2018 Ford Expedition Tires & Wheels Problems

The contact owns a 2018 Ford Expedition. While contact's son was driving at an undisclosed speed, the low tire pressure warning light illuminated. The contact's son drove the vehicle to the intended destination. The contact's son inspected the tires and determined that the front passenger’s side tire was cracked and needed to be replaced. The contact arrived at the location. The contact and son attempted to remove the lug nuts and bolts; however, the OEM provided lug removal tool did not fit the nuts and bolts. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the contact was informed that in hotter states the nuts and bolts occasionally would become swollen, and the provided lug tool would not work as intended. The contact requested that all the nuts and bolts be replaced, to prevent the failure from reoccurring. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The contact was advised to contact the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.

The wheel nuts on my vehicle are defective. The Ford Dealership had to replace all twenty-four of them for "swelling". Evidently, the design of these wheel nuts (Ford part number ACPZ 1012 M) makes it impossible to remove without destroying them because of their defective design. According to Ford Customer Care, these parts are considered wear items and are not covered under warranty. In my opinion, wheel nuts may be considered a safety item, should they fail or if they are not removeable with customary tools during roadside emergencies. I purchased this vehicle new in October 2018 and since then several Ford Dealerships have said they have issues installing and removing with these particular wheel nuts, and most are destroyed in the removal process. They have voiced their concerns to Ford with no remedy thus far. I am told these parts are also on various models of F-150 trucks. While I do not expect NHTSA to issue a recall for this issue, I would hope that a voluntary recall program could be enacted by Ford wherein these wheel nuts are replaced free of charge when service is performed requiring the wheels to be removed.

Lug nuts could not be removed using Ford's lug wrench. All lug nuts seemed to be slightly oversized preventing lug wrench from fitting. Had I been out on the highway needing to replace a tire, it would have required specialized assistance. I had to replace all lug nuts in order for lug wrench to be an option in the future. I do still have the old lug nuts.

While parked on an incline, the truck's wheels disengaged and it rolled down backwards. The emergency brake was set. The vehicle has a known defect but the dealership will not expedite the repair.

The lug nuts swell and thus disable the lug wrench or any standard socket from removal. This has prevented me from changing tire or brakes because I can't remove the wheel.

When trying to change a flat, the factory provided lug wrench would not go onto the factory lug nuts. I was able to get to the tire shop and was advised of an on going issue with the ford lug nuts “swelling “ which in turn would not allow me to remove them to change the tire. After further digging there seems to be many many complaints of this same issue. It was recommended to purchase new ones that were not a two piece design as the OEM Ford ones are. I was told that this could and most likely would continue to happen and could even cause the wheel to come off in worst case scenario. I had to pay 195 dollars for a new set cause I had no other choice being on the road and away from home or a dealership

The aluminum caps on the lug nuts swell making them impossible to remove with the standard lug wrench. Rather than equipping the vehicles with quality single piece lug nuts instead they are cheap lugs nuts with flimsy caps that are prone to early and premature failure. When I got a flat tire I was unable to remove the lug nuts with the standard lug wrench provided. What should have been a straightforward 1/2 hour tire change ended up being an over 4 hour ordeal on the side of the road. The only way to remove the lugs nuts was with a damaged lug extractor tool which I did not have at the time. The only way to get the tire changed was pay for a tow and then have all 24 lug nuts removed and replaced with better quality single piece nuts at a specialty shop at my expense.

Swollen lug nuts.