Ford Exterior Lighting: Headlights

Ford is recalling about 166,196 vehicles over a problem with the exterior lighting. DRL that cannot dim may reduce the visibility of other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash.

Campaign
20V097000
Manufacturer
Ford Motor Company
Reported
21 February 2020
Vehicles
166,196
Built between
Jan 2017 – Oct 2019
Models
1
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
Manufacturer
Owners notified
10 March 2020
Repaired
66%
Unrepaired
55,711

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between January 2017 and October 2019. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2018-2020 Ford F-150Built January 2017 to October 2019

Repair progress

55,711 of 166,196 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q2 2021.

66% repaired — 109,567 of 166,196 reported

Owners not reachable
912
Scrapped or exported
6

Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.

What the defect is

Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2018-2020 F-150 trucks equipped with high series LED headlamps with Autolamp (On/Off) functionality. The Daytime Running Lamps (DRL) may remain activated instead of dimming to parking lamps when the Master Lighting Switch (MLS) is manually rotated from the "Autolamps" switch position to "Headlamps On." As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices and Associated Equipment."

What could happen

DRL that cannot dim may reduce the visibility of other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash.

What gets fixed

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will reprogram the body control module, free of charge. The recall began March 10, 2020.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtJanuary 2017 to October 2019
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA21 February 2020
  3. Owners notified10 March 2020
  4. Latest repair reportQ2 2021 — 66% repaired

Your rights

A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.

That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 21 February 2020.

To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.

Manufacturer contact

Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 20C03.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
20C03
Recalling manufacturer
Ford Motor Company
Safety standard
FMVSS 108
Recall initiated by
MFR

Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Additional notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Check your own vehicle

This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.

A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.

Same component

Same brand