2003 FORD F-150 — Complaint #844433
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT PITMAN filed February 28, 2011
NHTSA complaint #844433 (ODI reference 10384708) concerns a 2003 FORD F-150 and was filed on February 28, 2011. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 28, 2010. The vehicle had 85,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Louisiana 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
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 THE STEERING WHEEL BECAME VERY STIFF AND DIFFICULT TO TURN. WITHIN A FEW SECONDS, THE FAILURE CEASED AND THE CONTACT WAS ABLE TO DRIVE NORMALLY. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO THE DEALER FOR DIAGNOSTIC TESTING. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED AND THE CONTACT WAS TOLD THAT THE VEHICLE WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE RECALL ASSOCIATED WITH NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID NUMBER 03V349000 (STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT PITMAN). THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE AND CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 85,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 844433 |
| ODI Number | 10384708 |
| Date Filed | February 28, 2011 |
| Failure Date | November 28, 2010 |
| VIN | 1FTRF17203N |
Similar STEERING:GEAR BOX:SHAFT PITMAN Complaints for 2003 FORD F-150
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
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. RES
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.