540,000 Ford F-150 pickup truck owners complain of abrupt downshifting, prompting NHTSA investigation into potential recall expansion.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating complaints from over 540,000 Ford F-150 pickup truck owners, claiming that their vehicles can abruptly downshift to a lower gear, increasing the risk of a crash. The probe will determine if the trucks should have been included in previous recalls for the same problem, which affected certain F-150 models from 2011 and 2012 in 2016, and 2013 models that were added to the recall later. Ford stated it is cooperating with the NHTSA investigation.