Ford is recalling 238,364 Explorer SUVs over a defect that could result in a loss of motive power or possible rollaway risk. The issue stems from an issue with the subframe bushing and a rear axle bolt. Based on documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ford is worried that the rear axle horizontal mounting bolt may fracture under heavy torque loads.

The midsizer from Dearborn was overhauled for the 2024 model year, introducing sorely needed updates to its interior and new styling plus an improved choice of powertrains. This makes it a decent selection for our Right Spec series – at least until someone at Toyota deems us all worthy of a build-n-price tool for the Land Cruiser.

A New York judge has halted Ford and Lincoln from instituting a specific set of requirements before allowing dealerships to sell the brands’ all-electric vehicles. This comes after five stores operating within the state launched a lawsuit against Ford Motor Co. for introducing a new certification process for EVs. The issue was that the automaker was asking too much from dealerships and effectively favoring those with deeper pockets by forcing changes that required significant financial investments.

Ford introduced its tiered dealer program nearly twelve months ago, splitting stores interested in selling electric into “Model e Certified Elite” and “Model e Certified.”

Yes, I had to check the calendar to learn if this is April Fool’s Day. It is not. Ford announced this morning a new trim for their all-electric pickup truck. It has an extended range (320-mile) battery, popular equipment, and a price tag right at $70,000. 

The United Auto Workers (UAW) has decided to broaden its strike on Friday. This week’s targets include Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, responsible for the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, and General Motors’ Lansing Delta Township Assembly, responsible for the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave. 

Stellantis managed to dodge the bullet this time around, with union leadership citing progress made in contract negotiations. It seems the union liked what the automaker had to say regarding the right to strike over plant closures and cost-of-living adjustments. Ford managed to achieve something similar last week. But with the UAW hoping to pit the companies against each other by subjecting them all to strikes, it was inevitable that Blue Oval would be back under union scrutiny. 

The chairs of three U.S. House of Representatives committees have demanded Ford turn over documents pertaining to its partnership with Chinese battery company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) while threatening to call in CEO Jim Farley to testify before Congress.

This comes after Ford elected to pause work on its $3.5-billion Michigan battery plant using technology. While the official reason given was that the facility may not be able to operate competitively depending on how contract negotiations progressed with the United Auto Workers, there seems to be members of Congress fretting over the prospect of U.S. tax subsidies benefiting Chinese businesses.

License plates are an ever-present part of our vehicles’ exteriors, but they aren’t always in the best shape and aren’t always visible. Some states have introduced digital license plates as a way to combat poor legibility, and now automakers are jumping on board. Ford and Reviver, a digital license plate manufacturer, have teamed up to install the technology on new vehicles at the dealer.

A revamping of this nation’s best-selling vehicle (well, the half-ton portion of those numbers, anyway) is always worth a few words. The build-and-price tool for the 2024 Ford F-150 is now live, meaning we can poke around in what Ford asserts is a streamlined ordering process in which the number of buildable combinations has been cut by 90 percent compared to last year.

Ford, Honda, and BMW have announced plans to create a new “vehicle-to-grid company” that’s aimed at standardizing vehicle charging via a singular platform. The service also seeks to return excess energy to the electrical grid, effectively converting EVs into publicly shared batteries.

The business will be known as ChargeScape and, according to the automakers' press release, seeks to “create a single platform that will seamlessly connect electric utilities, automakers and their interested EV customers to manage energy usage for a broad pool of EVs.” The scheme could be one way of addressing concerns that modern power grids couldn’t endure widespread electric vehicle usage while helping to position the involved companies in an industry that’s being heavily incentivized by the government.

In Detroit, the Truck Wars never sleep. All the players enjoy nothing more than beating each other over the head with power outputs, towing capacity, and what they think is the Next Great Gadget™. For 2024, Ford is re-upping the F-150 with a midcycle refresh – and answering GM and Ram with an innovation of its own.

Can manufacturers tend to enjoy shrouding their upcoming vehicles in a cloud of ranchland dust or billowing tire smoke – depending on what they’re trying to keep under wraps, of course. Pickup trucks often get the former, which is exactly what was deployed for a brief teaser video for the next F-150 which popped up on Instagram just one day before the entire thing is revealed in Detroit.

Electric vehicle platforms and simple powertrain components make it easy for automakers to customize and modify a model’s performance characteristics without re-engineering significant portions of their architecture. That has ushered in a new era of speed, as companies have figured out that slapping more powerful electric motors and upgraded suspension components onto existing models is an excellent way to squeeze more revenue out of each design. Ford did it with the Mustang Mach-E GT, and now The Blue Oval has another beefed-up variant on the way. 

