NHTSA Probes Ford Power Tailgates That Lower Themselves

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

In early August, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recalled 1.1 million Ram pickups after owners reported losing their loads, the fault of a tailgate that wouldn’t stay latched. Ford now seems to have a similar problem, only in this instance the tailgates carefully lower themselves under electric power.

A ghost in the machine? More like an electrical issue that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to get to the bottom of. This week, the safety agency announced the launch of an investigation into consumer complaints related to the wonky gates, possibly heralding a recall of 2017 F-Series trucks.

As of October 12th, the NHTSA has logged five complaints over unprompted tailgate lowerings while the vehicle is in motion. Those complaints concern 2017 F-250s and F-350s, though the investigation’s scope also covers the 2017 F-150 and F-450.

Ford says it knows exactly what’s wrong with the affected vehicles.

“Technical Service Bulletin, 17-2196, submitted to the agency by Ford on 16 October 2017, acknowledged the issue and finds water intrusion in the wire harness as the root cause,” the NHTSA stated. “Consequences of an uncommanded tailgate opening include spilling of unsecured contents from truck bed and damage to other equipment to the vehicle.”

In light of this, the investigation’s focus is on the scope and frequency of the problem, not the cause. Oddly, there’s no mention of the number of potentially affected vehicles in the investigation document — something you’d normally see in an NHTSA synopsis.

It’s possible Ford will issue a recall once the investigation concludes, though there’s no guarantee on that. The NHTSA retains the ability to order manufacturers to call back vehicles it deems unsafe.

[Image: © 2017 Matthew Guy/TTAC]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Deanst Deanst on Oct 18, 2018

    It’s hilarious that the image of the manly truck driver throwing 50 pound bags of cement into his pickup is somehow met with the reality of the old guy unable to lower the gate manually. Manstep anyone?

  • Tele Vision Tele Vision on Oct 18, 2018

    I can't get behind motorization for a tailgate made of pop cans. My '88 Suburban's tailgate had a glass window and a motor in it. It was also made of steel and about a million lbs. I had to use a powerlifting move to close it and get it to latch, otherwise the window wouldn't close. 'Men' today, gaah.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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