Redesigned in 2020 for the 2021 model year, the F-Series has been hit with a safety recall. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an estimated 18,527 vehicles produced for the 2022 model year may exhibit a parking lamp flickering that doesn't meet the steady burning requirement of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108.
In other words, it's no biggie. But in the eyes of the NHTSA, flickering increases the risk of a crash. The question is, what causes the flickering? As per the report attached below, insufficient capacitance at the 200-Hz voltage on the capacitor when operating between 2.95 and 3.14 volts and when the parking lamp has a string voltage greater than 12.5 volts.
The remedy is pretty simple: a software update for the LDM that increases the frequency to 400 hertz in order to reduce the required capacitance by 50 percent. LDM stands for Light emitting diode Driver Module in the Ford Motor Company's vernacular.
It should be noted that all of the recalled vehicles, namely trucks manufactured between March 2022 and July 2022, were previously recalled over this very same problem. Compliance recall 22C22 from September 2022 further included the Bronco Sport, as in the unibody sibling of the body-on-frame Bronco. As a brief refresher, the Bronco is twinned with the Ranger, whereas the Bronco Sport is based on the C2 platform of the Escape and Maverick.
The original remedy became available in February 2023. In the F-150's case, the software update was installed via the Headlamp Control Module for vehicles equipped with the high-series headlamps. Come June 2023, the Ford Motor Company determined that certain software updates may have failed to install on certain vehicles with the fancy headlamps.
Photo: Ford
Upon further review, the automaker identified certain dealers that completed one of the two prescribed flashes, with said techs turning off the Ford Diagnosis and Repair System tool before the LED Driver Module reflash was fully completed. Other dealer techs were found to have performed a software update through the Body Control Module instead of the Headlamp Control Module.
The parking lamp flickering may occur in certain scenarios, beginning with position lamp on mode and headlamp on mode. The third and final scenario is automatic headlamp mode with night mode turned on as well. Known owners will be informed of this blunder on January 14, 2024 via first-class mail.
Owners who wish to take matters into their own hands can run the vehicle identification number on the NHTSA's website to determine whether their F-150s are recalled or not. Alternatively, owners can do the very same thing on the automaker's website.
Refreshed for the 2024 model year, the F-150 remains the bread and butter of the Ford Motor Company in the US market. The F-Series moved 679,948 units between January 2023 and November 2023, up 17.5 percent over the same period from 2022. At press time, the most affordable F-Series of the bunch is the 2023 model year Ford F-150 in XL Regular Cab 4x2 3.3L PFDI V6 guise at $33,835.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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