An F-150 Lightning sitting in a holding lot on company property caught fire earlier this month, leading to Ford halting production at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center and issuing a stop shipment order until the cause of the battery fire has been identified.
According to The Detroit Bureau, Ford is “holding (both production and shipment) of vehicles” while it investigates the issue, although sales are still open, and no action is being taken for any of the Lightnings that have already been delivered, as Ford said it was “not aware of any incidences of this issue in the field.”
The battery issue was found “in a pre-delivery quality check,” and Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg commented on the incident by saying, “We believe we have identified the root cause of this issue. 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.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ford says, “We have no reason to believe F-150 Lightnings already in customers’ hands are affected by this issue.”
The batteries in the F-150 Lightning come from SK ON as part of Ford’s joint venture BlueOvalSK, but it’s too soon to tell whether it’s an issue in battery production or an issue related to the manufacture of the vehicle, and as of this writing, no other incidents of battery fires have been reported.
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