(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) Ford Motor Co. has suspended deliveries of the new F-150 Lightning, an electric pickup truck, after final inspections showed that the vehicle’s batteries may fail.
“During a standard Lightning pre-delivery quality inspection, one vehicle displayed a battery issue,” Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg wrote in an email to the Epoch Times. “We believe we have identified the root cause of this issue.”
Ford stopped producing and shipping the F-150 Lightning when inspectors discovered the issue on Tuesday, but the electric pickups in circulation do not seem to have the same defect.
“We are not aware of any incidents of this issue in the field and do not believe F-150 Lightnings already in customers’ hands are affected by this issue,” Bergg wrote.
Ford produces the F-150 Lightning at the River Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan. The company will not produce or ship new vehicles for at least 10 days.
“We expect to conclude our investigation and apply what we learn to the truck’s battery production process; this could take a few weeks,” Bergg wrote.
Ford will hold onto finished F-150 Lightnings while the investigation determines whether the battery failure issue affected them and “while we work through engineering and process updates.”
The F-150 Lightning is the key to Ford’s transition to a fully electric fleet.
After a year and a half of pre-orders, customers have reserved more than 200,000 F-150 Lightnings, which will replace the top-selling F-150 pickup.
Since deliveries began in May 2022, Ford has shipped 15,680 Lightning pickups.
“The team is diligently working on the root cause analysis,” Bergg wrote to CNBC. She added that the delay ensures Ford is “doing the right thing” for its customers.
