Legacy automaker Ford (F) has definitely made a name for itself of late with its sheer number of recalls. And it bumped that number up significantly, all but ensuring that it will hold the record for a long time to come. Ford investors, for their part, took it all in stride, sending shares down fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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The news emerged that Ford recalled 108,762 vehicles in the United States, covering a fairly wide swath of recent Ford Escapes. More specifically, Ford Escapes released in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2025. The issue this time around is a liftgate hinge cover which was improperly secured. This might not sound like much of a problem by itself. However, an improperly secured liftgate hinge cover can come detached from the vehicle itself, and that can cause problems for vehicles traveling at, say, freeway speeds.
The usual solution seems to apply here, as dealerships will once again step in to not only inspect the vehicle, but also reinstall or replace hinge covers as needed at no charge to the owner. It is thus little surprise that Ford is offering some recent Ford buyers discounts on their next Ford purchase in a bid to try and keep that market share from fleeing to a competitor’s brand.
But What About the Piano?
And that led to an unexpected wrinkle at Ford: the Steinway grand piano that has occupied the building at Ford World Headquarters for over half a century. It turns out that this piano has not yet made the trip when Ford completes its move to its new headquarters.
The piano was once near the main foyer, but over the years was shuffled around to the building’s auditorium, and currently stays in a hallway not far from the cafeteria, a place which is said to have “exceptional acoustics.” There is still some hope the piano will be moved; it remains in the old building, as does a bronze statue of Henry Ford II. So it certainly could be sent off to a new building designed to hold twice as many people.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on two Buys, nine Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 25.02% rally in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $12.63 per share implies 3.18% downside risk.
