This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The right and left ball joints began freezing last summer. The vehicle began to wander and it became increasingly difficult to keep it in my lane of traffic. The problem came on slowly but was first noted by me last summer. This summer it got to the point that it was unsafe to drive because attempting to get the wheels to move slightly resulted in too much movement leading to constant attempts to correct the over-correction. The dealer readily diagnosed the problem as frozen ball joints and required that I pay for the repairs despite the fact that the problem began well before the warranty expired. A dealership employee informed me that they were replacing many of these parts under warranty due to premature failure. The original part did not have any provision to lubricate the joint. The replacement part has a fitting to lubricate it. Obviously Ford made a design change in this part and are not telling owners about the problem. At nearly $1000 to repair it, some owners may choose to delay or forgo replacement and continue to drive the truck when it is unsafe to do so. As a rule, ball joints should be expected to go double the mileage at which mine required replacement. My calls to Ford resulted in no admission of fault on their part. The steering on the truck was so bad that neither my wife or I felt that it was safe to drive at highway speeds.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- St Paul, MN, USA