Ford F-150s Are Recalled Over Transmission Problem
Recently, Ford Motor Co. has reported about the recall of approx. 1.48 million F-150 trucks in North America. The measure is related to a potential downshifting issue that may lead to a car accident.
2011 Ford-150 pickup
truck
2011 Ford-150 interior
The recall list includes Ford F-150 models manufactured
within the period from 2011 to 2013. These models are equipped with six-speed
automatic gearboxes. Owners of affected models may have to deal with
glitches/failures in operation of the gearbox speed sensor. Thus, there may be
signal interruptions from the sensor to the PCM unit. As a result, the gearbox
can automatically shift to the 1-st gear. Depending on car speed, abrupt
downshifting can lead to a car accident.
Ford’s F-Series truck is the most saleable pickup
truck in the US. The greater part of recalled cars (approx. 1.26 mln.) was sold
on the territory on the US and more than 200 thousand models in Canada. The defected
cars were manufactured at the Ford production facility in Michigan.
The company has registered 5 traffic collisions
related to the issue, including 1 whiplash injury caused by an abrupt shifting
to the 1-st gear. Owners of affected vehicles will be informed early next month.
It is said that the issue will be fixed by means of the software update.
This is not the first time that Ford trucks are recalled because of similar transmission problem. Three years ago the company recalled about 153 thousand vehicles. However, Ford representative claimed that both recalls are not interrelated and have different root causes.
Ford also issued two other safety compliance recalls:
- About twenty-seven thousand Lincoln Continentals are recalled because of the door lock clogging. Because of this problem the door may open while the car is on the move.
- More than 4 thousand of recently released models ( Ford Mustang and 2 SUV models) may have instrument panels with defected assembly that shows a blank screen upon car startup.
It is also worth mentioning that not long ago
Ford recalled 3,500 of the latest Ranger trucks for the shifting interlock
check.
