Ford Rehires 350 Engineers to Improve AI Quality Systems After Mixed Results

Ford rehired 350 veteran engineers after its artificial intelligence and automated quality systems failed to meet desired standards, TechCrunch reported. Some of the engineers were former Ford employees while others had worked at suppliers. Kumar Galhotra, the company’s chief operating officer, told journalists that Ford had been relying more and more on automated quality systems with disappointing results.

The company therefore brought back technical specialists who hunt for failure points before a part reaches the plant floor. Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, said the earlier approach had been mistaken. “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,” he stated.

The rehired engineers, referred to as “gray beard” engineers, are now training younger staff and reprogramming AI tools rather than replacing them. Ford anticipates the changes will produce $1 billion in reduced costs this year. The automaker also claimed the top spot among mainstream brands in the JD Power Initial Quality Survey released the week of June 28, 2026.