Today we give you a track-ready pony car -- this 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350.

Heritage can be a loaded word. One could be proud that an ancestor served with honor and dignity in battle in some far-off land and time. Or one might be proud of distant relatives who trapped and enslaved others. You have to be careful invoking both the word and the sentiment.

When it comes to Broncos, there is a similarly mixed bag of heritage. You can choose to recall the first-generation Bronco, small and nimble off-road and on. The bigger full-size Broncos were popular, too, both among outdoors enthusiasts and, weirdly, among about-to-be indicted running backs running slowly from the law. Or we can consider the lost heritage of a 25-year gap in a model’s timeline.

Other than a squinting resemblance to those first Broncos of the Sixties, the 2023 Ford Bronco Heritage has little in common with the back-in-the-day trucklets of yore. Modern safety, emissions, and convenience standards have made for big changes in what we need in our everyday machines. How does that heritage translate to today?

Today's used car of the day is a 2016 Ford Focus RS that calls to the boy racer in all of us.

When you think about it for more than a few minutes, it’s a wonder that no automaker offered a compact pickup truck to pair with both midsize and fullsize trucks in their own lineup until Ford debuted the Maverick a couple of years ago. After all, we have OEMs building half a dozen different crossovers and SUVs each, and with hundreds of thousands of pickups hitting American roads each year it seems to be a no-brainer to unveil something smaller and more affordable. 

But no. There are currently but two truly compact pickups on the road right now, and while it seems a number of automakers are working to fill this niche, the inflated prices being asked for Mavericks reflect both pent-up demand for more efficient trucks and the difficulty Ford seems to be having in building enough to meet that demand. The hybrid Maverick seems to be the one getting the bulk of attention and the resulting additional dealer markup.

Into the void comes another flavor, the 2023 Ford Maverick Tremor. Based on the Ecoboost-powered AWD Maverick rather than the hybrid version, the Tremor package adds a bit of off-road verve to an interesting minitruck. How does the Maverick Tremor shake out?

The Woodward Dream Cruise took place over the weekend, providing us an opportunity to sample Ford’s latest wares back-to-back — including the 500-horsepower Dark Horse Mustang. 

We hear about vehicle recalls all the time, but it’s not often that we hear about a recall being investigated for not going far enough. That’s the case with a 2022 Ford recall of the Mustang Mach-E, in which the automaker pulled back almost 49,000 units for battery overheating concerns during charging. 

Maybe it's because we covered a $300,000 Ford Mustang last night. Maybe it's because I've always loved the looks of this generation Ford GT -- I've never driven one. Or maybe it's because I am feeling saucy on a summer Friday. Whatever the reason, today I bring you this California-based 2005 Ford GT.

The Ford Mustang has always been known for affordable -- or affordable-ish -- performance. The newest vehicle in the pony-car lineup will be priced not to compete with Camaros and Chargers but single-family homes. Meet the $300,000 Mustang -- the 2025 Ford Mustang GTD.

Ford’s Bronco is becoming more expensive, as the company is dumping the base trim for the 2024 model year. The Big Bend edition will now represent the cheapest way for one to procure the SUV. Though cheap may not be the operative word, as this choice shifts the Bronco starting MSRP from $36,785 to $41,025.

Ford is pressing forward with new, more powerful Mustang variants when other automakers are pulling back on the segment. The company recently held a first drive for the 2024 Mustang, including the new Dark Horse variant, and we’re now seeing leaks for the Mustang GTD, a mid-engine car with wild styling and a surprising underbelly.

Ford is adding some new options to the almighty Bronco Raptor for 2024, including an array of snazzy colors and trim. But the Real Ones know that’s not the biggest news – not when Ford says the Everglades is returning thanks to popular demand.

Ford is now four years deep into an alarming lawsuit that highlights alleged sexual harassment and what the plaintiff described as a very hostile workplace. The Detroit News reported that DeAnna Johnson filed the suit over her experience working at Ford’s Dearborn Truck plant, and the details are disturbing, to say the least.

Ford said a few days ago that it plans to keep the V8 alive for as long as it can, even as the world moves towards more electrification.

How long will that be?

As automakers convert their gas vehicle lineups to electric models, it’s not surprising that the big, thirsty engines are among the first to go. Ford, a pioneer of V8 engines and muscle cars, is certainly no exception, but the automaker’s executives aren’t giving up on displacement just yet.

