A few years ago, Ford plunged headlong into automating its production chain. It wanted its artificial intelligence systems to check each part and detect faults before the vehicle left the factory. On paper, it seemed like the perfect plan; in practice, A.I. showed some problems more complicated to correct that translated into an increase in recalls of their cars.
The Ford reliability problems Not only were they not solved with the investment in automation, so the company had to thoroughly analyze the problem and, now, they believe they have found the ideal solution: rehire former engineers to fix AI goofs.
The mistake of trusting everything to AI. Charles Poon, vice president of hardware engineering at Ford, acknowledged that “we mistakenly thought that just by introducing artificial intelligence and incorporating the design requirements we had, we would get a high-quality product.” It wasn’t like that.
The problem wasn’t just in the technology they were using. He was in what he had been taught. An AI is worth what its training data is worth, and Ford had left out the people who could bring the most knowledge and experience to that training. As I collected Bloombergthe company acknowledged that it left aside the knowledge of its most senior engineers in key phases of the process.
The veterans “with gray beards” return. Ford’s response was to rehire many of the engineers it had laid off to bring back all that knowledge. In the last three years it has incorporated 350 engineers with experience in product development and quality control. Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s chief operating officer, pointed out that these specialists “look for weak points,” and above all, find solutions before they become a real problem for the customer.
Their mission was not to replace AI, but to occupy the place they should have adopted from the beginning: to be supervisors of the AI’s work and to correct it when its results were incorrect. In addition, these expert employees are in charge of training new talents, ensuring generational change. Something that was especially concerned to the CEO of Ford.
The change is noticeable in the quality figures Did you compensate for this change in direction with the incorporation of engineers as supervisors of that automation? The numbers say yes. Ford went from place 15 among generalist brands in 2023 to lead that category in 2026. It improved by 41 fewer problems per 100 vehicles compared to the previous year. Ford was the brand that experienced the greatest progress among all non-premium brands.
Three models, the F-150, Mustang and Super Duty, topped their segments for the second year in a row. Only Porsche and Genesis were ahead of Ford in the general reliability ranking prepared by the JD Power studiowhich measures failures detected in the first 90 days of use.
Less guarantees, fewer revisions, more savings. The improvement in quality is also noticeable in Ford’s bottom line. Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, spoke of hundreds of millions of dollars saved thanks to the drop in warranty costs. The company expects to close the year with billion of dollars in operational savings, in part thanks to this quality work.
Even so, Ford remains the brand with more security calls in the USA. In 2025 alone it issued 153 recalls, almost double the previous record held by General Motors. These notices affected almost 13 million vehicular. The latest data suggests that Ford has managed to change its dynamics by improving reliability figures.
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