Ford Recalling 18 Lightning Vehicles After Battery Fire

[UpWithFilm]

Hot shot /convoy truck range, your truck could easily appear at the dealership before the tracker says it's "SHIPPED" but I would still expect to see a "BUILT" status date next.

The modules & tear tag is a prerequisite to built status, which is a good, but still something is holding up the progress, I still suspect your truck has not passed QC is needed to allow it to show as built.

That makes sense. Hopefully they fixed whatever needed fixing and it's on its way now. Though, I suppose it could be on its way back to Dearborn for additional work. On the one hand I "want my new toy now", but on the other hand a few more weeks/another month would allow me to put more money into a down payment.

I wonder if Flat Rock is being used for all QC fixes and updates, or just specific ones. Makes me lean even more into the notion that they're using it for some, if not all of the battery pack fixes. A secondary site would allow them to allow Dearborn to focus on new builds.

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[Jim Lewis]

A Teselerati article posted on 3/21/23 says that an NHTSA news release on the recall identifies the issue that caused the battery fire: at high charge levels, because of defective cell construction, defective cells can catch on fire. The new release further identifies the time window of trucks affected: trucks built between January 20th and January 26th.

Ford F-150 Lightning recall reveals battery issue that caused production stoppage (teslarati.com)

Also posted on Inside EVs: Ford F-150 Lightning Recall Reveals Root Cause Of Fire That Stopped Production (insideevs.com)

and NHTSA: Check for Recalls: Vehicle, Car Seat, Tire, Equipment | NHTSA

 

[VTRedWingsFan]

A Teselerati article posted on 3/21/23 says that an NHTSA news release on the recall identifies the issue that caused the battery fire: at high charge levels, because of defective cell construction, defective cells can catch on fire. The new release further identifies the time window of trucks affected: trucks built between January 20th and January 26th.

Ford F-150 Lightning recall reveals battery issue that caused production stoppage (teslarati.com)

Also posted on Inside EVs: Ford F-150 Lightning Recall Reveals Root Cause Of Fire That Stopped Production (insideevs.com)

and NHTSA: Check for Recalls: Vehicle, Car Seat, Tire, Equipment | NHTSA

Thanks for the update. I dodged that one, built 01/11/2023.

 

[ryun]

From one of Ford's letters to the NHTSA that @Jim Lewis posted:

From February 06 through February 09, 2023, the Ford engineering team de-energized the high voltage battery pack to allow access to the vehicle. Using computed tomography (CT) scans of the high voltage (HV) battery arrays, Ford and the supplier independently concluded the initiation point of the fire occurred within one of the HV battery arrays.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RMISC-23V168-6445.pdf

I had no idea you could run a CT scan on inorganic parts!

 

[abel408]

A Teselerati article posted on 3/21/23 says that an NHTSA news release on the recall identifies the issue that caused the battery fire: at high charge levels, because of defective cell construction, defective cells can catch on fire. The new release further identifies the time window of trucks affected: trucks built between January 20th and January 26th.

Ford F-150 Lightning recall reveals battery issue that caused production stoppage (teslarati.com)

Also posted on Inside EVs: Ford F-150 Lightning Recall Reveals Root Cause Of Fire That Stopped Production (insideevs.com)

and NHTSA: Check for Recalls: Vehicle, Car Seat, Tire, Equipment | NHTSA

Hmm. My build was completed on 1/23. I wonder what that means for me...

 

[TaxmanHog]

A Teselerati article posted on 3/21/23 says that an NHTSA news release on the recall identifies the issue that caused the battery fire: at high charge levels, because of defective cell construction, defective cells can catch on fire. The new release further identifies the time window of trucks affected: trucks built between January 20th and January 26th.

