If you happen to keep up with Ford’s F-150, then you might have already been aware of complaints that have been circulating about a transmission issue with Ford’s venerable full-size truck from the 2015–2017 model years. Last year there were enough of them to get the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) involved, and now Ford has finally launched a recall to officially fix an issue that affects slightly less than 1.4 million of the popular pickups (1,392,935 if you’re counting exactly).
While you’re counting, you can add these trucks to the already staggering number of Ford vehicles that have been recalled in the past year alone, well over 19 million in all. One of the latest involved some 4.3 million trucks to fix a trailer control software glitch, which impacted the 2021–2026 F-150 among other Ford trucks.
What’s Being Recalled on These F-150s?
As for the recall itself, the issue is centered around the Transmission Range Sensor (TRS) inside Ford’s 6R80 six-speed automatic transmission and the signals it sends to the Powertrain Control Module (PCM). What the TRS does is tell the PCM what gear you’ve selected on your shifter. When the TRS sends the PCM the wrong signal, the PCM will potentially make the transmission shift down from sixth gear straight into second at highway speeds. Anyone who has “money shifted” a manual transmission (where you inadvertently shift into a much lower gear than you intended) knows the carnage that can occur when that happens. The best case is you destroy the transmission, the worst is that the rear wheels lock up, potentially leading to a crash.
Age and repeated use are reportedly at the root of this mis-signaling issue. The subcomponents related to the TRS experience thermal cycling, vibrations, and wear that eventually can lead to the failure. The part the recall specifically calls out is the “lead frame.” This is a piece of molded plastic that contains the transmission output speed sensor and is in direct connection with the shift solenoids within the valve body (the parts that do the shifting in the 6R80).
The TRS is also attached to this part, and the failure happens because the TRS moves out of position, sends the signal as if you shifted the transmission out of sixth gear, and the PCM shifts down to the gear that it thinks it should be shifted into (usually second gear). It can also move around when this failure happens, so while you might not get the instant sixth-to-second change, you might experience violent bucking if the TRS signals back-and-forth gear changes while you’re driving.
Wait, Why Isn’t the Mustang or Any Other Ford with a 6R80 Recalled?
From what we understand, the lead frame used for the 6R80 transmission used in the 2009–2014 F-150, 2011–2017 Mustang, 2009–2018 Expedition, 2009–2010 Ford Explorer, 2015–2019 Transit, and their Lincoln and Mercury variants are just different enough as to not create the same issues found in the 2015–2017 F-150. Use cases for those vehicles are also reasons why they have been ruled out and their 6R80s are not part of this recall.