U.S. investigates 54,400 Ford trucks over tailgate complaints

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated Thursday it had started a preliminary investigation into 54,400 Ford Motor pickup trucks after getting five complaints that tailgates had unexpectedly opened when the vehicles were in motion.

The agency stated the investigation was investigating the issue in 2017 model year F-250 and F-350 Super Duty pickup trucks.

NHTSA will investigate to discover if the issue poses an unreasonable risk to safety and if the agency should seek a recall.

In October 2017, Ford issued a technical service bulletin addressing the concern, and discovered water intrusion in the wire harness as the root cause of tailgate problems, NHTSA stated.

A Ford spokeswoman stated the company was cooperating with NHTSA in the probe.