His Ford F-150 downshifted on a highway — just after recall service. Then his real problems began

Hamilton Spectator

05-05-2025

Curtis Mabee had just merged onto the highway in his newish Ford F-150 when the pickup started downshifting.
With cars whizzing past and honking their horns, Mabee said he could feel his truck 'pulling itself back' when the speedometer hit 80.
He took the next exit and circled back to Thor Motors Orillia, the Ford dealership where he just had the pickup in for a safety recall service to deal with that very problem.
'What the heck happened to my vehicle?' he asked.
Last summer, a few weeks before Mabee bought the rebuilt 2014 SuperCrew F-150 with nearly 300,000 kilometres on it, Ford issued a safety recall, warning about a transmission problem.
Mabee said he didn't know about the recall when he bought the truck from Norfolk Fine Cars in Orillia for $10,622 all in.
In a
July 1 2024 letter to 2014 F-150 owners, Ford warned
that 'an intermittent failure of the output shaft speed sensor in the transmission may result in an unintended downshift to first gear.'
The company also noted that the 'sudden downshift can cause the rear tires to slide until the vehicle speed slows … and could result in a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash.'
Ford advised owners to book a free recall service with a dealership that would update powertrain software and perform a diagnostic test to see if additional repairs to the transmission were needed.
On Oct. 22, Mabee did just that. Thor Motors, he said, told him the service could take all day so he was surprised to receive a text 17 minutes later notifying him the truck was ready.
When Mabee reported the downshifting problem to Thor after returning to the dealership, he asked a service manager to accompany him on a test drive.
'It dropped right down into low gear on him,' Mabee explained. 'He said, 'It's doing exactly what it was recalled for.''
Thor Motors and Ford, Mabee said, initially pointed fingers at each other.
The manufacturer told him to go back to the dealership while the dealership, he said, advised him to escalate his concerns with the manufacturer.
I thought I could help mediate. But the case took an interesting twist I didn't foresee.
Thor Motors notified Ford of Canada about the problems with Mabee's truck soon after the initial safety recall service seemed to go awry.
On Oct. 24, 2024, Kenneth Britt, a service manager at the dealership, wrote to Ford's technical support staff.
'After completing
recall 24S37 the transmission is downshifting erratically while driving
… I road tested the vehicle with the customer and the concern happens at about 80/kmh, the transmission feels like its slips into a neutral gear … and then back up again without any throttle application.'
Britt noted the truck wasn't 'throwing any codes,' when running a digital analysis.
Thor Motors gave Mabee a loaner, a Ford Bronco, while its mechanics continued to troubleshoot and seek help from Ford.
Thor Motors told Mabee his truck needed a whole new transmission, which would cost about $8,700 — almost as much as he originally paid for the vehicle.
Mabee, who hasn't worked in three years due to a disability, didn't have that kind of money. The issue dragged on for five months.
On March 4, Thor's service manager wrote Ford again.
'The concern is a result of the program installed during the 24S37 recall. We feel the vehicle requires a transmission. The SSSC and the customer assistance centre have offered no assistance with the repair costs. We need assistance in
determining what happened during the recall update. We have installed a known good lead frame and valve body and the concern is not resolved.'
When I reached out to Thor Motors and Ford Canada on Mabee's behalf, both companies said there was nothing more they could do to help.
When I emailed Thor Motors' General Manager Nathan Brown some followup questions about a written statement he sent me, a Ford spokesperson got back to me instead.
'This transmission concern is not related in any way to the recall, which was performed fully and correctly,' Matt Drennan-Scace wrote in an email. 'These concerns suggest there may be additional wear and tear, or damage, to the transmission based on vehicle age, mileage, and how it has been driven and serviced.'
Emails from both Thor Motors and Ford noted that the truck had not been serviced at any Ford dealership in Canada since 2017, until Mabee scheduled the safety recall service last October.
'Based on the information available, all service technicians agree that this vehicle likely requires a transmission replacement,' Drennan-Scace wrote. 'Thor Motors went above and beyond the scope of this recall to try and address these concerns at no cost to the customer.'
Six months after reporting the spontaneous downshifting problem with his Ford F-150, Mabee's truck is still sitting in the parking lot Thor Motors in Orillia.
He's still driving the dealership's loaner.
Was Ford right? Could Mabee's problem have been an issue since he bought the truck in August?
Using the truck's VIN, I paid $79 for the
vehicle's history from CARFAX
— which revealed a troubled past.
It showed me the truck had been regularly serviced since it first took to the road in June 2014.
In 2021, however, an insurance company wrote off the pickup for $16,600 after a collision that resulted in 'moderate damage' to its front and sides.
The report also noted the truck had since been branded as 'rebuilt.'
Norfolk Fine Cars confirmed the truck passed structural and safety inspections on Aug. 12, 2024, the day Mabee took it home.
But neither of these inspections, which are provincially mandated for all used vehicles that have been rebuilt after insurance declares them a writeoff, act as a warranty or guarantee of the vehicle's condition.
A structural inspection assesses the vehicle's frame while the safety check reviews components like brakes, suspension, airbags, headlights and wipers, said Gaetan Legace, owner of Gater's Auto Refinishing in Welland, Ont., which is provincially licenced to do this work, though did not do the inspection on Mabee's vehicle.
Ontario's safety standards certification program for used vehicles
includes a test drive, but there's no requirement for how that should be done so different shops might take different approaches, Legace said.
But one thing is certain.
'They won't tear apart the tranny,' Legace said of a vehicle's transmission.
'That's a little bit of a grey area,' added Rob Black, owner of BRD Motorsports in Orillia, which is also provincially licenced to perform safety inspections on used vehicles. He did not certify Mabee's truck.
'Obviously the transmission has to function,' he said. 'You want to make sure there's no cracks or damage to its mounting and that its operation is OK. But (after an accident) some internal components could be hurt and you wouldn't notice it until you put another 10 or 15 (thousand) kilometres on it. You just don't know. That's the problem with buying a used vehicle.'
Both Legace and Black suggested Mabee's best bet would be to go with a used transmission which would likely run him no more than $1,000.
Legace urges consumers to purchase an extended warranty from the dealer, especially on used vehicles with high mileage.
Mabee, who used to work for the Ministry of Transportation, and thought he had done all the homework he needed to ensure he got a reliable used truck, is worried.
'I gotta funny feeling that I'm just going to be stuck with a piece of crap.'