Ford Is Recalling 1.5 Million Vehicles For Whiplash Concerns

If you own a Ford or Lincoln vehicle, you’ll want to pay attention to this news: Ford just announced three recalls that will affect over 1.5 million Ford and Lincoln cars in North America.

The recalls stem from safety defects that were recently discovered with the vehicles. Among them, a problem with the automatic transmissions in F-150 pickups is causing vehicles to unexpectedly downshift into first gear, resulting in loss of control and a potential crash, depending on vehicle speed.

Ford revealed in a statement that this issue has caused at least five accidents, including one where whiplash was reported.

The specific cars being recalled are:

• 2011 to 2013 Ford F-150 vehicles with six-speed automatic transmissions
• 2017 to 2019 Lincoln Continental vehicles
• some 2019 Ford Mustang, Lincoln Nautilus and Lincoln Navigator vehicles

The other cars being recalled have different — but no less dangerous — issues. On Lincoln Continental vehicles, there is reportedly an issue with the door latches not engaging, while the selected 2019 cars on the recall list have a problem with blank control panels.

While these issues haven’t caused any accidents that we know of, they still pose a serious safety risk. If you own one of these vehicles, make sure to take it to an authorized dealer ASAP to have your car checked out.

Ford isn’t the only carmaker to issue a recall recently, either. Earlier this month, Subaru, Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes and Ferrari had to collectively recall 1.7 million vehicles, after air bag inflators made by the Japanese company Takata Corp. were discovered to have a potentially deadly flaw.

Last month, Hyundai and Kia also recalled 168,000 vehicles due to a fuel pipe problem that increased the vehicles’ fire risk.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by so many recalls, you can also look up which, if any, recalls affect your particular car by searching your car’s VIN number on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.