Ford recalls 42K trucks over defect in axle shaft

Ford (NYSE:) has issued a recall for nearly 42,000 2023 Super Duty F250 and F350 trucks after a mechanical issue was found affecting the vehicle’s rear axle shaft.

According to documents from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the left rear axle shaft on affected models “may have been improperly heat-treated” during manufacturing and may break.

A fractured axle shaft has the potential to lead to a “loss of drive power or vehicle rollaway” upon engaging the park position in the truck. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that both of these situations have the potential to elevate the likelihood of a collision.

According to Ford’s defect notice to NHTSA, the failures were brought to Ford’s attention on Aug. 10th after the Kentucky Truck Plant identified the problem through monitoring of warranty claims.

“Two axle shafts returned through warranty were sent to Ford’s metallurgical lab for failure analysis,” the report said. “Laboratory analysis determined that the axle shafts did not meet Ford’s torsional yield and case depth design specifications in the fractured area. Each of the warranty returned parts had fractured at approximately 44 mm from the flange, indicating an area of incomplete induction heat treatment.”

Ford is required to send truck owners a notification letter, which is expected to be mailed on Oct. 16th.

Shares of F are up 1.04% in mid-day trading on Thursday.