Ford recalls 347,425 vehicles over shifter

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. issued a safety recall Friday for about 350,000 trucks and SUVs in North America that could still be in gear when turned off.

The recall applies to certain Ford F-150 trucks and Ford Expedition SUVs with 10-speed automatic transmissions, as well as certain Ford F-650 and F-750 trucks with sixspeed automatic transmissions, all from the 2018 model year.

The issue lies with a clip that locks the gear shift cable to the transmission, Ford said. It said that in some vehicles that clip might not be fully seated, and that over time a partially seated clip or a clip that becomes dislodged might allow the transmission to be in a different gear from the gear selected by the driver.

That means the driver could move the gear shift to “park” and take out the ignition key — without the vehicle’s transmission gear being in park. When the driver’s door opened, the vehicle would not display a warning message or chime indicating the vehicle is not parked. If the driver didn’t use the parking brake, the vehicle could move, increasing the risk of injury or crash.

Ford said it knows of one reported accident and injury related to the issue.

When drivers take their recalled vehicles to a Ford dealer, the dealer is to inspect whether the shift cable locking clip was properly installed and, if necessary, fix it. Drivers will not have to pay for the inspection or repair.

The recall involves about 347,425 vehicles in North America, with 292,909 in the United States and federalized territories, 51,742 in Canada and 2,774 in Mexico.

— Los Angeles Times