Ford extends F-150 Lightning production shutdown after battery fire

(New York) Automaker Ford on Friday extended by at least a week the suspension of manufacturing of its popular F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, decided after a battery fire in early February.

The American group had initially interrupted the production lines at its factory in Dearborn, Michigan, on February 5, the day after a vehicle caught fire in a company parking lot.

“Teams worked quickly to identify the root cause of the problem,” a Ford spokeswoman said in a message to AFP on Friday.

Its South Korean partner SK, which manufactures electric batteries, has offered to modify equipment and processes on its own production lines and “has resumed manufacturing battery cells” at its factory in Georgia, the company said. word.

“It will take time for SK to ensure that manufacturing meets quality requirements again and to deliver them to the F-150 Lightning production line,” she added.

This is a new problem for Ford, whose boss Jim Farley had deplored in early February the appearance of “operational problems” that affected recent financial results.

In a falling market, the manufacturer’s action lost about 2% on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday at mid-session.