The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced on Monday that it’s opening a preliminary probe into the Ford F-150 pickup truck. As noted by CNBC, the probe concerns nearly 1.3 million vehicles and is related to reports of unexpected downshifts along with a temporary rear wheel lock-up.
The Office of Defects investigation comes after 138 consumer complaints. The goal of the investigation is to determine just how severe of an issue this problem is and how it impacts the safety of those vehicles. Although no crashes or fires have been reported at this time, it will be up to NHTSA to determine the potential for those types of safety issues in the future.
Scarily, The Problem Can Appear At Highway Speeds
The complaints state that the transmission in the Ford F-150 unexpectedly downshifted into a lower gear. This downshift happened at highway speeds and without any warning to the driver or driver input. Following the unexpected downshift, the vehicle then rapidly decelerated. In some cases, the complaints also stated that the rear wheels locked up briefly, seized, or skidded during the downshift, which caused a lack of control.
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The preliminary probe was opened by NHTSA on Friday and covers the 2015 to 2017 models of the Ford F-150. The F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle in the country for 47 consecutive years and was only recently dethroned by the Toyota RAV4. It’s a point of contention for Ford as the company notes that all its F-series, trucks which include heavy-duty models like the F-250 and F-350, use the same cab architecture, so it lumps those sales together. No matter how you cut it, there are a lot of F-150s on American roads.
There’s Nothing You Can Do About It Yet
This is just an investigation for the moment with no recall issued, but there is the possibility of one coming, which would only add to Ford’s recall woes. It currently has the unfortunate honor of being the most-recalled automaker in the US for 2024. The company had 67 recalls in 2024, covering 4,777,123 vehicles. Tesla exceeded that in number of vehicles with 5,137,968, but only had 16 recalls.
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The most recalled Ford of the lot was the F-150, but that stands to reason given its high sales volume. Reasons for F-150 recalls over the years include everything from the industry-wide Takata airbag issue to potential brake malfunctions due to a loose wiring harness.
Anytime there’s a recall, owners are notified and repairs are done at Ford’s cost, which is what will happen this time around as well if it’s determined that the problem is something that requires yet another recall. Until then, let’s just hope the issue is highly isolated.
Source: CNBC
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