Some Ford F-150 Lightnings could have a serious safety issue lurking in their front suspension.
Ford recently issued a new safety recall for 29,501 of its electric F-150 Lightning trucks between the 2024 and 2025 model years. According to what the automaker told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an upper control arm ball joint nut may not be properly torqued, which could allow the upper control arm to separate from the knuckle assembly, triggering a front wheel failure and increasing the risk of a serious accident.
This latest recall, listed by NHTSA recall number 25V-341 or Ford recall number 24S76, expands an earlier recall from December 2024 (24V-949) — raising the number of affected trucks from 11,922 in that earlier campaign.
Of the 29,501 units now included in the larger recall, most are 2024 models: 20,528 to be exact. The remaining 8,973 impacted F-150 Lightnings are 2025 models. According to Ford’s data, affected trucks were manufactured between February 15, 2024 and April 14, 2025.
“Certain vehicles may have an improperly torqued nut on the ball joint which secures the front upper control arm to the knuckle assembly,” Ford told safety regulators. If the defect actually causes the upper control arm and steering knuckle to separate, the driver may “experience a partial loss of directional control” (as you would likely expect), as one owner reported happened to them on March 6, 2025. That owner’s truck had just 634 miles on the odometer when the right front wheel failed, according to the report filed with the NHTSA.
Ford’s Critical Concern Review Group (CCRG) analyzed the issue over several weeks, eventually deciding to open a recall on May 16. When the automaker first kicked off the earlier campaign, the Rouge assembly plant in Dearborn, Michigan, where the F-150 Lightning is built did not have a secondary validation process in place to check the torque on upper control arm nuts. It did introduce that validation by the time the truck mentioned in this new recall was produced, but the CCRG determined that the manual secondary torque check still didn’t catch each instance of low torque.
As of May 16, Ford says it’s only aware of that one field report related to the issue, in which there was also a property damage claim connected to the upper control arm separation and subsequent loss of steering control. However, the automaker did not note any injuries related to the condition.
What’s the fix?
Ford says it will notify the expanded list of owners to the problem between June 9 and June 13. Dealers, for their part, should already be aware of the defect as of May 27, 2025 (though they also should be aware of the problem from the previous December 2024 campaign).
Impacted owners will need to take their F-150 Lightning to a Ford or Lincoln dealer, where technicians will inspect the torque on both front upper control arm ball joint nuts. If the torque inspection passes, dealers will still replace the nut (part number W717969-S440) free of charge. If the inspection fails, they will replace both the steering knuckle (part number NL38-3084/3091-DC) and the nut connecting the upper front control arm to the knuckle. Though most trucks in the campaign should still be under warranty, Ford will reimburse owners who paid to repair the issue out-of-pocket.
