RUNNING IN REVERSE (FORD TRANSMISSION DEFECT)

In November 1979, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that a transmission defect in Ford cars and trucks causing a slippage from park into reverse, had resulted in 60 fatalities, 1100 injuries, and 3700 accidents. The design defect may involve as many as 26 million vehicles manufactured since the late 1960's. Although Ford claims that these slippage incidents occur no more often than with other vehicle makes, government figures indicate that Fords jump from park to reverse 14 times more often than Chrysler cars and 12 times more often than General Motors cars. Ford maintains that these accidents occur due to driver carelessness, not due to defective automatic transmission/shift linkage systems. Internal company documents show that, although the problem was known to Ford as early as 1972, the company rejected effective design improvements, which would have cost only three cents per car. The slippage arises when the shift lever is not quite latched in the steering column and the lever creeps back, no more than one-eighth of an inch, activating the park-to-reverse valve inside the transmission. The transmission can shift itself after a delay of seconds or minutes and the car can take off quickly. Besides the short valve travel distance, there is difficulty in telling whether Ford cars are actually in park. NHTSA started investigating the defect in 1977, but has yet to issue a recall, an action demanded by the Center for Auto Safety and victims of Ford transmission accidents.

• Corporate Authors:

  Foundation for National Progress

  625 Third Street
  San Francisco, CA  United States  94107
• Authors:
  • Branan, K
• Publication Date: 1980-6

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 5 p.
• Serial:
  • Mother Jones
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: Foundation for National Progress

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automatic transmissions; Automobiles; Defects; Network links; Recall campaigns; Transmissions; Trucks
• Identifier Terms: Ford Motor Company
• Uncontrolled Terms: Linkages; Slippage
• Subject Areas: Motor Carriers; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00382556
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-029 037
• Files: HSL, USDOT
• Created Date: Apr 30 1984 12:00AM