Ford issues stop sale notice for Aussie F-150s

FORD Australia has issued a ‘stop ship and stop sale notice’ for its newly released F-150 full-size pick-up range.

Sales and deliveries of the model will be suspended while it is assessed for a suspected turbocharger fault understood to affect only vehicles converted to right-hand drive locally by RMA Automotive.

According to an SCNF notice issued by Ford Australia, the stop sale notice comes “out of an abundance of caution … after three remanufactured vehicles presented with a quality related concern”.

The notice went on to say that “affected vehicles cannot be delivered to customers until appropriate inspection and rectification instructions are released, details of which will be communicated to dealers as soon as possible via a Field Service Action”.

Ford Australia began the conversion of F-150 models for sale in the local market in late November 2023. The process is the first of its kind to be undertaken by RMA Automotive which ordinarily specialises in the modification of the Ford Ranger for military and emergency services use throughout south-east Asia.

The Ford F-150 is sold locally with the backing of Ford Australia and is delivered with a full factory warranty.

Ford Australia says customers who have already received their F-150 may continue to drive the vehicle and states that it is working quickly to investigate and resolve the issue.

“We understand that this is a significant inconvenience to both dealers and customers, and we are working hard with our service provider RMA Automotive to expedite prompt instructions for affected units,” the importer said in a statement to its dealers.

“We will keep you informed of progress on the plan, including (the) planned lifting date of the quality hold and availability of impacted units for delivery to customers. We will also provide details of (a) proposed notification to customers who have taken delivery to date.”

The Melbourne-based 21,000 square-metre RMA Automotive conversion centre can re-manufacturer up to 20 Ford F-150s per day using an assembly line of 65 individual workstations. The process takes around 22 working hours to complete over a three-day period.

According to Ford Australia, the “uncompromising and detailed re-manufacturing process” requires some 500 new parts to complete, as well as the recalibration of steering, climate control, lighting systems, instrumentation, and some software to ensure the vehicles suit Australian requirements.

The Ford F-150 is available locally in short-wheelbase (3683mm) and long-wheelbase (3978mm) configurations, both with a Crew Cab body and all-wheel drive. The tray length for the duo is listed at 1676mm and 1981mm respectively.

The local line-up is available exclusively with Ford’s 298kW/678Nm 3.5-litre EcoBoost twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine coupled to a 10-speed automatic transmission and four wheel drive as standard. Braked towing capacity is rated at 4500kg.