Ford’s limited edition Super Duty Proud to Honor package features patriotic styling, with a portion of proceeds supporting Blue Star families. (Credit: Ford Motor Company)
Ford has rehired experienced human engineers to address shortcomings in artificial intelligence (AI) tools aimed at tackling quality issues in the automaker’s production process.
The adoption drive helped Ford rank first in J.D. Power’s 2026 U.S. Initial Quality Survey (IQS) for the first time since 2010 on the back of improved quality in new vehicles, following hard-learned lessons about the ability of AI to replace human knowledge in production processes.
“Artificial intelligence is a great tool, but nothing beats the information you use to train it,” Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of automotive hardware engineering, said at a press conference Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.
“Historically, we have not paid as much attention as we should to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers, who have been with us through many product cycles,” he said.
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Ford rehired veteran engineers to help guide AI systems that weren’t enough on their own to improve production quality. (Jim Young/AFP via Getty Images)
“We had the mistaken belief that just introducing artificial intelligence and taking the design requirements that we had would produce a high-quality product,” Poon said.
He also noted that AI tools lack the training and expertise of veteran engineers, and that many of the company’s veteran engineers left Ford before their knowledge could be used to improve the performance of AI tools.
“We realized that to power some of our automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence tools, we need to ensure that those tools are trained by the most experienced individuals,” Poon said.
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| ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | ford motor corporation | February 14th | -0.11 |
-0.78% |
The Detroit giant said it has hired about 300 veteran engineers to work in its vehicle engineering department over the past few years.
“Freed from the daily production schedule, these engineers now serve as internal auditors, performing mandatory weekly design reviews to look for and eliminate potential points of failure before blueprints reach the factory,” Ford said in a release.
Ford Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra said experienced engineers and technical experts were “at the heart” of the company’s efforts to improve production quality by addressing process issues before they are incorporated into the workflow.
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Ford CEO Jim Farley said improved quality is contributing to Ford’s bottom line. (Nick Antaya/Getty Images)
Ford CEO Jim Farley told Bloomberg TV that the shift is helping the company improve its financial results, reducing spending on warranties and recalls and boosting the automaker through cost savings.
J.D. Power’s 2026 IQS not only puts Ford at the top of the list for the first time in 16 years, but also ranks the Ford F-150, Ford Mustang, and Ford Super Duty at the top of their respective segments for the second year in a row.
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Additionally, the Ford Escape, Ford Explorer, Ford Expedition, and Ford Maverick also ranked in the top three in their respective segments. This means that seven of the company’s top 10 models ranked in the top three in their respective categories.
FOX Business has reached out to Ford for comment.
