Ford Recalls About 550,000 2014 Model Year F-150 Vehicles

(RTTNews) - Ford Motor Co. (F) on Tuesday issued a recall for a total of 552,188 2014 model year F-150 pick-up trucks in the United States due to a Powertrain Control Module (PCM) issue, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday.

The regulator said an intermittent loss of the transmission Output Shaft Speed (OSS) sensor signal to the PCM in some vehicles can cause a temporary, unintended downshift into first gear, depending on the vehicle speed at the time of an intermittent OSS failure.

This downshift to first gear without warning could result in a loss of vehicle control and potentially increase the risk of a crash.

Ford has identified various causal factors of an intermittent OSS signal, including contamination, power short to ground, connector corrosion, connector pin swaging, and incorrect outputs from the OSS sensor.

The safety regulator has urged owners of the affected vehicles to take their vehicle to a Ford or Lincoln dealer to have the PCM calibration updated free of any charges.

The remedy will include an OSS signal plausibility check to prevent unintended downshifts into first gear if an intermittent OSS fault occurs and illuminate the Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) in the event of an intermittent OSS signal.