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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
6 / 9
Injuries / Deaths:
5 / 0
Average Mileage:
13,586 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.

2018 Ford F-150 electrical problems

electrical problem

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2018 Ford F-150 Owner Comments (Page 1 of 6)

problem #109

Sep 062024

F-150

  • miles

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

The Starter on my 2018 Ford F150 XTR (XLT trim to be sold new in Canada) with the 5.0L Coyote V8 engine failed @ only 46,000 miles. I have done my own auto repair for years, and have replaced a few failed or failing starters, none of which were @ less than 100,000 miles. After a little research, I found out that Ford "created" their Coyote engine with the Auto Stop/Start feature as a fuel economy measure to satisfy USEPA. However, this resulted in a several orders of magnitude increase in the number of starts within any given time frame (say, over the course of a year) and, since Ford did not re-design the starter to account for this radical increase in the sheer number of starts, starters are failing early. Mine failed @ 46,000 miles, and I've read multiple online posts from owners of this engine that had to replace the starter, one as early as 27,000. Check out owner comments @: [XXX] I should NOT have been required to pay for Ford Motor Company's design FAILURE. Respectfully, [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- West Chester, PA, USA

problem #108

Aug 282024

F-150

  • 115,000 miles
I was driving, I looked down because my truck was unresponsive, my truck had died, a warning light had come on stating the following: "Auto Start/Stop Shift to P, then Restart Engine". I was on the interstate, in a two lane construction zone, I had to pull over into the construction area, stop my truck, and try and restart. After a minute or two, I was able to restart my truck and re-enter the road way. A very dangerous situation, luckily I did not have my children in the vehicle at the time. I scheduled a service appointment after this and was told it was the fuel pump control module. Unfortunately, it has happened twice since my service appointment... something needs to me done!

- Gifford, IL, USA

problem #107

Aug 072024

F-150

  • miles
The vehicle was stopped, preparing to make a left-hand turn at a four-way intersection, in Drive with my foot on the brake. I had manually pressed the button to disable the "Auto Start-Stop" feature earlier in this trip, and the light was on indicating that feature was still disabled. While stopped, the vehicle's engine suddenly shut off. On the dashboard, the informational cluster indicated "Auto StartStop Shift to P, then Restart Engine" with the logo for that feature (An "A" in a looped arrow icon) showing below. I shifted to Neutral and restarted the vehicle with no issue - at which time the warning messages went away - and continued the drive without further incident. I have not been able to reproduce the issue, yet. I was in the vehicle with my 1-year-old son in his car seat, preparing to make a left turn across oncoming traffic when the vehicle shut itself off, placing us at considerable potential risk. The vehicle has not been inspected by police, a dealer, etc. as of yet but I will be bringing it to a Ford dealership as soon as I can. I have included an example photo of the same error I saw, taken from an internet forum. This is not my truck, but is the identical warning message to the one I saw.

- Falmouth, MA, USA

problem #106

Jul 172024

F-150

  • miles

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

10 Speen Auto Transmission is shifting very hard from 1-2 or just skips 2 and goes 1-3. It shifted so hard this morning it chirped the tires. Other times it jolts me forward. When trying to accelerate it will not and almost feels like its going to stall. Almost got rear-ended one morning with my son in the truck. It is scheduled to go to dealership in 2 weeks (next opening). No warnings lights yet. Started about a week ago. Only getting worst each morning.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

problem #105

Jul 072024

F-150

  • miles
The alarm system and hazards will randomly go on and will not turn off until you start vehicle and hit the hazard light button. If you hit the hazard button while the vehicle is off, it does not turn the hazards off. They will often remain flashing even if the horn/alarm system isn't blaring. At times hitting the hazard button has made the horn go off. The truck has started locking itself and keypad will not work to unlock only the key fob. Truck has not been driven at night since this has occurred to notice if its affecting the headlights. We have noticed that it is also affecting the cabin climate controls (air conditioning/heat). The source of the problem appears to be a malfunction with the Body Control Module (BCM). Prior to these issues arising, there were no warning or messages that appeared on the dash. The truck has been driving great. Now the check engine light is on and have to disconnect the battery so that it doesn't go off in the middle of the night again.

