Employee Separation and Exit and Disposal Activities Employee Separation and Exit and Disposal Activities (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Restructuring and Related Activities [Abstract]

Restructuring and Related Activities Disclosure [Text Block]

EMPLOYEE SEPARATION ACTIONS AND EXIT AND DISPOSAL ACTIVITIES

We record costs associated with voluntary separations at the time of employee acceptance, unless the acceptance requires explicit approval by the Company. We record costs associated with involuntary separation programs when management has approved the plan for separation, the affected employees are identified, and it is unlikely that actions required to complete the separation plan will change significantly. Costs associated with benefits that are contingent on the employee continuing to provide service are accrued over the required service period.

Automotive Segment

As previously announced, we are executing a global redesign of our business. Redesign-related activities, including employee separation costs, payments to dealers and suppliers, and other charges, are recorded in Cost of sales and Selling, administrative, and other expenses. Below are actions we have initiated as part of the redesign.

Brazil. In February 2019, Ford Motor Company Brasil Ltda. (“Ford Brazil”), our subsidiary in Brazil, committed to a plan to exit the commercial heavy truck business in South America. As a result, Ford Brazil ceased production at the São Bernardo do Campo plant in Brazil during 2019.

Russia. In March 2019, Ford Sollers Netherlands B.V. (“Ford Sollers”), a joint venture between Ford and Sollers PJSC (“Sollers”) in which Ford had control, announced its plan to restructure its business in Russia to focus exclusively on commercial vehicles and to exit the passenger car segment. As a result of these actions, Ford acquired 100% ownership of Ford Sollers and ceased production at the Naberezhnye Chelny and St. Petersburg vehicle assembly plants and the Elabuga engine plant during the second quarter of 2019.

Subsequent to completion of the restructuring actions, in July 2019, Ford sold a 51% controlling interest in the restructured entity to Sollers, which resulted in deconsolidation of the Ford Sollers subsidiary. Our continued involvement in Ford Sollers is accounted for as an equity method investment.

United Kingdom. In June 2019, Ford Motor Company Limited (“Ford of Britain), a subsidiary of Ford, announced its plan to exit the Ford Bridgend plant in South Wales in 2020.

India. In the third quarter of 2019, Ford committed to a plan to sell specific net assets in our India Automotive operations. See Note 24 for more information concerning this plan.

Other Global Redesign Actions. In 2018, we announced our plan to end production at the Ford Aquitane Industries plant in Bordeaux, France, and in March 2019, we announced our plan to phase-out the production of the C-Max at the Saarlouis Body and Assembly Plant in Germany. Furthermore, we are reducing our global workforce and taking other restructuring actions.

The following table summarizes the redesign-related activities for the year ended December 31, which are recorded in Other liabilities and deferred revenue (in millions):

	2019
Beginning balance	$	291
Changes in accruals (a)	1,382
Payments	(911		)
Foreign currency translation	(28		)
Ending balance	$	734

__________

(a) Excludes pension costs of $311 million in 2019.

We also recorded $1.4 billion in 2019 for the impairment of our held-for-sale India Automotive operations, accelerated depreciation, and other non-cash items. We estimate that we will incur total charges in 2020 that range between $900 million and $1.4 billion related to the actions above, primarily attributable to employee separations, accelerated depreciation, and dealer and supplier settlements.