10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 10 / 1
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 8 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 76,068 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
While driving approx. 60mph with a school bus behind me; my automatic transmission erratically downshifted to 1st gear and my tires began to squeal and reducing speed dramatically in traffic. Ford F150 has a safety recall (16S19) that describes the issue but my vehicle is not included although it falls in the build dates and factory.
- Marshall, TX, USA
The contact owns a 2012 Ford F-150. While the vehicle was stationary and while driving various high speeds, the transmission failed to operate. On one occasion, while driving 75 mph, the vehicle downshifted and the rear wheels seized. The contact placed the vehicle in neutral and turned off the vehicle in an attempt to correct the failure. The contact coasted the vehicle to the side of the road to move out of traffic safely. The contact stated that the failure occured while exiting the interstate. The contact placed the vehicle in park, restarted the vehicle, and exited the interstate. Upon leaving the shopping center, the contact placed the vehicle in the drive position, and the transmission failure recurred. The contact stated that the power train shifted upwards to fifth gear immediately after shifting to the drive position even though the accelerator pedal was not depressed. The vehicle was towed to a nearby garage. Glockner South point Ford (155 co road 406, South point, Ohio 45680, (740) 894-3673) and river city Ford (4676 wv-152, lavalettle, West Virginia 25535, (800) 240-1943) were made aware of the failures. River city Ford scheduled an appointment for service and stated that the vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 16V248000 (power train). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that the vehicle was not included in the recall. The contact was referred to Ford's recall website. The failure mileage was approximately 99,000.
- Proctorville,, OH, USA
Driving down the road when the truck lurches forward, rear tires make a squealing sound from skidding. It was hard to keep truck in center lane of interstate and immediately had to make my way to the emergency lane. Once I turned the truck off and sat for a few minutes it acted like nothing ever happened. I have read the reports of the intercooler being messed up and several years ago I had to replace that part due to oil and water entering it but Ford says it wasn't under warranty due to a part not being covered. I have had coils replaced, spark plugs replaced, and now I'm having to go thru the whole process again. Its dangerous and frustrating. I've had it happen a couple more times but not to that extent. The gauges will peg all the way to the right then go to zero and airbag light will come on. Truck resets to normal when turned off and back on again. I have had this problem happen most of the summer. But this incident happened a few weeks ago. Repair shop can't replicate it and the computer diagnostic test doesn't find it either.
- Englewood, TN, USA
Recall on 2011-2012 F150 lead fram harness failure my truck falls into the required date but Ford says my VIN # isn't in there data base under the recall
- Paso Robles, CA, USA
The Ford F150 ecoboost would have the tachometer and other instruments go dead, and the dash would display a "wrench" symbol. A times the truck would downshift on its own to first gear. The truck downshifted from 6th to 1st gear when I was traveling over 60 mph, endangering my safety and that of other drivers.
- Canton, CT, USA
While traveling at a speed at which the automatic transmission was in 6th gear, the speedometer instantly goes from traveling speed to zero. This occurred several times in quick succession, each occurrence was accompanied by a downshift to first gear. Each initial occurance had a duration of negligible time, seeming to span a fraction of a second. The physical response was a sharp jerk or lurch that planted me into my seat restraint. About half a minute later, it occurred a second time but the duration was several seconds. The rear wheels slowed to the point where the real wheels lost traction and the vehicle left the traveling lane. This occurred in traffic and the only reason there was not an accident was because of the awareness and fast response of those around me. The vehicle was traveling on a city street at 45 miles per hour in a straight direction.
- Margate, FL, USA
While driving about 50-55 mph in 6th gear the truck suddenly downshifts to 2nd and then 1st gear. The rear tires locked up and the RPM's red lined. I skidded for a little bit and then it shift back into a higher gear and resumed normal operation.
- Hoover, AL, USA
The contact owns a 2012 Ford F-150. While driving 35 mph, the vehicle experienced independent deceleration and jerked. In addition, the limp home warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to J.C. lewis Ford (9505 abercorn St, savannah, ga), but was not diagnosed. The contact was advised to schedule a diagnostic appointment. The vehicle was also taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the speed sensor was faulty and the lead frame needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failures and did not assist because the VIN was not included in a recall. The failure mileage was approximately 80,200.
- Savannah, GA, USA
As we drove 55 mph on straight dry highway our vehicle suddenly downshifted into first gear causing rear tires to lock up. We were fortunate that we didn't have traffic behind us. We immediately pulled off on the side of the road, put into park fo collect ourselves and then proceeded straight to the local dealership service department to drop vehicle off. With research on this defect we found Ford had a recall out for this same issue (recall 16S19 which we never received) we were advised our VIN did not fall under the recall therefore we had to pay for the repairs. We were not given a reason why even though our F150 is a 2012 and was manufactured in dearborn mi July 2012. (we were finally able to get $100 refund from local dealership, however it was after a lot of phone calls. Not sure if it came directly from them or manufacturer and still does not cover out of pocket cost or months of time spent). After we picked up our "repaired"/paid for vehicle a few weeks later we experienced the same defect. We were taking trash to the local dump a mile down the highway going 30 mph and vehicle suddenly downshifted into first gear, mileage meter on dashboard blanked out and wrench appeared on screen. On the way into the service department driving 55 mph on dry pavement vehicle once again downshifted into first gear, mileage meter on dashboard blanked out and wrench appeared on screen. Local service department could not diagnose on their own, we had to wait over 9 days for Ford manufacturer to get back with them on how to fix it and send parts. They replaced main control/valve body in transmission, reprogrammed tcm (transmission control module) and cleared shift tables. Again they did not cover any costs and we had to pay hefty bill out of pocket when this is a manufacturer defect. The vehicle is a 2012 F150 4X4 super crew lariat eco boost with only 41,000 miles on it.
