The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into why the transmission on some Ford F-150 trucks downshifted unintentionally.
The agency said in a news release that the Office of Defects Investigation has received 138 complaints from drivers that the 2015 to 2017 Ford F-150 trucks unexpectedly downshifted to a lower gear while driving at highway speeds.
The drivers said they did not initiate the change in gears.
The downshift would “cause unexpected rapid vehicle deceleration” with some drivers saying that the truck’s rear wheels would temporarily lock, seize and/or skid, causing them to potentially lose control and increase the risk of an accident.
The investigation could affect 1.3 million trucks.
One Ohio driver told the NHTSA he was driving on a highway at 70 mph when “the truck automatically shifted from 6th Gear to first gear nearly throwing me through the windshield.”
The ODI has opened what it called a preliminary evaluation to determine how big of an issue it is.
The evaluation will help the NHTSA determine if an engineering analysis is needed before launching a recall.
Ford has recalled F-150s several times for similar issues with the transmission, including:
- June 2024 - 668,000 trucks recalled from the 2014 model year
- 2019 - 1.48 million F-150s recalled, a second recall of 107,000 2013 F-150s were recalled a second time after there was an issue with the 2019 recall repairs.
- 2016 - 153,000 2011 to 2012 Ford F-150 with six-speed automatic transmissions recalled
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