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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
84,258 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2002 Ford F-150 drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2002 Ford F-150 Owner Comments (Page 1 of 2)

problem #22

Aug 212022

F-150

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I have a 2002 Ford F-150 and The problem is with the transmission my vechile acts like it's going in reverse and when it goes to backup it seems as something is locked I been over the brakes and rear end and yet nothing has came up I even replaced the transmission filter to see if that would help but nothing so I been having to drive my truck with no reverse and today the overdrive light on the shifter started blinking what is the problem with these transmission please Ford do a recall to fix the transmission

- Paragould, AR, USA

problem #21

May 012020

F-150

  • 150,000 miles
The contact owns a 2002 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while stopped, the contact was unable to shift the vehicle out of park. The contact stated that the vehicle was diagnosed by his step-son. The contact was informed that the cylinder valve needed to be replaced. The contact called skyline Ford located at 2510 commercial St SE, salem, or 97302, (503) 581-2411, and the dealer was informed of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of failure. The failure mileage was 150,000.

- Salem, OR, USA

problem #20

Sep 222019

F-150

  • 139,400 miles
This is follow up assessment to my 9/22/2019 claim [xxx]- where I found myself in a very dangerous vehicle run away situation that resulted in a rear end accident with another vehicle. My mechanic's first observation when turn ignition key, the engine raced at full throttle out of control. After quickly shutting down engine the symptoms lead my mechanic to test the idle air control valve. Having never seen this dangerous symptom from a bad iacv, he continued to do further test on the iacv only to determine the part was indeed defective. After diagnosing the problem, the defective iacv part was quickly replaced. The engine is now running good again. If you need to contact my mechanic: Dugan auto service, narvon pa - doug miller 464-798-8097 information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- East Earl, PA, USA

problem #19

Sep 022016

F-150

  • 58,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Vehicle in motion on city street. Loud noise in drive position, transmission went out of gear, vehicle would not go back into gear.

- Pomona, CA, USA

problem #18

Mar 062015

F-150

  • 109,630 miles
I backed out of my driveway with no issues. I got to work and parked my truck. Later that night I went to move my truck to the front of the warehouse and my truck would not go into reverse. When it is in neutral and I press the gas the truck will move forward. In the past week I have replaced the battery, starter relay solenoid which sits on the firewall, and the neutral safety switch or transmission gear control solenoid as I have heard it called. None of this has fixed my truck and I do not think it should be going out at 109, xxx miles. Low income and rely heavily on my truck to get around.

- Dalton, GA, USA

problem #17

Nov 162014

F-150 8-cyl

  • 134,600 miles
Spark plug blew out of head.

- Garfield, NJ, USA

problem #16

Sep 022014

F-150

  • 134,549 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

While backing into my truck started making a load noise, it was obvious it was in the front end. Trying to turn the steering wheel, it was stuck. Stopped the truck, looked under the front of truck at steering, I noticed that there was a hole in the frame, it was then that I saw the steering link, against the right cv axle. The idler arm had some how ripped off the frame, leaving na hole where the idler arm was, the frame of the truck had weakened, causing the metal to weaken and separate, thank again Ford.

- Windsor, CT, USA

problem #15

Aug 082014

F-150 4WD 8-cyl

  • 168,000 miles
Engine quits running and wont restart, so you have no power steering or brakes. Problem indicators are 1. engine wont restart/ or quit running 2. odometer reads all dashes, no numbers,3. anti theft activated. This is caused by the power wire in the fuse box under the hood corroding off for the PCM relay and leaving the PCM dead.

- Rochester, MN, USA

problem #14

Mar 032014

F-150 4WD 8-cyl

  • 76,000 miles
Cross frame member which contains the transmission mount was extremely rusted out and cracked. State safety inspection rep indicated it would not pass inspection in the near future. Ford no longer manufactures the frame member. I was lucky after a long search to find a dealer which still had the part available. Part # is: Xl3Z6A023ca. The vehicle has been operated in warwick NY since new and in northeastern pa since 2007. I believe if the frame member would fail the transmission would drop down. I have photos of the rusted unit. If you care to see them please send an E-mail address and I'll attach them to a E-mail. Something must be done to require manufactures to use better material for pickup truck frames and brake lines. I have also reported problems with brake lines on this truck rusting out. One incident, I reported, occurred after backing up a rv in a campsite after just driving over 150 miles on the interstate highway. Providence protected me as I could have lost the brakes while traveling on the interstate!.

- Union Dale, PA, USA

problem #13

Jun 252014

F-150

  • 92,000 miles
On 06/25/2014 I was driving my 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty 7.3 litre diesel South on rt. 81 in syracuse NY. At exit 81 and in congested traffic when I lost all engine power. The transmission light came on but when I pressed the accelerator nothing happened. The engine was still running but the truck would not go. I was in the left lane intending to go South on 81 with a barrier on my left and no shoulder to escape traffic. I signaled and drifted over to the right and ended up stopping in an area between the rt 81 lane and an exit ramp. While doing this I had slowed considerably as the truck had no power and cars and trucks behind me had to swerve and brake abruptly to avoid striking me. The area where I finally came to rest was directly between the two lanes without room on either side. I attempted to exit the truck to try to evaluate the situation but traffic was traveling within a foot or two of the truck. I contacted aaa and had to wait in this very hazardous position for about 45 minutes for a tow truck to arrive. I had to be towed almost 200 miles to my home after my mechanic diagnosed the problem he stated that it was one of or possibly two sensors that had failed. These sensors controlled the fuel and air flow to the engine and when they failed it refused to allow the engine to accelerate not allowing me to move the truck. I feel that Ford should be made to design a sensor that provides a warning or a means to override the system in order for a driver to make it to a point of safety. This situation mimicked the same situation caused by GM cars having their ignition shut off causing death and serious injuries. I just happened to be very luck as I narrowly missed be struck by fast moving tractor trailers and cars. Hopefully something can be done by Ford to correct this dangerous situation. My wife and I feel very lucky to be home safe today.

