NHTSA Complaint #11585332 — 2019 FORD F-53

Wheel Bearing Failure - Ford F-53 Motorhome - Mileage 21,001 Wheel bearings failed while driving on [XXX] in Amarillo TX. I had an intermittent ABS Sensor warning light for some time. The vehicle was checked by a Ford service center prior to incident and no issue/fault could be found or duplicated. NO ABS concern found. I was driving the RV through Amarillo on [XXX] toward our stop for the night. While driving we felt a slight vibration that could have been from the road. A few miles from our stop the vibration got stronger and, at the time, I thought I might have a tire going flat. I pulled the vehicle over and exited to inspect the issue. I noticed tire rubber on the mud flap on the passenger side front tire and around the area and nursed the RV to the Truck Stop where I pulled in. After inspecting the right front tire area, I could see that the tie rod was digging into the tire and that the tire was out of skew. Since the failure occurred on the freeway at speeds between 60-65 mph we were extremely fortunate to avoid an accident. The tie rod had dug into the tire and the rubber was being spalled off so there was very little material left. The fact that the tire didn’t fail completely was purely luck. Additionally, the wheel bearing failure cause considerable additional damage including to the hub and we were lucky a total failure didn’t occur such as the wheel falling off at high speed. From the Truck and Trailer Repair Center’s repair report, it appears that the inner bearing race was spinning with the wheel bearings and that may have caused the early failure. As a precaution, I had them check the driver’s side front wheel and they observed the same issue and they were replaced as well. I would note that it is my understanding that the front wheel bearings are not on the service schedule to be checked and repacked until 60,000 miles. Mileage on the vehicle at the time of the incident was 21,001. Total damage and repair costs exceeded $6000.00 INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATI