— The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has shut down a federal investigation into a recall of 2021-2022 Ford E-350 and Ford E-450 vehicles equipped with rear dual wheels.
Ford announced a recall in February 2022 because power steering and power braking could be lost from leaking hydraulic lines. Ford dealers inspected the lines to determine if they required replacement.
Two years later Ford announced another recall to replace hydraulic lines that had not yet been inspected and on any E-350 and E-450 vehicles that had passed the line inspections the previous 12 months. Trucks that passed inspections more than 12 months prior were not included in the 2024 recall.
That's when NHTSA opened its investigation to determine if all the vehicles should have been included in the second recall.
Ford's data showed the E-350 and E-450 vehicles not included in the 2024 recall had a predicted failure rate of less than 0.25% within 10 years from the date of inspection. By comparison, the Ford vehicles included in the 2024 recall had a failure rate of about 2% prior to being recalled again.
Federal regulators analyzed Ford's response along with complaint and warranty data and found Ford's findings were correct, which convinced NHTSA to close its investigation without further actions.
