Ford (NYSE: F) has issued three separate recalls covering 1.5 million F-150 pickup trucks in light of concerns regarding spontaneous gear shifts.
The vehicle maker said that the trucks were recalled because they were prone to shifting into first gear unexpectedly, leading to haphazard, abrupt changes in the pace of the vehicle that were dangerous and conducive to accidents.
"Depending on vehicle speed, a downshift to first gear without warning could result in a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash," Ford said in a statement regarding the recalls. The statement also outlined how the problem with gear shifts stems from "an intermittent loss of the transmission output speed sensor signal to the power-train control module."
Five accidents relating to this defect have already transpired since the problem was reported.
Not only this, but certain Lincoln Continentals made between 2017 and 2019, and a select number of 2019 Ford Mustangs, Lincoln Nautiluses, and Lincoln Navigators, were also impacted by defects. These defects were independent of the aforementioned gear shift problem, highlighting a systemic technical issue within Ford that needs to be fixed.
The 27,000 Lincoln Continental vehicles affected have silicon contamination in the door latch, which could cause the door to open at any given moment because it cannot lock properly. Moreover, about 4,200 Ford Mustang, Lincoln Nautilus and Lincoln Navigator vehicles could potentially have another defect linked to the instrument cluster. This particular component shows up blank when the video begins. Neither of these issues has been directly tied to any accidents yet.
What is concerning is that this is not the first set of significant recalls seen by Ford. Last month itself, Ford recalled 953,000 vehicles, including 782,000 in the United States, as a product of the Takata airbag inflator recall. Last year in December, it again recalled about 874,000 F-150 trucks because of fire hazard concerns.