— A federal investigation into 2014 Ford F-150 downshift problems has been opened by the U.S. government following complaints from F-150 owners regarding transmissions that suddenly downshift to lower gears.
Owners of 2014 Ford F-150 trucks complain the downshift problems occur without warning while driving and can cause the F-150 rear wheels to lock-up and skid.
Ford F-150 downshift problems caused a recall in 2016 of the trucks and a few other models. That recall involved 2011-2012 Ford F-150 trucks equipped with 6-speed (6R80) automatic transmissions.
The F-150 downshift problem was blamed on a loss of the transmission output speed sensor signal to the powertrain control module. The result was an unintended downshift into a lower gear.
The 2016 recall had dealers updating the powertrain control modules, but in December 2017 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation to determine if the Ford F-150 recall was good enough.
In February 2019, Ford announced another F-150 recall due to downshift problems which included 2011-2013 Ford F-150 trucks equipped with 6-speed (6R80) automatic transmissions.
Then in June 2019, another Ford F-150 transmission downshift recall was issued for 2013 Ford F-150 trucks equipped with 5.0L and 6.2L gasoline engines that had been serviced under a previous downshift defect recall.
NHTSA has received at least 86 complaints about 2014 Ford F-150 downshift problems that sound the same as the downshift problems which caused the previous recalls.
"One consumer described that his vehicle experienced an unexpected downshift causing his vehicle to crash into a concrete barrier and another vehicle, injuring both him and the driver of the other vehicle." — NHTSA
CarComplaints.com will update our website with results of the Ford F-150 sudden downshift investigation which involves about 540,000 trucks.
