Ford F-150 Lightning fire caused halt in production, shipments

DETROIT — Production of the F-150 Lightning will remain down until at least the end of next week as Ford Motor Co. fixes an undisclosed battery problem that caused one truck to catch fire this month, the company confirmed.

The fire occurred in a Dearborn, Mich., holding lot Feb. 4 during a pre-delivery quality inspection and spread to two other vehicles, company spokeswoman Emma Bergg said. She said Ford believed it had identified the root cause of the fire but did not elaborate.

"By the end of next week, 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 said in an emailed statement. "We will continue holding already-produced vehicles while we work through engineering and process updates."

The company was not aware of any potential issues with Lightnings that already had been delivered, Bergg said.

The fire was first reported Wednesday by the Detroit Free Press, after Motor Authority reported on the delay in production and shipments earlier this week.

The Lightning’s batteries are supplied by SK On, a spinoff of SK Innovation, from a plant in Georgia. In a statement, a spokesman for the supplier reiterated the root cause of the issue has been discovered and the companies have “established measures to prevent recurrence” of the problem.

“All F-150 Lightnings in the market are fully monitored by Ford, and no similar case of the issue has been reported,” the statement said. “We believe this was a rare occurrence.”

The Lightning is a key part of Ford's plans to reach an annual electric vehicle production rate of 600,000 by the end of this year and 2 million by 2026. Ford has added a third shift at the Dearborn plant that makes the Lightning as it works to boost annual output to 150,000 by the end of the year.

CEO Jim Farley has said the full-size pickup likely would determine whether the U.S. is ready to fully embrace EVs.

Ford, however, has been plagued by quality issues and trouble on several high-profile products. Last year, the automaker issued a stop-sale on the Mustang Mach-E as it recalled nearly 50,000 of the crossovers over a safety defect that could cause it to lose power.

Farley this month blamed long-standing execution issues, including high costs and quality problems, for the company's $2 billion net loss in 2022.