At start up, experienced a very hard brake pedal (almost no brakes) for first 30 seconds. Problem was intermittent, but very dangerous when it occurred. It could have caused a crash if another vehicle or object was in front of or behind me, depending on whether I was backing out of garage or going down driveway. When I first brought it to the attention of my Ford dealer, they couldn't find anything and said I just needed to let the truck warm up before placing it into gear. I never start my vehicles and place them into gear without letting the engine run for a short time. I kept experiencing the problem and then I read an article in the paper about the same issue. I returned to my dealer and again told them about the issue and the article in the paper, and this time they told me it was a known problem with the brake vacuum pump. They were able to duplicate the problem by keeping the truck overnight and starting it up in the morning. They didn't have the part in stock and had to order one. While I was waiting for the part to come in, I received a letter from Ford informing me that they were extending the warranty on the electric vacuum pump to 10 Years or 150,000 miles. When the part came in, my dealer replaced the vacuum pump at no cost. Problem Solved.

I had a brake vacuum booster replaced at 30,000 mile due to excessive noise. Then at 70,000 brakes seemed to freeze up when going down the road in cold weather. The problem was so severe, I couldn't press the brake pedal and nearly hit the vehicle in front of me. I had the pump replaced again and problem went away for a few days and then returned. The problem has gotten worse since. Now, when you first start the truck, you have to wait for the pump to build up vacuum or you can't push the brake pedal.

I noticed a terrible noise coming from behind the driver's side headlight assy. Did a little research, and found that the vacuum pump for brake assist was failing at 69,795 miles. Brake pedal became hard at times, and the vacuum pump started cycling more frequently, with the noise getting worse. I contacted the dealership, and of course, no warranty replacement. Dealer cost was $588.00 (highway robbery of course). After searching on the web, I found rockauto.com to be the cheapest ($350.00). I received the part in 2 days, and removal /install took 10 minutes. This pump is a poor design. Ford needs to look at this real hard. If the pump seizes and the brakes become a stone, there will be an accident, and someone will end up hurt.