2021 Ford Expedition

On my expedition I started having issues with my transmission staying in gear while driving. I will be going up a hill and all of a sudden boom it starts down shifting or not accelerating at all. I had a few times when me and my wife will be driving, and we would be going through a intersection or a area where you don't want to slow down and then the transmission would forget which gear it would be in and lose all power. Keep in mind my expedition only has 83K miles and serviced regularly. $8,900 later it needs a new transmission. This is a huge safety problem that's being ignored.

I am filing this complaint because I truly believe this transmission issue is a safety problem. I was driving my 2021 Ford Expedition and was merging onto a busy highway when I pressed the gas to get up to traffic speed. Instead of accelerating, the engine revved but the transmission would not shift. It felt like the vehicle was stuck between gears or in neutral. My SUV would not accelerate when I needed it to, and I remember thinking, “This is how someone gets hit.” As a mom, it was terrifying. I depend on my vehicle to safely get my family where we need to go. When you press the gas while merging into fast-moving traffic, you expect your vehicle to respond. Mine didn’t. I was left trying to merge while traffic was approaching and my SUV would barely move. Before this happened, I had noticed increasingly harsh shifting and delayed gear changes. The vehicle had been properly maintained, and the transmission had recently been serviced. After the incident, an authorized Ford dealership diagnosed the transmission with a failed CDF drum in the 10-speed transmission. The transmission had to be completely rebuilt. After researching this problem, I found many other Ford owners reporting the exact same failure and the same scary symptoms. This doesn’t seem like normal wear and tear. Losing the ability to accelerate without warning is a serious safety concern, especially when merging onto a highway or crossing an intersection. I hope NHTSA investigates this issue before someone isn’t as lucky as I was. I was fortunate to avoid an accident, but I can’t help thinking another family may not be.

I have a 2021 Ford Expedition Max that we purchased new. From the time we first purchased it, it has had an intermittent issue. During these times if I accelerate hard or try to give gas to go up a hill, it will occasionally act like it is losing power- like it drops into neutral and stops accelerating. If I do not let off of the gas immediately, it is followed by a loud metallic rattling/ grinding noise. If I release the accelerator, it recovers quickly and seems to “reset” and I’m able drive like normal. On a few occasions a brief warning has popped onto my dash but it goes away so quickly that I never know exactly what it said. It MAY have said something related to parking but I can’t recall what I’ve seen before it goes away. I’ve learned to adjust my driving, making as few hard accelerations as possible to avoid this. Sometimes they can’t be avoided. It becones scary when I’m trying to merge or have to make a quick turn to get into a break in traffic because when it happens at those times I’m not able to accelerate to avoid the oncoming traffic. It doesn’t do it every time but seems to do it more the more I’ve driven like longer trips and I believe it’s gotten more frequent over time despite my adjustments in driving. Last year a Ford dealership looked at it and we thought the recall they fixed might fix it but it did not. Now they’ve reproduced the issue and diagnosed DTC P07E6 referencing TSB 23-2249 and saying the transmission needs replaced. I am aware of NHTSA Recall 26V402 (Ford 26S48) involving similar vehicles with transmission/park system concerns. Although my VIN is not currently included, the similarities prompted me to submit this complaint in case my vehicle represents the same or a related safety issue. I don’t have the official diagnostic report yet as the dealership still has my vehicle but I’ll include a photo of my conversation with the dealership,

I originally leased and have since purchased this vehicle. Since owning the vehicle, it sometimes has a harsh shift between gears. It is so harsh that I have mentioned it to at least two different Ford dealerships during the transmission warranry period. No remedy was provided at the time. The car has continued to have shifting issues and now the car will pop out of gear while driving, which is a major safety issue. We informed a Ford dealership about this experience and they are now telling us we need a new transmission as they found metal in the transmission fluid. The transmission warranty just expired and there is a NHTSA bulletin about this very issue and there is an open recall on the power module for this car. Items for review: Technical Service Bulletin 10R80 Active Recall Campaign 24E13 Documented issue at Tom Masano Ford on 12/02/2021 Documented issue at Fred Beans Exton Ford on 4/26/2022 Documented issue at Tom Masano on 8/5/2025

When driving down the road and it does not matter what speed I am going, is when this issue is happening to most. I will be driving and out of the blue the tachometer will just drop to zero (0) and I lose all power and the vehicle starts shaking vigorously back and forth until it decides what gear the transmission wants to be in. It is doing this every single day, and it almost made me wrecked the other day. I do not even have 70,000 miles and it will be three years old in April 2024. I have called Ford and reported the issue as well. I have researched the issues, and many other Expeditions are having the same issue years 2020-2022. I am asking for Ford to take a serious look at all the car crashes from this exact issue. I do know the F150 are recalled with the exact transmission that is in the Expeditions. The transmission on Thursday 2-22-24 after driving and parked, put the car in drive then it did not want to get out of parked and do into drive or reverse.

On numerous occasions, when traveling at speeds 50mph and over, the vehicle failed to further accelerate when the gas pedal was engaged. This caused the rpm's to rev up to 7 and the vehicle to slow down. Our safety was at risk because the vehicle was unresponsive to acceleration for at least 20-30 seconds making it impossible to avoid or get away from something dangerous. On one occasion, the vehicle made an alarming grinding sound. I have not yet taken the vehicle to a service center for inspection of this problem. There were not any warning lamps, messages, etc prior to the failure.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that on two separate occasions while the cruise control was engaged at approximately 86 MPH, the RPM increased and the vehicle inadvertently accelerated; however, the contact’s husband was able to disengage cruise control to slow down. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician determined that the floormats had jammed the accelerator pedal however, the failure recurred. The contact then stated that on a separate occasion while the cruise control was engaged at approximately 84 MPH, the RPM increased rapidly and the vehicle inadvertently accelerated at high speeds however, the contact’s husband attempted to disengage cruise control, but the cruise control failed to disengage. As a result of the failure, the contact’s husband had to apply extreme pressure to the brake pedal to stop the vehicle. The contact’s husband was able to navigate off the road then turned off and restarted the vehicle. The battery warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the residence and was then towed to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that an unknown sensor and the battery was faulty however, the actual cause of the failure could not be determined. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was advised to tow the vehicle to another dealer. The contact was provided a case number, but no further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000.