Ford Plans to Resume F-150 Lightning Production

March 9, 2023–Ford is making plans for production on the F-150 Lightning to resume soon after a five-week halt, Detroit Free Press reports.

Production was paused on the electric truck after a battery within one of them caught on fire while some were being held in a parking lot outside the production plant in Dearborn, Michigan.

According to Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Flake, the problem of the battery fire has been identified and is being addressed, with battery supplier SK needing “time to ensure they are back to building high-quality cells,” she said.

The Dearborn plant is scheduled to resume production on March 13, allowing 750 people–700 of them hourly workers–to return to work. 

Since production was stopped, those who work at the plant have been on layoff, with “those with at least one year of seniority” being compensated with “about 75% of their pretax pay during this period.”

The Ford Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti that assembles the battery packs has also been hit, operating “with a skeleton crew” since the production hiatus began.

Spokeswoman Bergg said it “will return its 70 or so hourly workers in stages,” with 25% of the workforce working there now expected to increase to 50% next week. She noted that “the logistics of coordinating multiple sites” will require “flexibility.”