Battery malfunction halts Ford’s F-150 Lightning production

Ford Motor will delay the production of its electric F-150 Lightning at least the end of next week, in order to address a potential battery issue that resulted in a vehicle fire on February 4, according to its statement on Wednesday.

Ford explained that the fire occurred in a holding lot during a pre-delivery quality check and spread to a nearby vehicle, adding there is no reported incidents of this issue in vehicles already delivered to customers and dealers.

“We monitor vehicle data to help ensure our vehicles are performing as expected in the field,” said director of regional news at ford Martin Gunsberg.

Gunsberg further added “We have identified that (in) some vehicles, their high-voltage battery is not performing as intended, which could result in a performance degradation,”

The confirmation of the fire and updated timing comes a day after Ford confirmed that production of the highly anticipated vehicle had been suspended earlier last week, CNBC reported.