Ford to Recall Bronco, Mustang, Explorer, F-150, and Aviator Over Roll Away Risk
This, for example, would be a bad spot for your Bronco to choose to roll away without you in it.Photo: Ford
Ford’s 10-speed automatic transmission, known internally as the 10R80, is pretty amazing. The ability to pack 10 forward gears into the space that a decade ago couldn’t hold more than six is a serious engineering feat. Unfortunately for Ford and its customers, that engineering feat has a serious problem.
According to a notice sent to dealers by Ford on February 13 and found by members of the Bronco6G forum, a bolt inside the transmission can come loose and render the parking pawl inoperable, which could lead to an incident where the vehicle could roll away. This issue affects all models which use the 10R80, including the 2022-23 Ford Mustang, Bronco, F-150, Explorer and the 2023 Lincoln Aviator.
This transmission was co-developed with General Motors, though the GM version is built in a different plant, and no issues have yet been reported. The Ford transmissions were built at both the Livonia, Michigan, and Sharonsville, Ohio, transmission plants.
The severity of this issue and the likelihood that this repair will require a lot of labor to correct has led Ford to issue an order stopping the delivery of vehicles to customers, and an order for dealers not to demo any vehicles to potential customers. Ford expects to start mailing notices to owners of existing vehicles on or around February 27. Owners who have questions can contact Ford’s customer service department at 1-866-436-7332. Ford’s number for this recall is 23S06.
Ford is still looking for a fix for this issue. Still, it’s always a good idea for owners of vehicles with automatic transmissions to apply the parking brake in addition to using the park position on their gear selector to prevent rolling away and reduce wear and tear on the transmission.