Ford F-150 Lightning recall reveals battery issue that caused production stoppage (teslarati.com)

Also posted on Inside EVs: Ford F-150 Lightning Recall Reveals Root Cause Of Fire That Stopped Production (insideevs.com)

and NHTSA: Check for Recalls: Vehicle, Car Seat, Tire, Equipment | NHTSA

The 18 VIN's
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCMN-23V168-3872.pdf

Where window stickers were still available, most were Pro's, a XLT and Lariat all (SR) models

 

[GDN]

Hmm. My build was completed on 1/23. I wonder what that means for me...

A very quick grab says there were 687 trucks scheduled for 1/16 week (the days don't alighn perfectly to a build week so we'll use this number). 18 out of 687 trucks have the problem - 2.6% chance you've got the bad battery.

Might be more information about SR vs ER and which packs had the problem. I don't know if they disclosed that part.

 

[TaxmanHog]

https://fordauthority.com/2023/03/2023-ford-f-150-lightning-recalled-over-battery-pack-issue/

 

[TaxmanHog]

Might be more information about SR vs ER and which packs had the problem. I don't know if they disclosed that part.

The 8 digit of the VIN tells us these trucks were all SR models

 

[Grumpy2]

“Due to production process deviations at the supplier, the cathode aluminum tabs may contact the anode electrode material causing an internal short circuit when the high voltage battery cells are at a high state of charge.”

I assume this happens when the pouches swell during charging? It seems strange to me that this issue would only happen on SR units?

 

[TaxmanHog]

I assume this happens when the pouches swell during charging? It seems strange to me that this issue would only happen on SR units?

Because the defective cells came from a batch run, all those cells went into modules that were then assembled into a batch of SR packs.

 

[Lightning Rod]

https://fordauthority.com/2023/03/2023-ford-f-150-lightning-recalled-over-battery-pack-issue/

Wow, another whole week before they even communicate with us in which trucks could be affected. This is bullshit. They might not ship built trucks for several more weeks.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

A Teselerati article posted on 3/21/23 says that an NHTSA news release on the recall identifies the issue that caused the battery fire: at high charge levels, because of defective cell construction, defective cells can catch on fire. The new release further identifies the time window of trucks affected: trucks built between January 20th and January 26th.

Ford F-150 Lightning recall reveals battery issue that caused production stoppage (teslarati.com)

Also posted on Inside EVs: Ford F-150 Lightning Recall Reveals Root Cause Of Fire That Stopped Production (insideevs.com)

and NHTSA: Check for Recalls: Vehicle, Car Seat, Tire, Equipment | NHTSA

Here's a good quote from a similar article with more details (for the TLDR crowd):

"According to the federal agency, “when the vehicle’s high voltage battery is at a high state of charge, the vehicle could experience an internal short circuit in the battery which could result in a fire,” adding that “Due to production process deviations at the supplier, the cathode aluminum tabs may contact the anode electrode material causing an internal short circuit when the high voltage battery cells are at a high state of charge.”

The battery packs were manufactured by SK Battery America in Georgia and fitted to 2023 Ford F-150 Lightnings assembled between January 20 and January 26, 2023. As per the NHTSA, the owners of the affected vehicles will be notified by Ford and directed to a nearby dealer, where the entire battery pack will be replaced free of charge."

https://insideevs.com/news/658422/ford-f150-lightning-recall-documents-reveal-cause/

 

[abel408]

The 8 digit of the VIN tells us these trucks were all SR models

Are we sure these 18 trucks aren't just the trucks that somehow made it to the dealers and possible into customer's hands? Does this also include the trucks that were left in transit? I'm worried that more trucks might be affected, but they only need to issue a recall to trucks that were delivered.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Are we sure these 18 trucks aren't just the trucks that somehow made it to the dealers and possible into customer's hands? Does this also include the trucks that were left in transit? I'm worried that more trucks might be affected, but they only need to issue a recall to trucks that were delivered.

Some are special orders and some are dealer stock based on the window stickers that are still visible, about half are no longer visible and the production date tracker shows the others have been delivered.

If there are more trucks affected than what they listed above I would expect to see an amendment of the filing of affected VIN's at some point.

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