Ford has hit the brakes on shipping new right-hand-drive F-150s to dealers as it reviews the vehicles for quality issues, amid a series of recalls and stop-delivery notices over the past 18 months.
Shipments of the Ford F-150 pick-up to Australian dealers have paused yet again – after two stop-delivery notices in 18 months – to ensure vehicles destined for customers meet "internal requirements" for quality.
Ford has not explicitly named the reason for the pause in shipments to dealers, but it has implied it is related to build quality issues as a result of the conversion from left- to right-hand drive.
"Ensuring we deliver quality vehicles to our customers is our number one priority," a Ford Australia spokesperson said in a media statement.
"Accordingly, a hold was placed on shipment of re-manufactured RHD [right-hand-drive] F-150s while we worked through some internal requirements.
"We expect to be able to provide an update to our dealers by the end of July. We sincerely apologise to impacted customers for the delay with delivering their vehicle, and thank them for their patience."
Ford is the only official seller of US pick-ups in Australia that does not use Walkinshaw, the engineering firm formerly behind Holden Special Vehicles (HSV), to lead the conversion of its biggest ute from left- to right-hand drive.
Instead, it enlisted RMA, a Thai company which specialises in modifying Ford Ranger utes for use by police and military in Asia, as well as some 'overflow' engineering work for Ford in the Asia-Pacific region.
Until the F-150, RMA had no formal experience in converting vehicles from left- to right-hand drive for sale in Ford showrooms.
The re-manufacturing process is conducted with the oversight and approval of Ford Australia, and vehicles are backed by the brand's five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.
In the circa-18 months since the F-150 reached showrooms, deliveries have been paused twice – the second time for a two-month period to address multiple breaches of Australian motor-vehicle regulations.
Customers were offered up to $2500 in compensation, alongside "rectification work" to fix the issues, and for customers who signed a contract of sale before May 6, 2024, five years of free servicing.
Should owners with vehicles already on the road not be satisfied, they were offered the option of returning their vehicle, accompanied by a full refund.
Shipments of the long-wheelbase F-150 to dealers were also paused briefly in April 2024 – days before the full stop-delivery order was issued – to "work through a potential issue", while the vehicle has been subject to a number of recalls.
Ford Australia says the latest pause on shipments is not related to a safety or compliance issue.
Over the first half of this year, 545 Ford F-150 pick-ups have been reported as sold, down 42 per cent on the same period in 2024.
An updated F-150 is on the horizon – with new styling and extra features – due by the end of this year, two years after its US reveal, delayed from earlier plans to reach showrooms in late 2024, then early 2025, and mid-2025.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