- Kenai, AK, USA
When in motion the truck randomly shifts down to first gear and locks up tires
- Dothan, AL, USA
Recall 16S19 does not cover my specific truck, but I have twice reported to dealership that truck is downshifting hard on its own, for no apparent reason. It is physically felt and a jerking of the vehicle occurs. Occurs are random times while traveling at low speeds. This has not occurred at high speed. Dealer service manager told me to "unhook battery cable and it would reset computer."
- Corbin, KY, USA
Around the beginning of July this year as I was driving around my speedometer and digital gauges on my 2012 Ford F-150 quit working and the truck began shifting very hard. I was able to pull over and restart the engine, and upon doing so it began normal operation. Over the course of the next couple weeks it did this same thing approximately four (4) more times. The last time was the most serious as I was driving down the highway about 65mph when my truck suddenly dropped into first gear and almost forced me off the road along with my two (2) year old daughter who was riding with me. I was able to maintain control and guide the truck off the roadway. However, this time upon restart the truck, while parked, was continuously revving at about 6,000rpm's. upon a second restart it went back to normal operation. I called my local Ford dealership, cavalier Ford chesapeake square, and spoke with lindsay givens who told me it would be a "hot minute" before someone could look at my truck. I dropped it off after hours that night (07/20/18) with a written description of the problems. I was later contacted on 07/24/18, by phil causey, saying they were going to take a look at my truck the following day. I never heard anymore and upon calling the dealership on 07/27/18, and speaking to tanya howard, I was advised my truck still hadn't been looked at and phil was off until the following week. On 07/31/18 I received a call from phil and he stated that while they were driving my truck around it got stuck in first gear on them as well, and they located the problem in the leadframe of my transmission. The diagnostics shows my truck read codes P0722 and P072. This recall https://media.Ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2016/04/27/Ford-motor-company-issues-three-safety-recalls-and-two-safety-co.html covers this exact problem on my vehicle, however Ford will not honor it.
- Chesapeake, VA, USA
I was driving on the highway when my transmission slammed into first gear with both check engine and wrench light started flashing almost causing an accident. After this, the truck would not shift above 3rd gear. The truck was brought into imlay city Ford dealership in Michigan where they assessed the issue to be the lead frame which upon further research should be covered under customer satisfaction bulletin 16N02. Ford customer service informed me that my bin was not effected by this recall and forced me to pay 200 dollars to assist in the repair of their known issue. I have received whiplash from the sudden stop of my vehicle. My worry is there are other vehicles out there not notified by this recall that is a major safety issue. Ford needs to expand their recall to cover all affected vehicles and honor the full cost of repairs.
- Almont, MI, USA
Transmission frame rail trouble codes indicate a frame rail problem that had a recall but this VIN is not included in the recall. Transmission slips intermittently and also has gone into limp mode on occasion.
- Hillsboro, TN, USA
Transmission shifts erratically. From a stop the truck will sometimes shift from 1st to 5th and then back to 1st and get stuck in 1st. Sometimes while in 5th or 6th gear the truck will just shift into 1st, causing the RPM's to spike and I have to pull over and turn off and restart the truck. This morning it did the shift from 1st to 5th and then back to 1st.
- Hoover, AL, USA
On multiple occasions the truck will randomly shift gears causing the truck to jerk and slow down. My truck will shift sporadically between 1st, 3rd, and 5th and then get stuck in 1st gear and requires me to reset the key to get it to shift properly.
- Hoover, AL, USA
Takata recall my truck keeps downshifting and locking up my back wheels on the highway. I just almost had a wreck and this is getting ridiculous.
- Douglasville, GA, USA
A bushing responsible for holding the shifter cable in the transmission detached. The transmission ends up in a different gear than what the driver sees on the shift console. For example, you might put the car in park, and the dashboard would show park, but the car would still be in gear. 2012 Ford F150 --> same exact issue repaired on 4/24/2017. There is a recall from Ford today and it does not include the F150. Yet experienced same exact issue and repair on 2012 F150 over 1 year ago. F150 at the time only 57,500 miles and 4.5years old.
- Madison, CT, USA
While driving at approx. 40 mph on city street the truck downshifted to 1st gear. Had to stop, turn truck completely off and restart to get it to work properly.
- Suffolk, VA, USA
- Paso Robles, CA, USA