Ford recall query RQ21001
Power Tailgate Release Systems. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this recall query about the door on 21 model years (2017–2021). Opened Jan 15, 2021, closed Jan 10, 2024 after 3.0 years without a recall. closed
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedIn January 2021, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Recall Query (RQ21-001) to assess allegations of post-recall remedy uncommanded tailgate openings in model year (MY) 2017-2019 F-250/350/450 Ford trucks. Besides the recall remedy launched in January 2020, Ford also implemented a production update in November 2019. At the time of the RQ opening, ODI had received eleven (11) Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs). ODI sent an Information Request (IR) to Ford in February 2021. In numerous meetings after receiving their IR response, Ford highlighted the drop in claims since the recall and production update and communicated how they were unable to verify the owners’ complaints or replicate the concern. Despite this, Ford began developing ways to prevent uncommanded tailgate openings from various human, mechanical or electrical causes. Based on testing, Ford issued a Customer Satisfaction program, 21M05-S1/S2/S3, to further address the potential of unintended tailgate openings. This work was applied to vehicles being produced as of December 20, 2021. The program began for already delivered vehicles on July 22, 2022. The covered models include 2017-2022 F-250, 350, 450, 550, 650 and 750 Super Duty and 2020-2022 F-600 Super Duty trucks. ODI has received 39 VOQs between February 24, 2020, and December 15, 2023, alleging uncommanded tailgate openings. In a detailed analysis, none of the vehicles in the VOQs were found to have received the Customer Satisfaction update. Since ODI has not received any complaints of post-Customer Satisfaction program tailgate openings, this office is closing this Recall Query. The closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist. The Agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. To review the ODI reports cited in the Closing Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
A Recall Query is a look at a recall that already exists — whether its remedy works, whether it reached every vehicle it should have, whether the manufacturer met its obligations. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.
The paperwork NHTSA filed
Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov- Opening resume — ODI’s own summary of why it opened this — the subject, what prompted it, and the vehicles in scope.
- Closing resume — ODI’s own summary of why it closed this, and what it concluded.
| Document | Code | Filed | At NHTSA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening resume | INOA | 2021 | |
| Closing resume | INCLA | 2021 | |
| Information request to the manufacturer | INIM | 2021 | |
| Manufacturer's response — data | INRD | 2021 | 23 files 1234567891011121314151617181920212223 |
| Manufacturer's response — full submission | INRL | 2021 | 8 files 12345678 |
| Memo to the investigation file | INME | 2021 | |
| Filed document | INCV | 2021 | |
| Confidential business information notice | INCBC | 2021 | 3 files 123 |
| Correspondence | INOT | 2021 |
40 of 41 documents shown; the rest are under this number at nhtsa.gov.
These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.
What owners had already reported
Source: complaints on file the day it openedWhen NHTSA opened this on Jan 15, 2021, owners had filed 3,766 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 145 named the structure NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal: ODI screens them, and a Preliminary Evaluation is usually where a pattern in them ends up.
This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one is closed. A recall query ends with NHTSA’s finding on the recall it examined — the remedy stands, is widened, or a new campaign follows; the file names the recall it concerned and NHTSA’s closing resume carries the reasoning.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named on model years this site has no page for: 2017 Ford Redundant F-250; 2018 Ford Redundant F-250; 2019 Ford Redundant F-250; 2020 Ford Redundant F-250; 2017 Ford Redundant F-350; 2018 Ford Redundant F-350; 2019 Ford Redundant F-350; 2020 Ford Redundant F-350.
A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs RQ21001 a recall?
No. A recall query is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Is RQ21001 still open?
No. It closed on Jan 10, 2024 without a recall.
Which vehicles does RQ21001 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 21 model years: 2020 Ford F-250 Super Duty, 2019 Ford F-250 Super Duty, 2018 Ford F-250 Super Duty, 2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty, 2020 Ford F-350 Super Duty, 2019 Ford F-350 Super Duty and more. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.