NHTSA Complaint #11461578 — 2022 FORD RANGER

The lighting on the shift lever that shows what mode the transmission is being selected is missing. Apparently Ford stopped installing the lighting that lights the "Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive" in the shifter beginning in 2021. This is a serious safety issue because at night, the driver cannot look down at determine what mode is being selected. The dealer stated to me the selected mode is in the driver console at night. I'm a 5'9" male and any time the wheel is turned or my hand in on the wheel, I cannot see the mode selected. I quickly realized this the first time I drove the vehicle at night, none of the lighting on the shifter was on. I thought it was broken! Basically Ford has skimped a few dollars and NOT installed internal night lighting on the lettering. A simple correction for this is require ford to install the lighting in the unit as a retrofit kit (basically put back what they stopped installing). This would not incur a great expense or time, however, this could PREVENT the driver from selecting the wrong mode causing abrupt forward or backward movement injuring another person or vehicle when moving the vehicle out of park, in particular, backing in or out of parking spots for example that require you to turn the vehicle (AKA WHEEL NOT CENTERED). If not requiring a recall, FORD should make this retrofit available to owners because as of right now, I was told there is none. I included a short video showing the impeded view of the shift mode selected on the driver panel when the steering wheel is being moved and not at wheel centered. At night, this would be the only lighted shifting reference. I also included a day photo of the same view, a view of an earlier 2020 ranger (that had the shifter lighting standard) and my 2022 ranger shifter at night with no lighting. The current standard equipment lighting presents a safety hazard and is directly related to the movement of the vehicle so the likelihood of injury or occurrence are both HIGH.