— Ford F-150 transmissions are downshifting without warning and causing drivers and occupants to experience a whole lotta stress.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a federal investigation in March 2025 to determine what caused the unintentional downshifts in 2015-2017 trucks.
Hundreds of Ford F-150 owners complained about their truck transmissions suddenly downshifting while driving.
Ford F-150 downshift recalls had been issued in the past but the problems continued. Ford owners complained the transmissions suddenly downshifted into first or second gear. The sudden downshifts typically reoccurred, and some F-150 owners say they stopped driving their trucks.
Those transmission downshifts could cause the rear wheels to lock up, and 43% of F-150 drivers who complained said the rear tires screeched or skidded. NHTSA also found 114 customers complained of having to replace the molded lead frames or valve body assemblies.
Making incidents even more dangerous, the F-150 downshifts caused drivers to temporarily lose control of their trucks.
According to the government, the 2015-2016 F-150 trucks were equipped with 6R80 transmissions, while 2017 Ford F-150s were equipped with either the 6R80 transmission or the 10R80 transmission. However, the investigation was limited to 2015-2017 Ford F-150s with 6R80 transmissions.
NHTSA has upgraded its investigation after finding evidence of a possible second safety defect different from the problems associated with previous recalls.
The previous truck recalls were based on a condition where there were output shaft speed sensor signal losses due to "degradation of electrical connections within the lead frame due to thermal cycling and vibration over extended time in service resulting in signal loss from the Transmission Range Sensor (TRS)."
However, federal safety regulators found when the TRS experiences an intermittent signal loss, this could cause a loss of vehicle direction while trying to drive.
The 2015-2017 Ford F-150 downshift investigation includes nearly 1.3 million trucks.
CarComplaints.com will update our website with results of NHTSA's F-150 sudden downshift investigation.
