Investigation Into Steering Box Failure
According to information released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), their Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received five (5) complaints about steering issues in 2008 F-250 and F-350 Super Duty pickup trucks where an internal failure of the steering box resulted in loss of vehicle control. In two of the failures crashes were reported.
A Preliminary Evaluation has been opened to gather information to assess whether the subject vehicles contain a safety related defect. The ODI complaints cited above can be viewed at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints under the following identification numbers: 10497982, 10462146, 10389703, 10331743, and 10284402.
NHTSA calls the investigation by the ODI a “preliminary action,” which may be upgraded to a recall if engineering analysis by the agency finds probable design or manufacturing flaws in the steering box. Up to 340,000 vehicles could be affected.
