Ford F-550 Recalls

The Ford F-550 has 23 recalls spanning 1999 through 2020, with the most serious being a 2020 model year defect where insufficient rear axle differential fluid can cause the axle assembly to fail and the driveshaft to separate, resulting in sudden loss of drive power.

The 2019-2020 model years also have a front seat recliner mechanism that can be improperly assembled, leaving the seat back unable to hold an occupant in a crash. On 2017-2019 models equipped with an engine block heater, water can corrode the heater cable's splice connector and cause the wiring to overheat or melt when the heater is plugged in, raising the risk of fire. The 2017 model year has a door latch concern specific to vehicles that had chrome exterior door handle cover kits installed over original black or body-colored handles; the latch can fail in a side impact and allow the door to open.

Several recalls from 2017-2019 affect specialty-built vehicles on the F-550 chassis. Brake lights on ambulances and fire trucks built by multiple upfitters during 2017-2019 and equipped with Whelen brake light systems can illuminate without the brake pedal being pressed, which can confuse following drivers. Back-up camera monitors on 2017-2019 upfitted vehicles can revert to factory default settings and display a mirror-reversed image, causing the driver to steer the wrong direction when reversing.

Going back to 2014-2015, certain emergency vehicles built on the F-550 chassis can falsely detect an exhaust temperature fault, causing the engine management system to shut the engine down and prevent an immediate restart. On 2011-2013 models, power take-off (PTO) pressure switches on vehicles equipped with PTO assemblies can leak oil onto the thermal blanket covering the exhaust, where the heat can ignite the soaked material and start a fire. A separate 2011-2012 concern affects F-550 transit buses converted to run on compressed natural gas, where the brackets holding the passenger-side CNG fuel tank can break and allow the tank to separate from the frame. The 2011 model year also has a diesel-specific issue where an exhaust gas temperature sensor fault can trigger a warning and progressively cut engine power until the vehicle stalls below 5 km/h. A 2005 model year concern involves an electrical transfer switch used on certain upfitted vehicles where bus bar lugs can loosen under heavy use and overheat under high electrical loads, raising the risk of fire. The 1999 model year has a suspension-related issue where automated valve stems may have been over-inserted during installation, tearing the rubber base and allowing tires to lose air pressure.