Ford Stock Drops. Recalls Are a Problem for the Moribund Shares.

Improving quality will be key to get Ford stock moving higher again. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images))

Ford Motor stock fell Friday, and one thing weighing on investor sentiment is quality.

Shares of the auto maker lost 1.1%, closing at $11.78. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively.

The drop comes after The Wall Street Journal pointed out that Ford has set a record for the number of recalls in a calendar year by an auto maker. Through early Friday, Ford has recorded 89 recalls, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database.

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1Number of Recalls By Select Auto Makers Source: NHTSA

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1FordGMStellantisToyotaTesla152025YTD0255075100125150175200225 Number of Recalls

Ford didn’t respond to a request for comment about the report, but Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra told the Journal that “The increase in recalls reflects our intensive strategy to quickly find and fix any hardware and software issues and go the extra mile to protect customers.”

Recalls, of course, are a common feature of car ownership. Most get completed when cars are brought in for regular maintenance. Too many recalls, however, can add costs for any auto maker.

Ford has struggled with quality for a while. Shares dipped 18.4% in late July 2024 after the company missed Wall Street’s second-quarter earnings expectations, partly because warranty expenses were up $800 million compared with the first quarter.

That put the quarterly warranty expense at roughly $2 billion, or 4% of sales. That’s high for a car company. Between 2011 and 2019, warranty expenses averaged about 1.6% of sales. Ford said at the time the extra costs were tied to model year 2021 vehicles and earlier.

Ford stock was north of $14 a share in the days before that 2024 second-quarter-earnings report. They remain off from that level. Through Friday trading, Ford stock has dropped about 13% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 12%.

General Motors shares have climbed about 11% over the same span. GM stock has managed to outperform Ford stock, despite the latter having less tariff impact than GM.

Ford’s old advertising slogan was “Quality is Job One.” The company is trying to get back to those roots. Improving quality will be key to getting the stock moving higher in the future.

Ford reports second-quarter 2025 earnings on July 30. Investors will get a chance to hear more about quality improvement plans then.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com