2018 FORD FUSION HYBRID — Complaint #1920362
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:FRONT:CONTROL ARM:LOWER BALL JOINT filed August 18, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1920362 (ODI reference 11539472) concerns a 2018 FORD FUSION HYBRID and was filed on August 18, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on June 7, 2023. The vehicle had 68,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:front:control arm:lower ball joint, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD FUSION HYBRID cohort independently describe similar suspension:front:control arm:lower ball joint failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2018 FORD FUSION HYBRID shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Fusion. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, there was a clicking sound coming from the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the fuel pump was replaced. On another occasion, while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle turned to the right independently. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to steer the vehicle and drove into the curb where the vehicle came to a complete stop. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and the contact was informed that the front driverâs side ball joints had separated from the vehicle. The vehicle was deemed a total loss by the insurance company. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 68,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1920362 |
| ODI Number | 11539472 |
| Date Filed | August 18, 2023 |
| Failure Date | June 7, 2023 |
| VIN | 3FA6P0RU6JR |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.