Ford F150 2024 News

Ford has rolled out massive discounts across its vehicle range, including on Australia’s best-selling vehicle.  Variants of everything from the low-volume E-Transit to market-leading Ford Ranger ute are on special, with the family-favourite Everest SUV also on offer. 

So you want to have the biggest ute on the road? You’ll have to pay for it.  Just like here in Australia, the best-selling vehicles in the United States are pick-up trucks. In their case, it’s the home-brewed Ford F-150 and has been for over 40 years. In Australia the F-truck’s Ford Ranger cousin will take top honours this year. 

Ford will pause production of the electric version of its F-150 for the rest of the year, reports say, as demand for the 'Lightning' isn't meeting production capability.Along with a week in which Ford's US production plants are closed for Christmas in Dec

Is the BYD Shark 6 going to be joined by a big brother? A full-sized ute might be in the pipeline for the near future, targeting American pick-ups like the Ford F-Series, Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado and Toyota Tundra in Australia.

The rising popularity of jumbo pick-up trucks has caught the attention of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

Ever bigger pick-up trucks and SUVs have caught the attention of the United States’ peak safety body, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). 

After the locally converted Ford F-150 was removed from sale in Australia to address non-compliance issues, the Department of Infrastructure has officially released a series of recalls for the American-built pick-up truck. The recalls concern lighting features and the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system. Owners will be contacted and can then organise the issues to be rectified at Ford dealerships.Those who took delivery of, or were contracted before, May 6, 2024 are being offered compensation in the form of a five-year/75,000km servicing package. According to the recall notices, the total number of affected vehicles is 2070. Industry sales data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries shows 1085 F-150s have been registered since going on sale in October 2023. Ford promises all vehicles sold from now on at dealers will be fully compliant with Australian Design Rules (ADRs), with the Chevrolet Silverado, RAM 1500 and Toyota Tundra rival now installed back on the Ford Australia website. Each recall concerns one of the four F-150 variants on sale: XLT standard ($106,950) and long wheelbase ($107,945) models along with the Lariat in both wheelbases ($139,950 and $140,945, all before on-road costs).For lighting, the F-150 is not compliant with ADR 06/00-Direction Indicators and ADR 13-Installation of Lighting and Light-signalling Devices. The recalls list issues with the ‘fog lamps’, ‘daytime running lamps’ and ‘indicators’.Ford’s website notes that the ‘rear centre high-mounted white courtesy lamps’, ‘tailgate courtesy lamp’ and ‘side mirror mounted indicator lamps (LWB only)’ have been disabled on the XLT, while the Lariat also has its ‘lower daytime running lamps’ turned off. Additionally, the F-150 was determined in breach of ADR 98-Advanced Emergency Braking for Passenger Vehicles and Light Goods Vehicles. The issue being that the AEB function “may not reactivate after an ignition cycle as per the requirements set out under ADR 98”.A Ford spokesperson told CarsGuide “Repair instructions relating to vehicles impacted by the Stop Sale are now being made available to enable dealers to complete work on impacted units. After the rectification work is completed on each vehicle, it can be delivered to the customer.”So far, the F-150 has been hit by three product safety recalls and two sales pauses in less than 12 months. US-built F-150s are converted locally by partner RMA automotive. RAM and Chevrolet products are also swapped to right-hand drive and revised for Australian standards locally by Walkinshaw, while Toyota is running an extended evaluation program on its Tundra pick-up. The facelifted F-150 went on sale in its United States home market in September 2023 and is expected in Australia by the end of the year. 

The influx of full-size utes from the USA has been a controversial development, with WWII American GI-style sentiment along the lines of ‘over-sized, over-priced and over-here’ summing up the negative commentary.

Ford Australia has been forced to halt deliveries of its big F-150 pick-up due to a compliance issue.A company spokesperson said it has placed a temporary hold on the sale and delivery of all F-150s in Australia as “certain lighting features do not conform to Australian regulatory requirements.”“Affected vehicles cannot be delivered to customers until appropriate rectification work is complete,” said the spokesperson.Ford has recognised the inconvenience to customers and is giving a complimentary five year/75,000km service program to all F-150 customers whose vehicle had either been delivered or contracted by the sixth of May.Australian delivered F-150s are imported from America and then converted to right-hand drive in a Melbourne factory by RMA Automotive on behalf of Ford Australia.The conversion is a big operation and isn’t as simple as shifting the steering wheel from left to right but involves hundreds of parts and man hours to complete.It’s easy to understand how small issues can slip through the cracks, but this isn’t the first time Ford has been forced to pause deliveries of the F-150 since it went on sale late in 2023.Earlier this year another stop sale order was applied to the F-150 because of a potential fault with the turbocharger.The F-150 has also been hit with three recall notices in the short time it has been on sale.One was for non compliant indicator lights and another was for a parking brake fault that could result in it activating while driving.The third recall was due to a faulty electrical connection between the steering wheel airbag, horn and electrical systems due to improper welding. If this fails there could be a loss of steering wheel illumination, non-functioning steering wheel control switches, an inoperative horn, and the airbag warning light will illuminate which may result in the driver’s airbag becoming inoperative.Ford has found some success with the F-150 with sales of about 800 through the first four months of this year, which makes it the second most popular American pick-up behind the Ram 1500.It’s no coincidence the rise of the F-150 has seen Ram’s sales decrease by about 800 through to April this year compared to the first four months of 2023, which is before the F-150 went on sale.

Australian automotive manufacturing could now employ more people than worked at Ford's Broadmeadows and Geelong factories and Holden's Elizabeth factory combined when local manufacturing officially ended in Australia in 2016 and 2017.The boom is being dri