Of all the things that you never wanted to hear about your car, “unexpected gear shift” might just top the list. But that is just what happened to legacy automaker Ford (F), who is currently being investigated by the government for just such an issue. Yet this did little damage to shareholders, who gave Ford shares a nice bump, up nearly 2% in Monday afternoon’s trading.
The government, via the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has an investigation in place on around 1.3 million Ford F-150 pickups. Why? Apparently, for no real reason, the truck will unexpectedly shift gears downward, and the rear wheels will, temporarily, lock up. The affected trucks are reportedly trucks produced in the 2015 to 2017 model years, and around 138 complaints have been filed so far.
Worse yet, reports note, these incidents are sometimes happening while the drivers are at speed on the highway, meaning that the downshifts are hitting while trucks are traveling as much as 70 miles per hour. One driver reported the truck downshifted from 6th gear to first. The result was the driver was “…nearly throw(n)…through the windshield.”
Rearview Camera Conundrum
As if the car randomly deciding to downshift and slow down from highway speeds to virtually nil were not bad enough, now, three separate recalls have emerged for Ford, all connected to rearview cameras. The recalls affect a grand total of around 56,000 vehicles, and include 49,399 vehicles that were already fixed from a 2023 recall, but apparently, incorrectly.
The recalls include Explorers from 2020 to 2023, Lincoln Aviators, Lincoln Corsairs from 2020 to 2022, Edge vehicles from 2021 and 2022, and 4,721 Ford Escapes made in 2025. Various fixes are in place for these vehicles, and mostly includes software updates from the look of it. For the Escapes, meanwhile, the software update will not do, and the entire camera will be replaced at no charge. Regardless, this is another black eye for Ford, who has already seen a staggering amount of recalls so far this year.
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on four Buys, 10 Holds and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 14.97% loss in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.59 per share implies 3.77% upside potential.
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