10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 2
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 1 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 21,636 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 on a city street, the engine suddenly stopped. A message on the instrument cluster display said something to the effect of "Auto StartStop. Put vehicle in 'P' and start the engine". Vehicle has less that 4000 miles on it. THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS EVENT, and if it should occur in heavy traffic, could result in serious injury or death. Have not yet been to the dealer. Making this complaint immediately since a quick check shows other owners reporting this event with their vehicles on this official site as well as on many unofficial forums, indicating that this is a common occurrence with the product and not this specific vehicle.
- Titusville, FL, USA
I was turned up a driveway and the truck stalled the warning light said auto start stop put in P and start engine. I turned off auto start stop and put in P and it started
- Trenton, MI, USA
For the 3rd time while I was driving my 2020 F150 stx with only 4,218 miles the engine shut off completely and displayed 'auto startstop shift to P, then restart engine' on the dash display. The last time this happened was on 4/22/21 I was driving through a street going about 20 mph. Fortunately, there were no vehicle in front of me or behind me and I was not trying to turn at an intersection which could have resulted in a collision. The same thing had happened on 3/18/21 while driving on a street going about 15 mph. And the first time this happened was on 2/20/21 I was pulling in to my driveway so stopping and doing so was not a safety problem. I am really concerned about this problem I felt very unsafe in my truck if this problem doesn't get resolved people can get in to an accident and get seriously injured or killed. I did some research online and also checked my VIN for any recalls and I was surprised to not find any. From researching online forums the auto start/stop function appears to be faulty and needs to be fixed/recalled before someone is seriously injured or killed. This issue appears to be widespread and across multiple model years. On 4/24/21 I took my truck to the dealership where I purchased it the tech called me and told me that they ran several tests and the truck did not give any problem codes. For safety dealership said they did not want me to drive truck so they would keep it and would contact Ford to report issue and wait for their recommendation. I'm still waiting for update. I hope Ford takes this issue seriously and does a recall.
- Montclair, CA, USA
While I was driving through a parking lot, and turning slightly left, the engine shut off completely and displayed "auto startstop shift to P, then restart engine" on the dash display. Fortunately, I was not trying to turn and cross traffic on a highway which could have resulted in a catastrophic T-bone collision. The auto start/stop function appears to be faulty and needs to be fixed/recalled before someone is seriously injured or killed. From researching online forums, the issue appears to be widespread and across multiple model years.
- Gainesville, FL, USA
Vehicle was slowing at an intersection with foot on brake. Lifted foot off and moved to accelerator to turn right onto the main road. Engine shut off and there was no response on acceleration. Dashboard chimed and gave the warning "auto startstop shift to P, then restart engine." Managed to pull the vehicle off to the side of the road. Shifted to park, restarted engine.
- Elkton, MD, USA
Just bought the truck. I took it to the store, then around town. While making a left turn down a side street, I pushed the button for the heat, to turn it off. I heard a weird buzzing noise. My breaks stopped working fully. No breaks at all. No power break, since it's electrical or something. No way to stop the truck. When I tried to push the gas to move. There was no power to the transmission at all. When I finally stopped. I tried to figure out the issues. Switching several options and modes to try to find the solution. Called a mechanic. No codes were given on the system. Had to wait 2 hours for a tow truck. I'm a disabled vet, had to walk back to my house to grab my other car, since I didn't know if this truck was just going to decide to take off with me in it. The whole system is electrical and buggy. Sure enough. Before the tow truck got there, I was with another person who had a similar Ford F150. He went through some options. Without touching the accelerator, the truck started to rev up. We quickly went to the engine to disconnect the battery. If that transmission would have activated it would have smashed into several people, cars and houses. Then that's when I looked up the recall for the 2020 F150 and found all the information I wish I would have seen before the purchase. 365 miles on the truck. Had it less than 14 hours. Drove it for about 20 mins. Noticed premature rust underneath, but didn't think too much of it. A lot of parts were rusting and had no protection.
- Bushnell, IL, USA
For the second time today, my 2020 F150 has turned itself off, while I was driving, with a message to "shift to park and restart engine". I happened to be pulling into my driveway, so stopping and doing so was not a safety problem. The first time, I was in a parking lot and was able to coast to a stop and do this, but if this happens on a road, or worse, when entering an intersection when crossing without stopping is necessary, someone is going to get killed.. I have not bothered to report this to Ford, because I am active on an F150 forum and have found that this same thing has happened to many other people, and Ford has no idea how to fix it. I noticed several people said it happened when the weather was chilly - one person said it was 42 degrees. In my case, the weather today is 40, and it was similar weather last time it happened. I have no idea if this is related, but it's an interesting coincidence otherwise. My car was moderately warmed up, I had only driven about 8 miles. Picture of the dash from today's incident attached. In both cases, the truck was otherwise driving fine, giving no indication of problems, and also started right back up and showed no other problem. It has probably been about 3 months since the first time. The second time was today - 3.16.2021
- Mount Airy, MD, USA
My 2020 Ford F-150 5.0L V8 has an excessive oil consumption problem. The day I took it to get it's very first oil change (January 2021), before I drove it to the dealership to get changed, I checked the oil level and it was low. It only had 5K miles on it. They changed the oil and topped it off. When I checked it yesterday (February 19th, 2021), it was reading half full on the dipstick, with 6,600 miles on the vehicle.
- Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Eight days after new purchase, with 416 miles on the odometer the engine failed from a currently undiagnosed defect. Large amounts of white smoke from the exhaust covered the highway, potentially affecting visibility of other drivers. The vehicle lost all power, after pulling off from highway the engine would not start. Ford dealership service department verified the engine locked up after the failure.
- Pittsburg, KS, USA
Vehicle in motion pulled up to a stop light (with start/stop disabled via the button) the light turned green before coming to a complete stop but the truck shut off. Then I was greeted with a window that displayed "auto start unavailable shift to P to restart". I put the truck in park, restarted it, and it drove fine after that.
- Stallings, NC, USA
My new 2020 F150 with 5.0 V8 truck over consumes oil, adding a quart of oil every 1000 miles. Brought to dealer every week after about 500 miles and they add at least a half query or more every time. I bought in October 2020 and in the first month I went through 4 qts of oil.
- Anoka, MN, USA
While I was driving on Friday, my 2020 F-150 stalled. An error message popped up on the instrument cluster saying "auto startstop shift to P then restart". I restarted and it happened again. I then waited 10 minutes and restarted and it has not happened since. I took it to bob thomas service in hamden, ct today and they are saying they cannot find anything wrong. If I was on the highway or turning across traffic, stalling at that time could be disastrous or even fatal.
- Woodbridge, CT, USA
I purchased a brand new Ford truck XL. F-150 on 8/23/2020.on 8/23/2020. The vehicle broke down, after a week of being at the dealership they came to a conclusion based on the diagnostic test that the vehicle was, allegedy struck by lighting with no visible marks the Ford dealership suggested that I should put a claim in through my insurance since my vehicle is not a warranty item under acts of nature which I did. I then contacted the original dealership where I purchased the vehicle from and had the truck towed on 9/11/2020.after numerous attemps and opening a claim through corporate Ford and then being denied I reached out to my insurance company after three independent appraisal's and numerous phone calls along with emails no one has responded to resole this issue, it has been almost three months now with no conclusion and my insurance company has denied my claim due to the incompetence of the Ford dealership.
- Dorchester, MA, USA
Excessive oil consumption. I have already had the service applied from the technical bulletin, but not much relief from the loss of oil. I have to add at least a quart half way between oil changes. I would likely lose 2 quarts or more between oil changes in total. I have barely 5000 miles, 'fix' applied at 2500 miles. At 5100 miles already over a quart low. Mostly city driving. Some pulling of smaller rv trailer. Trailer weight is 5800 pounds.
- Centreville, VA, USA
Oil consumption on the 5.0 liter V8 engine. The engine is consuming oil without evidence of an oil leak. Ford has a tsb for this 19-2365 which covers year model 2018-2020. There are other tsbs for older year models with this same engine. Ford says less than 1 quart of oil consumed in 3000 miles or less is normal. Their fix is a longer and wider dip stick and a software update. This does not fix the oil consumption. There is a problem with the design of the engine block within the cylinders.
- Anniston, AL, USA
On September 27, 2020 at about 2:30 pm I was towing a camper approximately 150 miles with the auto start stop disabled by the button on the dashboard. I made a left turn from a stop at an intersection. When I turned the engine shut off and a warning message came on the dashboard that said 'auto start stop. Shift to P and restart engine'. luckily I was able to avoid an accident and coasted to a stop on the side of the road. I restarted the engine and it stayed running. As I mentioned, I had disabled the auto start stop function at the beginning of the trip if this had happened at a busy intersection or where I couldn't have stopped my wife and I could have been in a serious accident or even been killed. I have read about this on the internet and it is not an uncommon occurrence. This is a serious defect that very likely will cause people to be hit and killed and should be recalled.
- Elizabethtown, PA, USA
Drive mode malfunction message appears in message center. Vehicle cannot chance drive modes, suspension stiffens up, and engine will go into low power mode or completely stalls. Message has randomly appeared about 6 times now. First error message appeared on first day of ownership at 118 miles. Vehicle currently has 1600 miles. 6th incident happened 2 days ago.
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Aiken, SC, USA