Parking brakes can be very useful, but only in limited situations and when the driver intends to use them. Unexpectedly engaging the parking brake while the vehicle is moving can cause a loss of control and cause the vehicle to crash. Ford recently issued a recall for several hundred thousand F-150 pickup trucks for an issue that could cause their parking brakes to engage while driving.

Ford is all-in on EVs, but The Blue Oval is finding that there are still plenty of buyers wanting fuel-efficient gas vehicles. That’s why CEO Jim Farley announced that his company would come up with a range of new hybrid models over the next few years as it continues its march toward electrification.

It was almost certainly a coincidence that the site Ford chose to launch the 2024 Ford Mustang GT was near a horse-racing track. The company likely chose the location due to its proximity to challenging mountain roads like the Angeles Crest Highway.

Still, I wouldn’t put it past them. After all, the seventh-generation Mustang is the company’s newest version of a muscle-car thoroughbred.

For most car enthusiasts, a Ford Mustang without a V8 under the hood is sacrilege. This despite the fact that V6 and four-cylinder Mustangs have long ago shed the pejorative label of “insurance beater.”

Today's used car of the day is a 2014 Ford Focus ST that asks $14,500 and is based in Oregon.

Ford made big news when it announced the F-150 Lightning Pro and its sub-$40,000 price tag, but the automaker didn’t leave its entry-level electric truck at that price for long. Inventory and supply chain shortages and production delays caused it to raise the truck's price almost immediately, and it has been selling for top dollar since. That recently changed, however, as Ford slashed F-150 Lightning prices by up to $10,000 in some cases.

The Ford Mustang Mach-E is many things, but its crossover body has meant that it isn’t the performance stalwart that its namesake gas counterpart has been for decades. The Mach-E GT took a significant step in the right direction, and Ford recently showed off another performance variant at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. 

We here at TTAC love cars that get the "boat" designation, especially if they're also Malaise-era. This 1976 Ford Thunderbird would seem to fit the definition.

We reported yesterday about the resistance Ford is facing toward building a new plant. So naturally, I wanted to hear what you think.

In a move that will surprise absolutely no one, Ford is making a more rugged off-road version of the Mustang Mach-E and teased the vehicle on YouTube. The now well-worn path has been traveled by Porsche, Lamborghini, and countless homebrew mechanics, so it was only a matter of time before we started seeing more mainstream brands getting in on the action. 

“We don’t need jobs,” said Fred Chapman, a 62-year-old toolmaker, when interviewed by Reuters about a new battery factory Ford wants to build near Marshall, Michigan. “I know what lithium is – it’s a very volatile element,” added Glenn Kowalske, a retired engineer who, according to LinkedIn, earned his degree in the 1970s.

Sit down, buckle up, and be quiet. I heard those words many times from my parents and have likely said them countless times to my own kids, but a recent patent from Ford may change how people ride in their vehicles – at least off-road.

Ford has invested billions in its electrification efforts, but the automaker might not see a return on that money for quite some time. Though it reported a significant jump in sales in the second quarter of this year, the company’s EV sales have fallen slightly.

We walk into this Right Spec knowing it’ll likely cause a decent amount of discussion and perhaps some effigies to be set alight. The venerable Mustang is new for 2024, becoming the last man standing from Detroit after the Challenger and Camaro shuffle off this mortal coil.

Today's UCOTD is a unique one. This 2003 Shell Valley Cobra is titled as a 1967 Cobra in Maryland, where the seller resides.

It’s always difficult to tell when, exactly, automakers plan to release new models, but leaks do happen. A recent forum post on the 7th Mustang site claims to have delivery dates for the next-generation Mustang and shares a text it claims was sent to buyers. 

Ford has been restructuring for years and is reportedly planning additional layoffs. Staff from multiple business units, including its combustion-focused Ford Blue division and the Model e electric vehicle unit, are supposed to be getting bad news in the coming weeks. But the number of people getting laid off isn’t supposed to match what we’ve seen before. 

Trust the gearheads taking part in Pikes Peak to come up with vehicles appearing to be ripped straight off the digital pages of PlayStation. Ford, which has been fielding entrants since the Peak’s first event in 1916, is taking to the hill this year in their SuperVan 4.2, a machine with over 1,400 horsepower.

While Ford has been shipping all trims of its all-new 2023 Super Duty pickup line to customers since May, production issues have delayed things and you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone that’s actually driven one. Fortunately, the Blue Oval invited us to take a gander at the new trucks at the Ford Michigan Proving Grounds earlier this month.

