https://problemsbyvin.com/ New recall news, settlements, investigations, and original NHTSA data research from ProblemsByVin. en-us Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://problemsbyvin.com/news/ford-f-150-transmission-downshift-investigation/ https://problemsbyvin.com/news/ford-f-150-transmission-downshift-investigation/ Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT On January 30, 2026, NHTSA escalated its investigation into sudden, uncommanded transmission downshifts on 2015–2017 Ford F-150 trucks from a Preliminary Evaluation to an Engineering Analysis. Owners report the truck dropping a gear with no input — sometimes locking the rear wheels and skidding. 329 complaints are on file. We read the federal filing. https://problemsbyvin.com/research/theta-ii-decade/ https://problemsbyvin.com/research/theta-ii-decade/ Mon, 01 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT A decade of Hyundai and Kia Theta II rod-bearing failure plotted by model year against the recall timeline that chased it. 2013 was the worst year. 2019 brought a software band-aid. 2020 brought a settlement. The cars are still on the road. https://problemsbyvin.com/research/failure-mileage-by-system/ https://problemsbyvin.com/research/failure-mileage-by-system/ Fri, 29 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Owners report each vehicle system failing at very different odometer readings. We pulled 308,855 owner-reported mileages across 7,634 NHTSA problem clusters and aggregated by component category. Tires cluster near 30,000 miles. Engines and suspension at 70,000. The maintenance roadmap on a used car looks nothing like buyers assume. https://problemsbyvin.com/research/not-all-cvts-are-equal/ https://problemsbyvin.com/research/not-all-cvts-are-equal/ Wed, 27 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT They're both called "CVT," but the NHTSA record splits them cleanly. Nissan's belt-and-pulley unit draws about 6.5 times the powertrain complaints per model-year of Toyota's planetary eCVT, with failures clustering around 82,000 miles. The belt is the difference. https://problemsbyvin.com/research/when-things-break-failure-mileage/ https://problemsbyvin.com/research/when-things-break-failure-mileage/ Mon, 25 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT For decades, "at what mileage will it fail?" was a guess. NHTSA's mileage field is now populated in our database, so we plotted ten famous engine and transmission failures by when owners actually filed. Some hit at 14,000 miles. Some hold until 90,000. https://problemsbyvin.com/news/toyota-tundra-v35a-engine-recall-still-no-fix/ https://problemsbyvin.com/news/toyota-tundra-v35a-engine-recall-still-no-fix/ Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Toyota has now recalled the V35A twin-turbo V6 in the Tundra and Lexus LX/GX three times for the same root cause — machining debris that wrecks engine bearings. The November 2025 expansion alone covered 126,691 U.S. vehicles, and the promised remedy has slipped again. We read the NHTSA filings. https://problemsbyvin.com/research/ford-6f35-powershift/ https://problemsbyvin.com/research/ford-6f35-powershift/ Tue, 19 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Everyone knows the Ford PowerShift. Almost nobody talks about the 6F35, which quietly accumulated four times the NHTSA owner complaints at a comparable per-car failure rate. One got a $35M settlement. The other got a software flash. https://problemsbyvin.com/research/where-failures-cluster/ https://problemsbyvin.com/research/where-failures-cluster/ Sun, 10 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT When you actually count up the NHTSA owner complaints filed against the engines and transmissions everybody in the shop world already knows are problems, how big is that pile? We pulled the data and counted.