Automatic Transmission Torque Converter problems of the 2012 Ford F-150

7/25/2019: southern California -- northbound hwy 101, headed home from glendale to oxnard. So-cal traffic being what it is, travel was stop & go, with brief bursts of actual speed-limit travel. I was doing about 55mph, coming to a bottleneck where traffic was accumulating. I gently pressed the brake pedal, when my truck downshifted. I was expecting a 5-4 downshift, but instead my truck slammed into 1st gear, tires locked. I skid to a stop, dumbfounded. During deceleration, there was a grinding noise, so I pulled over & checked things out. I'm not a mechanic, but I checked all the fluids and trans temp, which were all in operating range. I drove gently the rest of the way home, fearing that it might happen again, but it didn't. The next morning when I left to work, there was a loud whine that seemed to be coming from the transmission at higher rpm, just prior to upshift. I drove gently to work and back home later that evening. The following day was Saturday, 7/27/took my truck to a local shop, where they told me that my transmission was showing signs of rapid failure and that if I continued to drive it that it might last another week, if I was lucky & that my truck would one day soon, leave me stranded on the side of the fwy. The following week I ordered a remanufactured transmission, to the tune of about $3000. A month later, my mechanic brother-in-law & I swapped out the tranny, including the torque converter & tranny cooler. Then I had to have it towed to the mechanic shop, so my ecu & tcu could be reprogrammed to accept the new tranny & updated to fix the recall. What recall? this was the first mention of any recall. So, my question now will Ford reimburse me for the cost of transmission replacement, for what was a known faulty product? if so, who do I contact? thank you for any assistance. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

20,484 miles on truck. 10/18/15 rpm's increase but doesnt shift into next gear. 10/19/15 roadside assistance towed to dealer. Dealer found no code, sent back to me. 11/17&11/22 driver seat lost memory. 11/28/15 rpm reved when brake was applied rpm's were still increasing. 12/2 brought to dealer no code on diagnosis, sent out again without troubleshooting 20,900 miles on truck. 12/8/15 rpm's reved didnt go into gear. 12/8/15 1hr after prior failure, tried to leave driveway and 2 attempts to engage drive it wouldnt move put truck in reverse then proceeded to put in drive, stuck in 1st gear for 2 blks. 12/10/15 my 5yr old granddaughter and I drove 4 blocks before truck shifted to 2nd gear. 12/11/15 truck did not seem to be running right heard a clunk upon leaving prk lot got across 4 lanes of traffic and truck failed to shift, wrench on dashed showed and went away, dash info had lines across instead of mpg and air bag light stayed on, dealer was on my way, this time code showed and was the torque converter. I ended up driving this vehicle 500 miles iwith the torque converter failing here and there until a code showed. This caused a very dangerous condition to all on the road and much unneeded stress. I am very concerned what other components have premature wear due to continuing to drive my truck in this condition. I purchased an extended vsc from dealer but unsure what it covers so Ford will not offer extended warrenty, only offering oil changes. I do not want anyone to go through this same dangerous situation. Please act on this before deaths start occuring. After reading up on the torque converter, the symtoms my truck experienced were exact along with the truck increasing rpm's although brake was applied. Instinct is you dont continue driving a vechile that doesnt shift even due to likelyhood of other components failing and dangerous conditions in traffic.