When Ford issued recall 23S65 back in 2023, roughly 113,000 F-150 owners were told their trucks had a potentially dangerous axle problem. What nobody told them was how long they might be waiting for the fix.
A mechanic on TikTok recently pulled back the curtain on what this recall actually looks like from inside the service bay, and the comments section that followed turned into a full-on therapy session for frustrated dealership technicians across the country. The video racked up more than 74,000 views, which tells you something about how widely this issue has been felt.
The creator behind the clip, Hailey the Mechanic (@haileythemechanic), filmed herself completing the recall repair and noted in the video overlay that it was the first time she had ever seen parts available for it. Three years after the recall was officially issued. Let that sink in for a second.
This situation is a window into something that does not get talked about nearly enough: recalls are only as useful as the parts supply chain backing them up. When that supply chain breaks down, real trucks sit unrepaired, real safety risks linger, and real people, both owners and technicians, end up absorbing the frustration.
What Is Ford Recall 23S65 and Why Does It Matter?
@haileythemechanic how much do you think it pays?🤔 #mechanic #bluecollar #ford #cars #femalemechanic ♬ original sound – Hailey the Mechanic
Recall 23S65 covers certain 2021 through 2024 Ford F-150 trucks that were built with the Trailer Tow Max Duty Package. The specific concern is a rear-axle hub bolt that can fracture over time. If that bolt fails, the truck can lose drive power and, in some cases, may not hold in park properly.
That last part is the reason this is classified as a safety recall and not just a warranty issue. A vehicle that cannot reliably stay in park is a vehicle that can roll. Combine that with potential loss of power to the wheels, and you have a situation that could create serious problems on the road or in a parking lot.
The axle itself is one of those components most drivers never think about until something goes wrong. It is the part of the drivetrain responsible for transferring power from the engine to the wheels. Without it doing its job correctly, the truck does not move the way it should, and depending on how far the damage has progressed, it may not move at all.
Ford estimates about 113,000 vehicles in the United States are affected.
Mechanics Are Fed Up, and the Comments Prove It
In the TikTok clip, Hailey noted that while the axle she removed was not broken yet, it was only a matter of time before it would have been. That is the thing about this kind of recall. You may not feel a problem while driving, but the damage is quietly happening underneath your truck.
The comments on her video were flooded with service technicians and dealership advisors sharing similar stories.
One commenter described repeatedly flagging the recall whenever an eligible F-150 came in for any kind of service, only for the parts to never show up. Another technician admitted they had been on the receiving end of customer anger over something completely outside their control. A third noted that at one point, there were more than 100,000 units on back order, with around 25,000 of those classified as VOR, meaning the vehicle was considered off-road, or undrivable, while waiting.
That is not a minor supply hiccup. That is a structural failure in how parts get deployed after a recall is issued.
Who Pays for the Repair, and What Do Technicians Actually Make?
For F-150 owners, the answer to who pays is simple: Ford does. Recall repairs are covered at no cost to the vehicle owner, including both parts and labor. If you have an eligible truck, you should not pay a dime at the dealership.
For the mechanics doing the work, the situation is more complicated. Most dealership technicians work on a flat-rate system, which means their pay is tied to a predetermined number of hours per job rather than the actual time they spend on it. The rate Ford pays for this particular recall is 1.1 labor hours.
If a technician earns $30 per flat-rate hour, that comes out to $33 for the repair. If the job takes longer than the allotted time, the technician absorbs the difference. Some commenters mentioned that location can affect things, with one New York-based mechanic noting they could claim state labor at a 2.4-hour rate for the same job, making it more worthwhile.
It is a reminder that the experience of a recall is very different depending on which side of the shop you are standing on.
What This Recall Teaches Us About Vehicle Safety and Patience
There is a broader lesson buried in all of this. The recall system exists for good reason, and when it works, it is genuinely one of the better consumer protection mechanisms in the automotive world. Manufacturers identify a defect, issue a recall, and fix it free of charge. On paper, it is hard to argue with.
But the system has a weak link, and that link is parts. A recall without available parts is essentially just a piece of paper. Owners are told their vehicle has a known issue, asked to schedule an appointment, and then turned away because the components needed to fix it have not arrived yet. That process can repeat for months or, as this recall illustrates, years.
If you own a 2021 through 2024 F-150 equipped with the Trailer Tow Max Duty Package, the most practical thing you can do is check your Vehicle Identification Number against Ford’s recall database and contact your local dealership to ask about parts availability. Given that mechanics are finally starting to see inventory come through, now may actually be a reasonable time to book an appointment. The repair is free, and based on what Hailey pulled out of that truck, the rust on those axles is not going to wait forever.