— A Ford truck tailgate recall and customer satisfaction program have convinced federal safety regulators to close a Ford tailgate investigation regarding 2017-2020 Ford F-250, F-350 and F-450 trucks.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the power tailgate recall investigation in January 2021 following reports of Ford Super Duty truck tailgates that suddenly opened.
NHTSA opened its "recall query" after Ford owners continued to complain following a December 2019 Ford tailgate recall for tailgates that opened while driving. This allowed any items in the truck beds to fall out.
The Ford truck power tailgate latch-release switch in the handle could get wet and short-circuit. This activated the switch and released the tailgate latch, allowing the tailgate to open and cargo to fly out.
The 2019 Ford tailgate recall was announced after a previous investigation of 2017 Ford F-250 and F-350 truck tailgates that suddenly opened.
In addition to the tailgate recall repairs, Ford issued customer satisfaction program 21M05-S1/S2/S3 for Ford trucks being produced as of December 20, 2021.
The customer program covered 2017-2022 Ford F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550, F-650 and F-750 Super Duty and 2020-2022 Ford F-600 Super Duty trucks.
Since customer satisfaction program 21M05-S1/S2/S3 began, NHTSA has not received any Ford truck tailgate complaints.
Safety regulators have closed the Ford tailgate investigation of 300,000 trucks but may take additional actions if circumstances change.
