The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a defect petition covering an estimated 54,787 Ford trucks and vans, after a petitioner alleged that the 7.3-liter Godzilla V8 does not deliver enough oil to its camshaft and lifters when the engine idles. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation received the petition on June 13, 2026, and opened it on October 23.
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A petition is a request, not a verdict. No recall exists, and the agency has neither granted nor denied the request, so everything below describes what the petition claims.
Low-idle oil pressure and the lifter rollers
According to the ODI resume for petition DP26011, the petitioner alleges that oil pressure at low idle sits around 6 psi, too little to keep the lifter rollers and camshaft lobes properly lubricated. The wear, the petition says, progresses until the engine fails catastrophically, with a sudden loss of power at highway speed and little or no warning. The agency’s own summary of the risk is that engine failure may cause loss of motive power, which raises the chance of a crash.
The petition also makes claims about Ford’s conduct. It says Ford already knew the root cause and released a software calibration that raises idle speed to about 1,000 rpm, and that the company never opened a safety recall or notified owners. The NHTSA document lists no Ford contacts and carries no company response, and the Carscoops report on the filing included no Ford statement either, so those assertions about what Ford knew are the petitioner’s, unanswered on the record so far. The resume does not name the petitioner; it points readers to NHTSA’s public file under ODI number 11764421.
Which trucks the 54,787 figure covers
The population is limited to three model lines, all fitted with the 7.3-liter gasoline engine: the 2021 and 2022 Ford E-350, the 2021 Ford F59 and the 2021 Ford F-750. All three are commercial and fleet-oriented platforms, which matters because the damage alleged is a loss of power in vehicles that are often driven for work, with loads aboard and little room to coast to a stop in traffic.
Carscoops, which reported the filing on October 27, noted that the same engine also sits in other Ford products, including the F-250 through F-650 and the F-53 motorhome chassis, none of which are named in the petition. The 54,787 count therefore describes the vehicles the petition names, not every Ford that carries a Godzilla. Carscoops described a petition as one of the first steps before a full investigation and did not report that a full investigation has begun.
The incident record behind the filing is thin. The ODI resume lists a single incident and reports no crashes, fires, injuries or fatalities. One report is a small base for an allegation about sudden power loss, and it is a reason the agency’s first step is a review of the petition itself rather than a field investigation. The ODI resume gives no sign that NHTSA has yet gathered Ford’s engine data or complaint history beyond the filing.
How NHTSA decides a defect petition
The ODI resume names three people on the file: investigator Jason Williams, reviewer Joshua Neff and approver Tanya Topka. It states the purpose in one sentence: “This defect petition has been opened to evaluate the issue and determine whether to grant or deny the petition.” No further step or deadline is listed.
Outcomes in the same numbering series show how this can go. In September, NHTSA published a Federal Register notice denying petition DP26-003, which James A. Palmer submitted on February 5, 2026, asking the agency to investigate fuel leaks and engine stalling in 2006 Nissan Frontier pickups. NHTSA concluded the issues were not likely to result in a finding of a safety defect and declined to open an investigation. That petition took more than seven months from filing to a published decision. The Godzilla petition has cleared one gate, since the agency took 132 days from receipt to opening it, but whether it clears the next is unknown.
Ford’s recall history sits behind the petition
The allegation that Ford knew and did not recall lands on a company with a documented record of recall-process problems. On November 14, 2024, NHTSA announced a consent order carrying a $165 million civil penalty, the second-largest in the agency’s history. That case turned on rearview-camera recalls the company filed late and on recall data the agency judged incomplete, and it is NHTSA’s own benchmark for how it treats a manufacturer that moves slowly on a known defect.
The order runs for a three-year base term and requires Ford to change how it makes recall decisions, including faster decisions and better information sharing between departments. It also called for a review of all recalls issued in the prior three years, with new recalls filed where that review finds a gap, and for a third party to oversee Ford’s compliance with the performance obligations.
The volume has not slowed. AutoGuide counted 51 Ford recall filings covering 11,271,100 vehicles in 2026 as of late June, and reported that Ford attributes its high totals to more aggressive defect detection backed by added safety staff. None of that bears on whether the Godzilla allegation is correct, because the petition will be judged on engine data. The open question in the ODI file is whether one incident and a software idle-speed change are enough for NHTSA to move beyond reviewing the request.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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