Ford Recalls Another 1.74 Million Vehicles, Already More Than Halfway To Last Year’s Total

Ford broke a record for the number a recalls issued by an automaker in a single year in 2025, with 152. Those record-breaking recalls totaled 12.92 million vehicles. But somewhere in Dearborn, an executive thought those were rookie numbers in need of bumping up. So Ford is seemingly looking to best last year’s figures in 2026, as its latest recall — 1.74 million vehicles for dodgy backup cameras — puts Ford at a total of 7,315,848. That’s more than half way to besting last year’s total and we’re only a week into March. If that isn’t American can-do spirit, I don’t know what is. 

According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, this most recent recall is actually two, as there are two different backup camera issues. One is for certain 2021-2026 Broncos and 2021-2024 Edge SUVs, whose Accessory Protocol Interface Module (APIM) can overheat and shutdown, preventing the backup camera from displaying an image at all. The other is for certain 2020-2022 Escapes and Lincoln Corsairs and 2020-2024 Explorers and Lincoln Aviators, whose infotainment screens can sometimes display flipped or reversed images. Both recalls require a software update to remedy. 

While Ford is more than halfway toward last year’s recalled vehicle total, it still has a long way to go before it gets anywhere near 2025’s 152 recalls. So far, Ford has issued 17 recalls this year, which seems like a big improvement. However, Ford still has more than triple the number of recalls issued than the second place companies. Per NHTSA, Toyota and Hyundai are tied for the second most, with five recalls.

The one specific recall that bumped Ford’s numbers up so much this year happened in February, which affected 4,381,878 most pickups and SUVs from 2021-2026, for faulty trailer brake lighting. So this latest double-recall is somehow only Ford’s second biggest of the year. 

I don’t know what’s going on over in Dearborn, but it seems like Ford is struggling with electronics and equipment, its two biggest recall categories. Is Ford buying parts from the ACME Corporation? Either way, I imagine that somewhere in Turin, Fiat workers are looking at these numbers in a jealous fury, wondering how they could let Ford beat them at their own game. They’ll probably have an extra glass of wine at lunch today.