings or damage using artificial vision.
The production process isn’t entirely unique. It still proceeds one workstation at a time and, as Lightning bodies follow their serpentine path they’re eventually snagged by an overhead conveyor, carried to the point where they are “married” to the chassis that contains each Lightning’s battery pack, motors and other drivetrain components, as well as wheels and suspension.
As the final assembly tasks are completed, the now operative electric pickups enter a series of inspection stations. One uses a massive robotic arm to press down on each Lightning’s cargo bed. Sensors built into the truck are designed to tell the driver how much weight it’s carrying. The test confirms that system is accurate to within a percent or so, explains manufacturing manager Liza Currie.
One last look
A final check for dings or paint problems and the F-150 Lightning is ready to go — though this is just a prototype to be used for testing.
Finally, each truck will roll into a blindingly bright booth featuring dozens of carefully positioned lights. Human and robotic vision work together to ensure some exterior flaw — a ding, perhaps, or a chip in the paint — doesn’t get passed on to a consumer without being repaired.
As he surveys the new plant, Williams said he’s confident, “We’ve incorporated the latest and the greatest.”
Many of the new features will reappear in other Ford plants. But Williams hesitates when directly asked whether the conventional F-150 plant next door will switch to AGVs, abandoning it fixed line, when the truck goes through a makeover around 2025. That’s for higher-ups to decide, he defers, but it’s clear he sees the Electric Vehicle Center as the high profile test for a radical new system that could replace what Ford Motor Co.’s namesake gave to the manufacturing world a century ago.
“I believe what you’re seeing here,” Williams said, “is the beginning” of a massive transformation in the manufacturing process.
Ford’s enduring a tough day, forced to deal with big problems on two of its hottest vehicles: the Bronco and Mustang Mach-E.
The roof problems with the new Bronco are still unresolved, forcing Ford to replace the parts on all owners’ vehicles while halting production.
The long-awaited Bronco’s problems with its removable hardtop still haven’t been resolved, forcing it to replace the pieces on existing models and halt production on new hardtop models to solve the issue. Soft top Broncos will continue to roll down the line.
Meanwhile stopping production is the problem for the Mach-E as it awaits — no surprise — more semiconductors. Perhaps no company’s been hit harder by the chip shortage than Ford. The company’s had to temporarily shut down builds on its biggest sellers, like the F-150, Explorer and now the Mach-E.
Bronco busted
The problem with the Bronco’s roof applies to the removable molded-in color plastic panels only, as reported by the website, bronco6g.com. The color and protective coating applied to the roof pieces is faulty, which becomes apparent a few weeks after the vehicle’s been exposed to the elements.
As a result, the coating comes off on the edges of the panels, which are not smooth. With a bit of time, weather can change the color of the panels. Reportedly, this issue’s plagued the design for some time now.
The Bronco roof issues apply to the two- and four-door models, but not soft tops.
The automaker’s telling owners who have already taken delivery of their vehicles that they will replace the panels at no cost. However, the real tough sell is for buyers who haven’t gotten their vehicles yet and will now be forced to wait even longer to get their vehicle — possibly until 2022.
Not only might you have to wait until next year, it may be next year’s model as well, which could make those who felt it was important get the first year offering angry. The exception is for the prospective owners who ordered a First Edition model, those will be 2021 vehicles.
Ford is offering reservation holders $1,100 in reward points, which can be used to buy Bronco accessories for their SUVs. Also anyone who made a reservation before March 21, 2020, are protected from any price increases that could be applied to 2022 vehicles.
Soft top owners are obviously excluded from the problem and are virtually assured of getting their vehicle a little sooner now.
Mach-E matters
Production of the Mach-E will be delayed six weeks as the company secures more chips.
The Mustang Mach-E, which is sold out through the rest of the year, now faces the same delays that have plagued the F-150, the Explorer and other vehicles, due to the dearth of semiconductors.
According to MachEForum.com, new owners will now be forced to wait six weeks or more for their vehicles. Once the automaker gets the chips it needs, and installs them in the vehicles, it will update the owners via email about when they can expect to get their EV.
To smooth ruffled feathers, Ford is offering 250 kWh of free charging via the “Blue Oval Charge Network.”
The delays are another gut punch for the automaker, which sees the Mach-E’s turn in just 12 days. Not only that, but they’re also big additions to the bottom line as 95% of customers choose the Blue Oval Intelligence software state service. Sales of the Mach-E jumped 15.8% in July compared to June, and this is definitely going to stall that momentum.
The Bronco’s issues also hit the bottom line as they, as the automaker noted in its July sales release, play “a significant role in Ford’s transaction price expansion. Ford SUV transaction pricing in July is a record of $42,000 per SUV, up $6,200 over last year.”