As first impressions go, the Super Duty led off with a firm handshake and proved that it can be slotted into a myriad of roles. Ford offered up an impressive resume and a sound business plan and allowed us to beat on a few examples to prove its rigs were the correct vehicle for any job.

Like ‘em or not, the musings of Consumer Reports can carry quite a bit of weight with John Q. Public when shopping for big-ticket items like a car or pickup truck. This month’s issue featured machines in numerous categories slapped with an ‘avoid’ label – including America’s best-selling vehicle.

On Monday, Ford Motor Co. opened the Cologne Electric Vehicle Center in Germany. Founded in 1930, the facility first produced examples of the Model A intended for the European market. Though the site is probably more famous for manufacturing the Ford Capri and every single generation of the humble Fiesta.

The factory has more recently been the recipient of a $2 billion investment to prepare it for the automaker’s push into electrification. With retooling having concluded, Ford says the plant should boast an annual production capacity of 250,000 electric vehicles.

We've reported on Ford and GM reaching agreements to use Tesla's EV charging standard.

So the obvious question is -- who's next?

Readers may recall a recent news post in which we mentioned Jim Farley took to Twitter and announced that Ford was heeding requests from policy leaders and rural Americans, electing not to yank AM radio from Ford and Lincoln vehicles. Going a step further, he also said any Ford EVs not currently able to pick up Amplitude Modulation stations would be getting a software update to give them the capability.

Despite this common sense development, a cadre of automaker lobbyists made their way to Washington yesterday to bleat at Congress and stomp their feet. Their message was the opposite of Farley’s, saying lawmakers shouldn’t consider requiring OEMs to include AM radio in their vehicles.

Ford has acknowledged its recent struggles with quality, with CEO Jim Farley vowing to halt the brand’s backward slide. It will take some time for turnaround efforts to take hold, and in the meantime, we’ve got more Ford recalls to discuss. This time, the recall involves 125,000 trucks and crossovers for fire risk, including the ultra-popular Maverick. 

Today's UCOTD is a 1965 Ford Mustang fastback that appears to need some work.

It’s been ages since the venerable 5.0L V8 engine has been the F-150’s volume seller, but that hasn’t stopped some gearheads deep within the skunkworks of Ford Performance from coming up with a relatively affordable supercharger kit for the mill – one which cranks the wick to 700 horsepower.

You know things are off the rails when typing “2023 Ford Bronco” into a search bar on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s database returns results with the words DO NOT DRIVE THIS VEHICLE in angry bold letters outlined with a red box. Oh, dear.

While that missive from the NHTSA may be a bit over-alarmist given it is for an easily remedied – but admittedly dangerous – issue of loose lug nuts from the factory, it remains true that Ford has issued yet another recall for its popular Bronco off-roader.

Customers who had thrown down money to reserve a new Ford Mustang have been playing a waiting game in recent months, with the Blue Oval pushing production back in April and again earlier this month. Now, according to several reservation holders with accounts on the 7thMustang.com fan forum, production is ramping up and should be underway by at least the end of July.

We told you the other day about a Toyota owner who is upset a damaged engine won't be covered under warranty after he drove his car on the track.

We've also covered an issue in which Ford Bronco owners complain that a factory feature has damaged their vehicles after off-road use -- and that Ford is denying warranty claims.

Ford CEO Jim Farley took to social media on Tuesday to announce that the automaker is reversing a decision to remove AM radio from its vehicles. The alleged concern was that all-electric vehicles would interfere with the signal and that listening trends were moving away from the relevant bandwidth. However, opponents noted that localized emergency broadcasts frequently end up on AM radio and that the airwaves likewise tend to be home to political talk shows or religious broadcasts.

Today's UCOTD comes to us from Ohio. It's a 2014 Ford Focus ST and the seller is asking $12,000.

Ford is scaling back in China. Yet, at the same time, General Motors' Buick brand survived the brand purges in 2008-2009 in part because of its success in China.

So, what is the best way for non-Chinese makes to succeed in that market?

Trail Turn Assist is a cool Ford Bronco feature that brakes the inside rear wheel to tighten the turning radius and help the SUV navigate challenging off-road obstacles. Though helpful, some owners have reported that the feature could damage the vehicle.

Ford will be scaling down future investments in China, as the company’s chief executive has suggested that there will be “no guarantee” Western automakers can compete with local electric-vehicle rivals. This should have been obvious to American manufacturers who have historically been required to engage in partnerships with Chinese corporations just to sell within the region. But it also speaks to hardships Ford has endured while trying to break into the market.