Ford Just Beat Lexus In Initial Quality

The past year or so has produced some mighty upsets. The Knicks winning the NBA Championship. South Africa beating South Korea in the World Cup. The incredible streak of Kimi Antonelli this year in F1. Now there’s been another one: Ford has beat Lexus in J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Survey.

Yes, the 2026 J.D. Power Initial Quality survey is out, and it contains some surprises and some not-so-surprises. Porsche at the top of the podium? That’s roughly to be expected. Porsche has consistently led other J.D. Power rankings, such as consumer appeal and customer service, and it’s had time to iron out initial kinks on recent models like the Macan Electric. Genesis in second also sounds about right, as the marque’s models feature a huge array of physical buttons and great fit-and-finish. From there though, things get weird.

Third place in the entire survey goes to Ford. That’s one slot above Lexus for a brand that led the industry in recall count as recently as 2025 and might do the same this year. What’s the deal with that? Firstly, it’s worth noting that the extent to which J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Survey studies actual quality is debatable. Covering the first 90 days of ownership, the survey’s definition of a problem isn’t exclusively a manufacturing or assembly flaw. It’s anything a consumer deems a problem in a wide range of categories. Furthermore, all problems are scored equally, which means an annoying infotainment menu is weighted the same as complete engine failure.

That being said, the 2026 results represent a huge improvement for Ford over last year. In 2025, the brand ranked 14th with 193 problems per 100 vehicles. This year, third overall with 152 problems per 100 vehicles. That sort of result requires some real effort, and Ford seems to have done some substantial legwork on that front.

Some of this improvement comes from the carmaker clawing its way back from using AI to trod on its own scrotum. Ford decided to start using AI for quality control purposes several years ago, and ran into a big problem: It just wasn’t that good out of the box. Since then, it’s hired on a platoon of engineers to actually train the systems with real expertise, as Bloomberg reports:

“Mistakenly we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that that would produce a high-quality product,” [VP of vehicle hardware engineering Charles] Poon said. But “we recognized that for us to enhance some of our automation and machine learning and artificial intelligence tools we needed to ensure that they were trained by the most experienced individuals.”

Yeah, it turns out actual intelligence is often a bit more on-the-ball than artificial intelligence. Is using human expertise as training data a good thing in the long run? Not if the intention is to replace workers, but if this was used as an extra eye, it could help on the odd occasion when the coffee’s not quite kicked in yet. Happens to the best of us.

At the same time, Ford seems to be making significant cultural changes since the debacle that was the 2019 launch of the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator. I actually had an early Lincoln Aviator press car’s electronic door release button fall into the door. Enough said. Since then, Ford’s tied bonus structures to quality metrics and changed the way it’s worked with suppliers, as Automotive News reports:

Liz Door, Ford’s chief supply chain officer hired from Whirlpool in 2023, recently began placing suppliers with quality issues on a “no bid” list for future contracts and requiring many parts makers to implement three-year cost savings plans or risk the same outcome.

Ford started giving suppliers more access to see how vehicles are built, Door said, citing the 2025 Expedition and Navigator launch, when the automaker brought parts makers onto the plant floor before production started. Ford said that has driven a 30 percent reduction in launch issues year over year.

Anecdotally, from the ground, the changes seem to be working. Over the years, I’ve tested some Ford press cars that have seen some rough spots. A Ranger Tremor with a switch pod that looked like it was attacked by Wolverine. An Explorer with panels that didn’t line up. Perhaps the worst was an early Escape PHEV with an improperly-fitted headliner, taillights that shook, incredibly poor upholstery, and debris in the actual paint. However, recent Ford press cars I’ve tested have been surprisingly well-screwed-together, regardless of assembly plant.

Did Ford get any help in the rankings from Lexus slipping? Hardly. The Japanese marque’s actually improved year-over-year from 166 problems-per-100 vehicles to 156. If I were to hazard a guess, wider use of the brand’s new simpler touchscreen infotainment system probably helped at least a bit here. Still, the firm known for reliability is riding high as ever, which makes Ford’s progress that much more noteworthy.

At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: better cars. While J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Survey has its own problems, Ford’s improvement is good news. Now for the next big hurdle: how it holds up in the long run. While recent recalls might be a bad sign, they’re also a sign that problems are actually getting fixed. Let’s see which side the coin falls on in five years’ time.

Top graphic images: Thomas Hundal; J.D. Power