One problem related to hood hinge has been reported for the 1997 Ford F-150. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Broken hood release. Many other people I've talked to had same problem with their '97 & '98 f150's. There is a recall on this for Ford SUV's, why not the f150? I was charged $173. 46 for this to be corrected. The service advisor told me that he had just had another latch failure prior to my call to set up an appointment.