Ford is recalling more than 550,000 pickup trucks across the US after hundreds of complaints that transmissions can unexpectedly downshift to first gear, no matter how fast the vehicles are going.
The sudden down-shifting can cause drivers to lose control and increase the risk of crashes, according to the auto manufacturing giant.
Ford has reportedly received complaints from almost 500 vehicles, and was aware of at least two injuries as a result of the issue.
It comes after US auto safety regulators began investigating complaints of abrupt downshifts in more than hundreds of thousands of Ford pickup trucks from 2014.
The recall covers certain F-150 pickups from the 2014 model year. Ford’s F-Series pickups are the top-selling vehicles in the US.
Documents filed by Ford on Tuesday say the problem is caused by a lost signal between a transmission speed sensor and the powertrain control computer. There also could be corrosion and problems with connector pins.
Dealers will update the powertrain control software at no cost to owners, who will be notified by letters in early July, Ford said.
In a statement also out on Tuesday, Ford said it expects repairs to be available in the third quarter of this year. Owners will be able to use mobile service or pickup and delivery at participating dealers.
According to documents filed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ford reported 396 warranty and field reports and 124 customer complaints about the problem, covering a total of 482 trucks.
Ford said it knows of 130 complaints to the government, with 52 alleging that rear wheels locked up or that drivers lost control of the trucks. Two of the complainants reported injuries and one reported a crash that could have been caused by the problem, Ford said.
The auto-giant’s statement said that before the trucks downshift, drivers could see a malfunction indicator light on the dashboard.
In some cases, signals can be restored while the trucks are moving, and they can be driven normally. In other cases drivers may need to stop and restart the engine to get the transmissions to work properly.
The company says it expects fewer than 1 percent of the recalled vehicles to have the problem.
The NHTSA said it started its investigation in March after getting complaints about sudden downshifts in the trucks’ automatic transmissions. The agency is looking into whether those trucks should have been included in previous recalls for the problem.
The company has said it’s working with NHTSA to support the investigation.
