Ford's rough recall year: 52 Canadian campaigns and 1.8 million vehicles in seven months
We maintain a local copy of Transport Canada's full Vehicle Recalls Database, which means we can answer a question most car sites can't: who is actually recalling the most vehicles this year?
The answer, by a huge margin, is Ford.
2026 year-to-date, by the numbers
Through July 31, automakers have filed 406 recall campaigns with Transport Canada. Here's the leaderboard by campaign count:
| Make | Campaigns filed in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Ford | 52 |
| Lincoln | 20 |
| Chevrolet | 14 |
| Hyundai | 12 |
| Honda | 12 |
| GMC | 11 |
| Jeep | 11 |
| Toyota | 10 |
| Mercedes-Benz | 10 |
Count units instead of campaigns and the gap gets wider: Ford campaigns cover 1,787,086 vehicles in Canada this year, with sister brand Lincoln adding 1,286,335 (the two overlap heavily, since most campaigns span both brands). Honda is a distant third at 341,593.
The biggest single campaigns of 2026 so far
- Ford/Lincoln, February — 627,267 vehicles (Expedition, F-150, Super Duty, Navigator): lights and instruments.
- Ford/Lincoln, January — 193,627 vehicles (Escape, Focus, MKC): electrical.
- Ford, April — 144,475 F-150s: powertrain.
- Honda, June — 136,260 vehicles (Passport, Pilot, Ridgeline): structure.
And July brought the recall do-over wave — including 110,000 Ford Focuses called back because a 2018 recall repair may not have worked.
Does a high recall count mean Ford builds bad cars?
Not automatically — and this caveat matters. Recall counts measure campaigns, which reflect a mix of real defect rates, how proactively a manufacturer files, regulatory pressure, and sheer sales volume (Ford sells a lot of vehicles in Canada, so each defect touches more units). A manufacturer that recalls aggressively at the first sign of trouble can look worse on paper than one that drags its feet — while actually serving its owners better.
What the numbers do mean is practical: if you drive a Ford or Lincoln, the odds that at least one 2026 campaign covers your vehicle are meaningfully higher than for any other badge. With 52 campaigns in seven months, keeping track by reading the news is hopeless.
Check once, not fifty-two times
Paste your VIN into our free decoder and you'll get every open campaign filed against your vehicle's make, model, and year — from both Transport Canada and the U.S. NHTSA — in one result. If something's open, the dealer visit costs you nothing but time.
Figures computed from the Transport Canada Vehicle Recalls Database (campaigns dated January 1 – July 31, 2026). Unit counts are Transport Canada's; Ford/Lincoln campaigns frequently overlap. Always confirm your specific VIN with your dealer.