HOUSTON – There’s a lot of excuses Houston drivers will make up for their bad driving, but this one guy gets the free pass because it’s his truck causing the bad driving.
Ryan Kattchee just bought his brand new 2024 Ford F-150 Lariat in December. To say he was excited is an understatement.
It didn’t take long for that excitement to turn into startle, fear and then frustration, all in that order and over a few days’ time.
A few days after buying the new pickup truck, he was driving down the road in cruise control when all of a sudden, the truck slammed on the brakes.
READ: Edmunds compares: 2024 Ford F-150 versus 2025 Ram 1500
“Suddenly this whole thing turns red. The whole display right here flashes red,” Kattchee said. “It hits the brakes. And it’s not soft. It’s enough to pull you out of your seat.”
When using the Adaptive Cruise Control, the truck has a mind of its own.
Ryan took KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding and Photojournalist Brett Doester for a ride to see for themselves.
“I’m actually gonna turn this on now since no one’s behind us and see if we can make this happen,” he said as he set the cruise control.
In a matter of 30 seconds, the truck started acting up while driving along U.S. 290 in Jersey Village.
At first, the truck slowed down a little. It did it again.
But then the truck, out of nowhere, slammed on the brakes and displayed a large flashing red warning sign on the dashboard.
It’s one that you would see if you were about to slam into the back of a stopped vehicle in front of you, but in Ryan’s case, there’s no obstacle in the way.
Over the course of a few miles, the truck applied the brakes at least seven times.
READ: My new car has problems. What can I do?
There doesn’t appear to be a rhyme or reason as to why this happens, but it appears the technology behind the cruise control isn’t fond of overpasses and large highway signs that dangle above the travel lanes.
Kattchee dropped his new truck off at Joe Myers Ford, where he bought the truck. It sat there for nearly three months, he said.
The technicians there replacing parts and trying to fix the problem, ultimately never getting answers.
They’ve come to the conclusion that the only option is to buy the truck back. But to do that, they need Ford’s corporate office in Michigan to cooperate.
The dealership service director spoke on the phone with KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding, saying that he’s in touch with the corporate office and the dealership is waiting on the manufacturer to make a decision.
Meanwhile, the Ford corporate office told KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding that they’re looking into Ryan’s case.
“They just need to make it right by me that’s that’s all I really ever wanted,” he said.