1997 FORD F-150 — Complaint #442833
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT SECTOR filed November 28, 2003
NHTSA complaint #442833 (ODI reference 10048763) concerns a 1997 FORD F-150 and was filed on November 28, 2003. The vehicle had 95,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Pennsylvania based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:gear box:shaft sector, 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 sector 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 1997 FORD F-150 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
UPON REVERSING OUT OF AN ALLEY AT 5 MILES INTERMEDIATE STEERING SHAFT SEPARATED FROM THE STEERING GEAR. THIS RESULTED IN LOSS OF STEERING. AS A RESULT, CONSUMER LOST CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE AND WENT ONTO THE SIDEWALK.*AK
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 442833 |
| ODI Number | 10048763 |
| Date Filed | November 28, 2003 |
| VIN | 1FTDX186XVN |
Similar STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT SECTOR Complaints for 1997 FORD F-150
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 1997 FORD F-150. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 4 MPH, THE CONTACT LOST CONTROL OF THE STEERING. THE CONTACT INSPECTED THE VEHICLE AND NOTICED THAT THE STEERING SHAFT WAS SEPARATED
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 1997 FORD F-150. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 10 MPH, THE STEERING WHEEL DETACHED FROM THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT WAS ABLE TO STOP THE VEHICLE SAFELY. WHILE
WHILE DRIVING AT 30 MPH VEHICLE STARTED SHIFTING TO THE LEFT. STEERING WHEEL KEPT TURNING INTO CIRCLES. THERE WAS NO WAY TO STEER THE VEHICLE. MECHANIC DETERMINED THAT STEERING SHAFT WAS DEFE
PROBLEMS WITH STEERING ON 1997 FORD F150. *MR THE CONSUMER'S VEHICLE WASN'T INCLUDED IN RECALL # 03V196000. THE PROBLEM WAS INTERMITTENT IN THE CONSUMER'S VEHICLE AND CONTINUED. THE CONSUMER WAS C
THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER FOR RECALL # 03V196000, HOWEVER AFTER THE MECHANIC STARTED TO WORK ON THE VEHICLE, HE INFORMED THE CONSUMER THAT ALL THE PARTS WERE NOT AVAILABLE, AND TO TAKE THE C
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.