2001 FORD F-150 — Complaint #680345
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about TIRES:TEMPORARY/EMERGENCY SPARE TIRE filed July 28, 2008
NHTSA complaint #680345 (ODI reference 10235989) concerns a 2001 FORD F-150 and was filed on July 28, 2008. The owner reports the failure occurred on July 28, 2008. The vehicle had 158,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Massachusetts 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
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 TIRE TO BOUNCE DOWN THE STREET AND STRIKE A FOLLOWING VEHICLE. INVESTIGATION ON WEB FORUMS HAS INFORMATION THAT THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THESE TRUCKS THAT ARE EXPOSED TO WINTER SALT, THE SALT HAS CAUSED CABLES TO CORRODE IN NUMEROUS TRUCKS. IF THIS HAPPENED ON THE HIGHWAY, IT EASILY COULD HAVE CAUSED SERIOUS INJURIES OR DEATHS. *TR
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 680345 |
| ODI Number | 10235989 |
| Date Filed | July 28, 2008 |
| Failure Date | July 28, 2008 |
| VIN | 1FTRX18L41N |
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
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
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
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.