Popular articles

Probably every transmission repair specialist was keen on LEGO constructions or at least enjoyed making some minor things with their hands. Here's the game taken to a new level of creativity!

Modern auto industry is full of sophisticated drivetrain technologies which are supposed to make your driving experience even more pleasant and trouble-free. Despite a great abundance of sophisticated technical solutions, it is highly likely that very few people know a transmission solution operating like a manual CVT.

Over recent years engineers developed a lot of gear shifting solutions for different car brands, which may seem a bit unusual for oldtime drivers. In this article we will review the most peculiar gear stick technologies and provide video materials related to these technologies.

Only few people know about transmission concepts which were popular 70-90 years ago. For men of today, these gearboxes may seem very unusual and weird, but even now some gearboxes that date back to those years are quite competitive in comparison with modern transmissions.

Nowadays Extroid CVTs are commonly known as “toroidal” due to the fact that the working surface of driving and driven discs in this transmission has the form of a torus. Extroid CVT is not a V-belt transmission, but a friction drive CVT.

FORD F-150 Transmission Fixes Satisfy NHTSA


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.

Popular articles

Probably every transmission repair specialist was keen on LEGO constructions or at least enjoyed making some minor things with their hands. Here's the game taken to a new level of creativity!

Modern auto industry is full of sophisticated drivetrain technologies which are supposed to make your driving experience even more pleasant and trouble-free. Despite a great abundance of sophisticated technical solutions, it is highly likely that very few people know a transmission solution operating like a manual CVT.

Over recent years engineers developed a lot of gear shifting solutions for different car brands, which may seem a bit unusual for oldtime drivers. In this article we will review the most peculiar gear stick technologies and provide video materials related to these technologies.

Only few people know about transmission concepts which were popular 70-90 years ago. For men of today, these gearboxes may seem very unusual and weird, but even now some gearboxes that date back to those years are quite competitive in comparison with modern transmissions.

Nowadays Extroid CVTs are commonly known as “toroidal” due to the fact that the working surface of driving and driven discs in this transmission has the form of a torus. Extroid CVT is not a V-belt transmission, but a friction drive CVT.