2003 FORD F-150 — Complaint #439693
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT PITMAN filed November 7, 2003
NHTSA complaint #439693 (ODI reference 10045693) concerns a 2003 FORD F-150 and was filed on November 7, 2003. The owner reports the failure occurred on July 10, 2003. The vehicle had 1,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to New Mexico based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:gear box:shaft pitman, 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 steering:gear box:shaft pitman 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 2003 FORD F-150 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
2003 F-150 SUPERCREW XLT 4WD NOISE PRESENT IN FRONT-END. ESPECIALLY WHEN BACKING OUT OF DRIVEWAY SOUNDS LIKE AN IDLER ARM OR STEERING LINKAGE (TIE RODS) ALSO NOISE IN STEERING GEAR/PITMAN ARM. RESULT IS LOOSE STEERING ESPCIALLY WHILE AT HIGH SPEEDS. LOOSE STEERING IS PRESENT EVEN AT LOWER SPEEDS AND VEHICLE TRACKS ROAD IN AN UNUSUAL FASHION. HAVE DISCUSSED WITH FORD SERVICE DEPT ON 4 OCCASIONS. THEY HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO PROVIDE A REMEDY. THEY TELL ME ITS CHARACTERISTIC OF THE VEHICLE. *LA
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 439693 |
| ODI Number | 10045693 |
| Date Filed | November 7, 2003 |
| Failure Date | July 10, 2003 |
| VIN | 1FTRW08L23K |
Similar STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT PITMAN Complaints for 2003 FORD F-150
TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2003 FORD F-150. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 55 MPH THE STEERING WHEEL BECAME LOOSE AND EASILY TURNED THE VEHICLE TO THE LEFT. ONCE THE VEHICLE BEGAN STEERING TOWARDS THE LEFT
STEERING GEAR FAILURE. THE VEHICLE HAD A LARGE AMOUNT OF PLAY IN THE STEERING WHEEL. AT TIMES LOSS OF STEERING WOULD OCCUR AND YOU COULD END UP IN THE NEXT LANE. *TR
WHEN DRIVING STEERING WHEEL WAS VERY LOOSE. STEERING GEAR WAS SEPARATING AND WAS REPLACED AT THE DEALER. TRYING TO FIND OUT WHY MY VEHICLE WAS NOT COVERED UNDER RECALL NHTSA CAMPAIGN #03V349000. *TR
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.