1998 FORD F-150 — Complaint #307188
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:LEAF filed August 10, 2001
NHTSA complaint #307188 (ODI reference 749871) concerns a 1998 FORD F-150 and was filed on August 10, 2001. The report was geocoded to Illinois based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:rear:springs:leaf spring assembly:leaf, 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 F-150 cohort independently describe similar suspension:rear:springs:leaf spring assembly:leaf 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 1998 FORD F-150 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
REAR LEAF SPRING: ON THE F-150, EXTEND CAB, LONG BED, THE LEFT REAR LEAF SPRING IS OVER-LOADED BECAUSE THE FUEL TANK ( AND THE DRIVER ) ARE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE VEHICLE. THIS CAUSES THE VEHICLE TO LEAN AND BECOME UNSTABLE. WHEN CARRING A LOAD, THE MAJORITY OF THE WEIGHT SHIFTS TO THE LEFT SIDE AND THIS CAUSES THE VEHICLE TO BE MORE UNSTABLE. THE DEALER REPLACED THE SPRING ONCE BUT THE PROBLEM STILL EXIST. / LEFT POWER WINDOW: THE WINDOW STICKS ALL THE TIME. THE ONLY TIME IT WORKS PROPERLY IS WHEN IT RAINS AND THE TRACK GETS WET.*AK
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 307188 |
| ODI Number | 749871 |
| Date Filed | August 10, 2001 |
| VIN | 1FTZX1764WK |
Similar SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS:LEAF SPRING ASSEMBLY:LEAF Complaints for 1998 FORD F-150
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 1998 FORD F-150. THE CONTACT SMELLED BURNING RUBBER COMING FROM HIS VEHICLE. THE SMELL WAS THEN REPLACED BY A RATTLING SOUND COMING FROM THE REAR OF THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT I
RECEIVED RECALL NOTICE (98V161000) & NOTIFIED THE DEALER. WAS INFORMED NO PARTS AVAILABLE TO REPAIR THE REAR LEAF SPRINGS. *AK
RECEIVED RECALL NOTICE IN MAIL (98V161000) & CALLED DEALERSHIP. WAS INFORMED THAT NO PARTS WERE AVAILABLE FOR THE REAR LEAF SPRINGS. WOULD NOTIFY OWNER WHEN THEY ARE AVAILABLE. *AK
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.