The Ford Motor Company has issued a recall regarding its popular pickup trucks.
The automaker has recalled over 261,000 Ford F-250, F-350, and F-450 Super Duty pickup trucks due to a faulty tailgate. This recall involves the 2017 through 2019 model years. The vehicles were built at Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant between October 2015 and November 2019. Almost 30,000 of those models were sold in Canada.
"In affected vehicles with an electric tailgate latch-release switch mounted in the tailgate handle, water entering the electrical wiring system may cause a short circuit, resulting in unintended switch activation and release of the tailgate latches," read the recall notice. "This could cause the tailgate to open unintentionally, whether the vehicle is in motion or stationary. This condition may result in the loss of unrestrained cargo, increasing the risk of a crash."
Anyone who owns one of the models in question should receive a recall notice in the mail and can take their truck to any Ford service centre, where mechanics will repair the fault free of charge.
"Dealers will modify the tailgate frame wiring harnesses by adding jumper pigtails to isolate the tailgate release control circuits and install a new tailgate handle release switch," read the notice.
Trucks with a mechanical tailgate release are not affected. No injuries or crashes have been reported.