Ford Motor Co. has disclosed more than $1.3 billion in charges for recalls since September 2016. The latest being a $267 million charge for a recall of 1.3 million vehicles for door latch issues, according to a Monday report.
The car company last month recalled 1.3 million pickup trucks with defective door latches, an expense of $267 million, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Earlier this year, Ford announced it was expecting to spend $295 million on two recalls: one was another door latch problem in Ford Fiestas, 2013-14 Ford Fusions and 2013-14 Lincoln MKZ cars, and the other covered about 230,000 cars at risk for under-hood fires.
Other Ford recalls this past year have included a June recall of Ford Transit vans for a driveshaft coupling defect, at a cost of $142 million. In September 2016, Ford said it was adding 1.5 million vehicles to a recall over malfunctioning side door latches, more than doubling the size of the recall.
The recall costs come as the company is looking to push the development of driverless car technology, the WSJ article noted.
Ford’s head of global operations, Joe Hinrichs, said in a statement to Law360 that based on third-party surveys, the company’s vehicle quality is near an all-time high and that it’s achieved some of the industry’s lowest warranty costs.
“At the same time, Ford is committed to moving quickly to address safety issues as we continue to build the utmost trust with customers,” Hinrichs said. “Similarly, we have also increased the transparency of our recall costs.”
The increased visibility largely reflects the automotive industry’s higher recall levels in the past several years, according to Hinrichs.
