2001 FORD F-150 — Complaint #480620
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about TIRES:TEMPORARY/EMERGENCY SPARE TIRE filed June 19, 2004
NHTSA complaint #480620 (ODI reference 10078470) concerns a 2001 FORD F-150 and was filed on June 19, 2004. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 22, 2004. The vehicle had 64,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Texas based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as tires:temporary/emergency spare tire, 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 tires:temporary/emergency spare tire 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 2001 FORD F-150 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
I OWN A FORD F150 2001 SUPERCREW WITH 64,000 MILES ON IT. I BOUGHT THE TRUCK NEW. IN FEB 2004, I HAD TO REPLACE THE RIGHT FRONT TIRE. NOT WANTING TO HAVE A TIRE ON THE LEFT FRONT THAT WAS WORN WHILE A NEW TIRE WAS ON THE RIGHT FRONT, I ASKED THE TIRE AGENCY TO PUT THE SPARE, WHICH HAD NEVER BEEN USED, ON THE LEFT FRONT WHEEL MOUNT AND TO USE THE OLD LEFT FRONT TIRE AS THE SPARE. WHEN THE SPARE WAS BROUGHT OUT FROM THE UNDERCARRIAGE OF THE TRUCK, SEVERAL GROOVES ABOUT THE SIZE OF A MANS FINGER AND ABOUT 3/8 OF AN INCH DEEP HAD BEEN RUBBED INTO THE SIDEWALL OF THE SPARE. THE TIRE AGENCY DID NOT RECOMMEND USING THE SPARE SO I KEPT THE OLD TIRE IN PLACE. I WENT TO THE FORD AGENCY WHERE I HAD BOUGHT THE TRUCK, SEGUIN MOTORS AND TOLD THEM MY STORY. SEGUIN MOTORS TOLD ME THAT THIS DAMAGE WAS COSMETIC AND THAT THE TIRE WAS SAFE TO USE AND THAT FORD WAS NOT LIABLE FOR THIS COSMETIC WEAR. ONE OF THE SEGUIN MOTORS REPAIR PEOPLE TOLD ME HE HAD SEEM THESE GROVES ON THE SPARES OF F150S T
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 480620 |
| ODI Number | 10078470 |
| Date Filed | June 19, 2004 |
| Failure Date | February 22, 2004 |
| VIN | 1FTRW07L81K |
Similar TIRES:TEMPORARY/EMERGENCY SPARE TIRE Complaints for 2001 FORD F-150
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2001 FORD F-150. THE CONTACT STATED THAT AFTER PULLING INTO THE DRIVEWAY AT THE RESIDENCE, THE SPARE TIRE DETACHED FROM THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT BECAME AWARE THAT THE SPARE TIRE
VEHICLE IN QUESTION IS A 2001 FORD F150. AS THE TRUCK WAS TRAVELING AT 20 MPH, THE BRAIDED STEEL CABLE THAT RETAINS THE SPARE TIRE IN THE REAR UNDERSIDE OF THE TRUCK BROKE. THIS CAUSED THE SPARE TIR
DT*: THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 25 MPH THE CABLE THAT SECURES THE SPARE TIRE IN PLACE FRACTURED WITHOUT WARNING. THE INCIDENT OCCURRED ON MARCH 13, 2006. *AK UPDATED 4/6/2006 - *NM
DRIVER HEARD A BANGING NOISE COMING FROM THE REAR. PULLED OVER , AND, NOTICED THAT THE SPARE TIRE AND THE CABLE SHEARED OFF ONTO THE GROUND OF THE HIGHWAY. DRIVER WAS ABLE TO RETRIEVE THE TIRE, AND
WHILE SITTING AT A STOP SIGN THE SPARE TIRE CABLE BENEATH THE VEHICLE SNAPPED. THIS CAUSED THE SPARE TIRE TO FALL TO THE GROUND.*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.