Assist problems of the 2023 Ford F-150

I’m very concerned about the actual malfunction of my entire steering rack & pinion assembly at just over 6,000 miles. The failure on my 2023 f150 (bought as new in sept. 2024 from dealer w/ 1200 miles) occurred at more than 80 miles per hour when I had punched it to pass another vehicle. The steering became very wonky and was 'soft-locking' in stuttering positions – about 2 degrees apart in moving the steering wheel. It was very touch and go coming into town – even back at 60 mph. I was still hitting the hard spots and making all sorts of racket in full turns as we pulling into a parking lot to check it out. At that time, the only thing I could relate it to as far as how it felt was that the steering assist/ lane keeping assist was wanting to run the show. But I don’t use the feature and have only tried it a couple times since I got the truck – specifically to see how it felt. There was no message on the instruments. Anyway, my point this seems to be a serious safety issue, and I would think Ford would want to figure out what happened. The Ford dealership service manager kind of blew it off like, ‘well, stuff happens’. That’s all good and I’m not faulting him – they did a great job of repair, and the truck now drives like a new truck (new steering assembly shipped overnight from memphis, TN to livingston, TX) – steering is actually better that the first day I had it. It was always a little quirky in its ‘feel’ so I just thought it was kind of what it would be. Didn’t feel perfect but not enough to complain or even say anything about. I just figured Ford had done something that just gave the steering a little bit different feel. I’d really like to find out what the Ford engineers figure out and how could this have been a one-off thing? this seems like a very serious, potential safety issue. The dealership has not replied to 2 emails from their apparently automated 'are you happy with your service' inquiry.

This happens every time I have lane keeping assist turned on and cruise control activated. The truck will periodically pull all the way to the right of the lane, to the point that the tires are on the right line and I am looking down the center of the lane. The more I fight to keep the truck in the center of the lane, the more it pulls to the right. The only way to stop this, other than disabling lane keeping, is to let the truck wander over to the right while barely touching the steering wheel. It will eventually return to the center of the lane. The dashboard graphics show a blue circle around the truck to indicate that the truck is in the center of the lane. When too far to the edge, it will change to show you are not centered. At no time while the truck is pulling to the right does the truck indicate it is out of position. Therefore, even though I am correctly centered in the lane, both by my own observation and the truck's indication, the system still pulls the truck to the right. This appears to be a systemic issue with the system. Here is a post from 2021 where someone is complaining about the same behavior: [xxx] this is a safety issue because: 1) it is fatiguing to have the system on and have to constantly fight it to keep the truck centered in the lane. On frequent 10-hour trips, I have to turn it off because it is adding to my fatigue and workload, even though I would like the benefit of proper lane keeping. 2) I can turn off the system but then I get no driver assistance when I actually drift in the lane. 3) this is most an issue when passing a vehicle in the right lane and the truck veers towards that vehicle. Again I have to fight the truck to not steer into adjacent vehicles. The Ford dealer has diagnosed the system and found no issues or software updates. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Thank you for a chance to file this information. The cruise speed control and lane keeping systems are not working consistently and properly. They fail every week when tested. So far - the dealer-warranty fixes have not been the remedy needed. The cruise control system on steeper slopes doesn't provide braking to stay at the set speed - and at times it doesn't provide any braking resistance - so the vehicle takes off full speed with gravity. The lane keeping system doesn't provide consistent drivers' assistance to prevent departing the lane - even with new/freshly painted center-lanes/side of the road lanes.

Instrument cluster complete failure. No speedometer, no adaptive cruise or lane centering indications.

The vehicle's message center reported multiple system failures while driving 70 mph on a two lane montana highway. The steering assist failure caused the wheel to jerk left/right before locking up. It took all the strength I had to keep the vehicle from exiting the roadway. If someone else was driving they would not have likely been as fortunate. The vehicle is now parked inside while I wait to hear from Ford. The local dealer won't look at the truck until the middle of next month. The truck has about 1500 miles.