Federal investigators are launching a probe into more than 1.3 million Ford pickup trucks over a possible transmission issue. However, they still say it’s too early to tell if it will result in a recall.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is behind the investigation. The NHTSA launched the probe after receiving reports of an unexpected gear downshift accompanied by a temporary rear wheel lock-up.
The investigation will involve some Ford F-150 pickup trucks from the 2015 to 2017 model years after receiving 138 complaints from consumers.
The complaints alleged that unexpected transmission downshifts to lower gears happened while consumers were traveling at highway speeds and without warning or driver input. The downshift resulted in the vehicle rapidly decelerating, creating a crash risk.
A Ford spokesperson shared on Monday with Reuters that it is “working with NHTSA to support its investigation.” It also noted that the issue appears to be related to vehicles with six-speed transmissions.
The NHTSA will conduct its preliminary evaluation on the issue and then decide whether to update the probe into an engineering analysis before it could push to issue a recall.
The administration shared that some complaints said the vehicle’s rear wheels would lock, skidding during the downshift, resulting in an increased risk of crash or loss of control of the vehicle. However, the agency said there haven’t been any reports of crashes or fires.
One 2023 complaint from an Ohio owner claimed that while driving their 2016 F-150 on the highway at 70 mph, “the truck automatically shifted from 6th Gear to first gear, nearly throwing me through the windshield.”
For those who brought their vehicles in to have them repaired for the issue, long wait times were reported for replacement parts.
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Other F-150 vehicles have been recalled for unexpected downshifting. In June 2024, the NHTSA recalled 668,000 2014 model-year F-150 trucks for a similar issue. In 2016, Ford recalled 153,000 2011-2012 Ford F-150 vehicles for downshifting as well.
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