According to Reuters, on June 25, Ford Motor Company announced it would recall 668,000 units of the 2014 F-150 pickup model globally due to the potential for these vehicles to unexpectedly downshift, which could cause drivers to lose control or lock the rear wheels.
In March of this year, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began investigating whether the 2014 F-150 needed to be recalled after receiving complaints about the F-150 unexpectedly downshifting without warning. Ford and NHTSA subsequently held several meetings to discuss the issue. However, Ford stated that the likelihood of unexpected downshifts in the 2014 F-150 remains lower than in the previously recalled 2011-2013 models.
This recall involves 552,000 F-150 trucks in the United States. Ford reported receiving 300 warranty reports, 96 field reports, and 124 consumer complaints, including two injury reports and one accident report. NHTSA mentioned that one owner experienced an unexpected downshift that caused their vehicle to crash into a concrete barrier and another car, with both drivers sustaining injuries.
The company explained that the loss of signal could cause the transmission to downshift regardless of speed. Following the recall, dealers will update the powertrain control module software in the affected F-150 pickups.
According to Reuters, this is Ford's latest recall related to this issue since 2016. In 2016, Ford recalled 153,000 units of the 2011-2012 F-150 models equipped with a six-speed automatic transmission to address the downshifting problem. NHTSA began investigating the issue in December 2017. In February 2019, Ford expanded its recall in North America to cover 1.48 million F-150 vehicles, including the 2013 models. Later in 2019, Ford recalled an additional 107,000 units of the 2013 F-150 due to related concerns.
