The Ford F-150 has gotten off to a rocky start in Australia, with the American pickup now being impacted by a second stop-sale and customer deliveries halted.
Shipments of the F-150 to dealers from RMA Automotive – which converts the pickup from left- to right-hand drive in Melbourne – were paused last week due to an undisclosed fault.
While dealers could continue to sell vehicles in stock, today’s stop-sale has placed an immediate pause on customer deliveries of the Ford F-150, as the pickup doesn’t comply with certain undisclosed Australian Design Rules (ADRs).
“Ford Australia has placed a temporary hold on the sale and delivery of all re-manufactured F-150s, as we have identified that specifications of certain lighting features do not conform to Australian regulatory requirements,” a Ford Australia spokesman told CarExpert.
“Affected vehicles cannot be delivered to customers until appropriate rectification work is complete.”
As partial compensation to Australian F-150 owners, Ford is offering complimentary servicing for the first five years or 75,000km (whichever comes first) of ownership to those who had received or signed contracts for their pickups by May 6, 2024.
This replaces its existing four-year/60,000km service program which saw each visit priced at $429.
It’s the second customer delivery pause experienced by the F-150 since its local rollout began in December 2023.
Sales and customer deliveries were halted on January 1, 2024 after a turbocharger fault during the remanufacturing process was discovered, which could cause the pickup to go into limp mode.
The pickup has also been impacted by three recalls in the past six months.
In January, the F-150 was hit with a recall for a steering fault, with owners told to stop driving immediately due to a risk of the steering rack separating from the intermediate shaft.
A second recall came in the following weeks, for a clock spring defect which could lead to the driver’s airbag not functioning in a crash.
The third and most recent recall was issued last month, this time due to the F-150’s side direction indicator lamps being non-compliant with Australian Design Rules (ADRs).
Unlike its North American pickup rivals such as the Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado, the F-150 is converted from left- to right-hand drive by Ford’s Thai-based partner RMA Automotive, not Walkinshaw Automotive Group.
Australian-delivered Ram 1500s have been converted to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw – the former parent of Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) – and its importer Ateco in a venture branded as American Special Vehicles (ASV).
The Chevrolet Silverado was also converted in the same building as the Ram 1500 for a period, however demand for the latter saw the former operation moved to a smaller facility in 2022.
Walkinshaw has also been enlisted by Toyota for its conversions of the Tundra, with the pickup currently being leased to a limited number of customers to ensure the third party’s processes meet the car giant’s rigorous standards.
MORE: Everything Ford F-150