- Pottsville, PA, USA

problem #12

Feb 072013

F-150

  • 200,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2002 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 55 mph, the brake pedal became stuck and the vehicle accelerated to 70 mph. When the vehicle veered to the right it resumed to a normal speed of 55 mph. The manufacturer was notified of the defect and offered no remedy. The failure was not diagnosed. The failure mileage was 200,000. The VIN was not available. The current mileage was 275,000.

- Whittier, CA, USA

problem #11

Jul 192007

F-150 8-cyl Diesel

  • 84,000 miles
Engage clutch pedal and clutch pedal went to the floor. They have a plastic bushing that goes around a steel ball fitting to hold clutch cable to clutch pedal. It is so bad I carry extra plastic bushings with me in case of failure. My concern is that when I have a fully loaded truck with camper and horse trailer in toe. I am stuck with a truck stuck in gear and no way to disengage clutch. Even empty this is a scary uncomfortable experience. They should have a solid pin for a connection not a cheap $5 part that breaks every 30,000 miles. I hope this can be corrected before someone is killed.

- Carnation, WA, USA

problem #10

Jan 152004

F-150

  • 35,000 miles
The contact owns a 2002 Ford F-150. The contact stated that the vehicle could not be shifted out of neutral. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostics where the technician stated that the clutch would have to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however the failure continued. The vehicle was not further repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000.

- Port Orchard, WA, USA

problem #9

Aug 272011

F-150

  • 47,523 miles
Spark plug blow out on a 2002 F-150 with only 47K miles on the truck. This truck is not a work truck, but an every day truck. I do not haul a lot, and have treated this truck with a lot of care. It will cost me $1100 to get fixed. This design flaw should of had a recall on it.

- Fort Collins, CO, USA

problem #8

Jul 312010

F-150 8-cyl

  • 99,860 miles
I was following the Ford rules for when to replace spark plugs at 100,000 miles. I have 99,860 miles on my 2002 Ford F150 XLT 4.6L Triton V8 motor. I was driving home from getting the new plugs from the auto store to replace when I heard what sounded like a gun going off. One of the spark plugs fired out of its location ripping off the coil pack hitting my fan blade on the truck. This is very dangerous because as I have been reading. The fuel could have been ignited by the coil pack causing a fire or worse. What is being done about this defect and why has their not been a recall on the Ford motors?

- Carrboro, NC, USA

problem #7

Feb 262009

F-150

  • 115,000 miles
I was driving on the highway home. All of a sudden a loud bang happened under the hood that was followed by a constant puffing sound. The truck lost power and started missing. All I could smell was gasoline. I pulled over to find a coil on plug sitting on top of engine, also had a spark plug sitting 7 inches away from cop. I was visited the Ford dealership and was told that plugs are known to have come out of the engine and was not a new problem. They told me that Ford was not fixing this problem, but had a Ford approved way to fix the problem. The cost would be around 500 dollars for insert and around 3500 dollars for new heads witch is the only guarantee that this would prevent this from happening again. Ford plans not to recall this problem, they are fully aware that this heads has 4 threads holding the plug in, when they come lose the threads are destroyed from the pounding caused by the compustion process. This very dangerous, coil spark can ignited fuel sprayed in the engine compartment causing fire, lose of control and personal injury or death, depending on the circumstance. I have a family and they could have been seriously injured when this happened. Please do something to make this from happening to any one else, and before someone loses their life. The coil on plug os located under the fuel rail and has enough force to damage the fuel rail cause it break and spill gasoline all over the engine, which could cause an explosion. I had a insert installed and a new plug inserted was told there is no guarantee the spark plug would stay in.

- Penticton, 00, USA

problem #6

Dec 082008

F-150

  • 84,000 miles
I noticed a tapping sound coming from my engine approximately 2 days before I ejected (blew out) a spark plug while cruising at approximately 55 mph. I checked my oil the day before the blow-out and the oil level was fine. I was traveling on business at the time and fortunately I was able to limp to a hotel a couple of miles down the road. I had my truck towed to a repair shop and had to pay $800 to have the problem repaired. When I asked the mechanic what caused the spark plug to blow out, he simply replied that it happens a lot with "these Ford engines".

- North Little Rock, AR, USA

problem #5

Jun 152008

F-150

  • 66,109 miles
On my way to a wedding I noticed the rpms kick up. I pushed button on trans selector and problem went away (for now).was parking truck and found I had no reverse. Monday took truck to dealer, mechanic could not find anything wrong till he opened cup transmission. Mechanic found weld on sun shell broken. Called Ford no help. Spring hill Ford put a rebuilt trans in truck.

- Elgin, IL, USA

problem #4

Nov 052003

F-150 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 20,000 miles
Rough idle.

- Bristol, PA, USA

problem #3

Feb 152004

F-150 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 40,000 miles
Due to a design flaw in the Ford 5.4 engine my 2002 harley F-150 blew a spark plug last weekend (2/15/04). Ford is only willing to replace the one head with the newly designed head (and that is costing me $500 because my truck has 40,000 miles). It's a known design flaw and has happened to many owers with less than 10,000 miles. Ford needs to stand behind their product.

- Sacramento, CA, USA

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