Ford’s No Good, Very Bad Year of Recalls Continues with 100,000 More Pickups Needing Repair
Every 2024 to 2026 Ranger built through July 29, 2025 is being recalled.
Justin BannerWriterMotorTrend StaffPhotographerManufacturerPhotographerSep 02, 2025
20 2025 Ford Ranger XLT front view
“If you’re going to do something, do it big” appears to be the unfortunate story regarding Ford and its recalls. The Dearborn-based automaker leads the industry in the number of recalls in 2025, which is bad, but it gets worse: The number issued through the first six months of 2025 already set a record for a calendar year, too. To put it mildly, the Blue Oval just hasn’t had a good 2025 in terms of vehicle issues due to manufacturing mistakes or defects. This saga continues with its latest recall, which affects the 2024–2026 Ford Ranger. The issue stems from one thing you really don’t want to fail during a severe crash: the curtain airbags, which are designed to both cushion impacts and mitigate the risk of passenger ejection.
17 2025 Ford Ranger XLT front view
The issue was discovered during a safety audit of the 2025 Ford Ranger conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Although the Ranger passed, it only did so marginally when it came to the side impact test. Ford and the third-party lab that NHTSA used took the crashed Ranger apart and found that a small slit had been torn in the curtain airbag by an external source. The slash was only 15/32 of an inch long, but it was large enough to cause the side curtain to deflate and just barely meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) for side curtain airbags. Ford itself then dug deeper and found the inner reinforcement flange for the bags could cause a similar tear and premature pressure loss.
1 2025 Ford Ranger Raptor front view
Thus, Ford has recalled the full total of 2024–2026 current-generation Rangers built from the start of production on December 9, 2022, through the introduction of a fix on July 29, 2025, a total of 100,900 pickups. (Rangers built on and after that date are unaffected.) The fix involves the addition of a shield to protect the curtain airbags during deployment; the airbags themselves will not need to be replaced. As of this writing, the part is not yet available; Ford anticipates owners will be notified and repairs will get underway in the second half of December. For now, owners are not being advised to park their affected Rangers.
Justin Banner
Having experience in many forms of the automotive industry, Justin Banner has done more than just write about cars. For more than 15 years, he’s had experience working as an automotive service technician—including a stint as a Virginia State Inspector—service advisor, parts sales, and aftermarket parts technical advisor (a fancy way of saying he helped you on the phone when you had trouble fitting your brakes over your aftermarket wheels and the like). Prior to his tenure as a full-time editor, Justin worked as a freelance writer and photographer for various publications and as an automotive content creator on YouTube. He’s also covered multiple forms of motorsports ranging from Formula Drift, drag racing, and time attack, to NASCAR, short course off-roading, and open desert racing. He’s best known for breaking down complex technical concepts so a layperson can more easily understand why technologies, repairs, and parts should matter to them. At MotorTrend, Justin is part of the news team covering breaking news and topics while also working as a judge for MotorTrend Of the Year events and other major comparison tests.
