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A Safety Recall Report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows Ford is recalling 552,188 F-150 pickups after it was found a fault can cause the transmission to suddenly downshift into first gear.
John Schneider says someone stole his General Lee.
As one might imagine, traveling down the highway or a higher-speed surface street and having your transmission suddenly dump into first gear could be not only a little frightening, it might lead to a crash or maybe even mechanical damage.
NHTSA’s concern is focused on the potential for the driver’s loss of control of the truck, which makes sense. After all, it is a federal safety regulatory body.
The recalled pickup trucks are certain 2014 Ford F-150s. Not all of them are recalled, just the 552,188 units. That’s still a big recall.
According to the Safety Recall Report, a certain portion of the recalled trucks might suddenly have an intermittent loss of the transmission Output Shaft Speed sensor signal to the Powertrain Control Module. That’s what can trigger the spontaneous downshift.
Ford believes there are a few possible causes for the problem. Among them are a power short to ground, connector corrosion, connector pin swaging, contamination, and incorrect outputs from the OSS sensor itself.
Depending, if the problem manifests it might correct itself or the driver might have to shut the truck down and restart it to get the transmission to function correctly. Ford says recalled trucks will have their PCM calibration updated, which of course will be free of charge.
Unfortunately, NHTSA says Ford’s review of manufacturing data of F-150s with the potential defect aren’t in order by VIN. That means pickup owners will need to call Ford’s number at 866-436-7332 or contact a local dealer’s service department to determine if theirs is included in the recall.
Considering what could happen if your transmission suddenly shifted into first gear, we wouldn’t delay finding out if your truck has been recalled.
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