FORD F-150 Transmission Fixes Satisfy NHTSA

In June, Ford issued a recall of F-150 trucks related to transmission issues consisting in unexpected downshifts. The amount of recalled F-150 reached 123,000 trucks in North America. The truck with a defected transmission unit was manufactured at two production facilities in the US. The recall in June was an extra measure caused by the fact that the solution applied by Ford experts for dealing with the problem in the previous recall (in February) didn’t not produce the expected results. The summer recall has become more efficient and the NHTSA is completely satisfied with the fixes provided by the automaker.

2011 Ford F-150

Ford informed the regulatory authority that it received 1,206 warranty requests related to unexpected downshifts, with most cases on the Ford F-150. But woes of Ford were not limited to troubles with F-150 trucks, as the investigation also included two SUV models with similar downshifting issues, namely Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. Although both mentioned models were involved, NHTSA claims that their complaint rates (1,238) are significantly lower compared to Ford F-150.

2012 Ford Expedition

2013 Ford Lincoln Navigator

The investigation into the problem found out that the downshifts could occur at any moment, but more frequently took place at higher speeds. The owners of affected vehicles also complained about other issues like delays in one gear and unordered shifting.

The automaker claimed the problem lied in the signal transfer glitches from the speed sensor to the TCM unit. This deviation from the norm led to an unanticipated downshift into 1-st gear. Approximately 34.7 % of complaints said the back wheels got blocked at the moment of downshifting, resulting in at least 10 road accidents and 3 injuries. To deal with this problem, Ford decided to prolong the warranty on the transmission for the affected SUV models.

Overall, the investigation included the following models:

Returning to the issue with F-150, NHTSA is going to discontinue the investigation based on Ford's recalls, but at the same time the regulatory body will continue monitoring complaints to make sure that all issues are addressed properly.