America’s best-selling pickup, the Ford F-150, has a new production-related problem on its hands. After multiple fires at the Blue Oval’s aluminum supplier Novelis last year created major production disruptions and shortages, Ford has reportedly been forced to temporarily pause production at Dearborn again, halting assembly lines from last Thursday and keeping them offline through Friday and Saturday. Sunday may also have been affected, and with Memorial Day meaning today is a break, production could be paused for a full four days. And it’s all because one part broke. The pause may not sound like a big deal, but Ford’s factory has been operating with two 10-hour shifts per day, so a four-day production pause could mean a backlog of over 2,500 trucks. Worse still, Ford is approximately 60,000 units short on inventory compared to last year.
Ford May Need to Add Shifts to Meet Targets
Ford
According to an anonymous source who spoke to the Detroit Free Press, Ford may be forced to operate a ‘super Saturday’ or ‘super Sunday’ (adding an extra shift) to make up at least some of the losses, which are appearing because a die used to create the F-150’s hood broke at a nearby stamping plant. Ford needs to fix this heavy-duty mold to resume production of the aluminum hood, and continued assembly of the rest of the F-150 without the hood would create serious headaches. Sure, Ford could continue building trucks and fit the hoods later, but this would mess with the flow of the production process. Ford would need somewhere to store the incomplete trucks, inconsistencies with paint finishes would be likely, and it’s just a logistical nightmare overall. Ford wants F-Series production to rise by 50,000 units this year, but it will likely be late in 2026 when Ford can achieve the goal.
Ford’s Rivals Are Taking Advantage
Ford
With the F-150 shortage hitting dealers, Ford is leaving the door open for rivals to grab a little extra market share, and GM is boosting production of pickups and reallocating trucks destined for the Middle East back to the U.S. Stellantis-owned Ram hasn’t had a problem with production either, so both the Silverado and the Ram 1500 could eat into the F-150’s slice of the pie this year. The timing is particularly bad for Ford, as it’s only just begun offering the F-150 to European buyers, but hopefully, this will be one of the last issues. And hopefully, the repair of the die will be sufficient, as Ford has had a record-breaking number of recalls in 2025, and any inconsistency with the aluminum stamping could add to that tally further down the line.