- Cranston, RI, USA

problem #104

May 292024

F-150

  • miles
When the auto stop/start feature is engaged at a stop and I am the first vehicle at the light or stop sign, the steering is unresponsive when making a turn into or through the intersection after the auto start re-engages and has posed a safety issue steering/turning because of the delay that occurs in powering the power steering pump. On repeated instances, I have entered an intersection making a turn expecting the steering to be powered, only to find I have to struggle with the steering manually until the pump engages. The first time I asked the dealer to check the issue, I was told that my battery was dead and I had to buy a new one. I was told that would take care of the problem. The problem returned, however, and I took the truck back to the dealer. During the second dealer visit, I was told that the power steering pump is electric and has to run off the battery for a period of time (they confirmed the battery was fine during this second visit) after the auto stop/start re-engages and that is what causes the delay in power steering after the auto stop/start turns the engine back on. I was told that it gets worse if the battery doesn't have a full charge, but there was nothing that could be done to resolve the issue. On multiple occasions, I have feared that I would end up in a wreck with oncoming traffic after I struggled to steer until the pump engaged. Why would the manufacturer design a system that creates such a safety issue? The date below is the approximate date and mileage for the second dealer visit.

- Alexandria, VA, USA

problem #103

Dec 272018

F-150

  • miles

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

Since purchasing the vehicle the infotainment system has and always been substandard. Which is very frustration when your purchasing a new truck. There seem to be many glitches to the system and never reacted the same way twice when I had to reprogram it every time I got into the vehicle. It became an unreliable way to communicate and very unsafe. I felt very insecure using the system knowing that I would have to readjust or touch the infotainment to make it work had to pull over on the side of the road a lot. I believe that this product is completely faulty and could have been a fatal flaw for Many f150 drivers.

- Maitland , FL, USA

problem #102

May 202024

F-150

  • miles
I was driving on a congested thoroughfare during rush hour on a Friday night. My truck became unresponsive and the steering wheel locked up. The truck made a screeching stop. With over 100 cars behind me honking. I was unable to drive car off the road shoulder in a safe location. The cars electrical system when dead. With very limited battery life on my phone, I worked to to solve this problem. Luckily I had a few tools in the truck and was able to dismantle the all of the underdash plastic and metal components in about 1 hr with cachophany of honking and yelling with ever car. No stopped to help. I had to push the vehicle approx a quarter of a mile on a moderate incline and jump in the cab without power steering and coast down a side street. I had to learn how to put the car in neutral this way to move. This is Friday night and unable to get a towing service provider to my location, I had to wait in a lesser than desirable neighborhood until 2:30 am to get the car to my place residence. This was one of the scariest and deadliest incidents I have ever had in a motor vehicle. I am deathly afraid this will reoccur on a highway with fatal consequences.

- Maitland, FL, USA

problem #101

Apr 292024

F-150

  • miles
While driving my truck along the highway on April 29, 2024, it spontaneously burst into flames. I pulled it over, and it was completely engulfed in flames and melted into a puddle of molten aluminum. In the last 18 month, this truck has spent over 45 days at the dealership with 10 separate repairs including transmission replacement, cylinder heads, oil leaks, all under 75,000 miles. The smoke and smell began under the back seat passenger floorboards, and within 45 seconds, was burning. I have pictures, video, witnesses, and police reports for corroboration. There was no accident, no impact, no nothing. It simply lit itself on fire.

- Escondido, CA, USA

problem #100

Apr 232024

F-150

  • 132,410 miles
I was riding down the road the truck started to run hot then it slammed on brakes the power steering went out the panel the instrument panel was black I couldn't roll my windows down the truck was in drive but it wouldn't go and the motor was still running though and then it came all came back up and then it did this all the way home it would slam on break it didn't matter if I was going 30 or 60 and then it shut off before it got home and then the only way to get it going again was to jump it off

- Okeechobee, FL, USA

problem #99

Jun 232023

F-150

  • miles

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

03/11/2022Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 22S1122V150000 03/11/2022Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 22S1122V150000 12/16/2021Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 21S5321V983000 04/12/2021Tenneco automotive (driv) is recalling certain moo-?? Needs Action 21E027000 03/10/2021Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 21S1021V155000 02/21/2020Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 20C0320V097000 08/28/2019Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 19C0719V633000 08/28/2019Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 19C0719V633000 04/08/2019Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 19S1119V278000 04/08/2019Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 19S1119V278000 12/18/2018Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 18S4518V894000 08/31/2018Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 18S2718V568000 08/31/2018Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 18S2718V568000 06/12/2018Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 18S1718V392000 04/04/2018Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 18S0918V213000 04/04/2018Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Open #918S1018V214000 04/04/2018Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 18S1018V214000 10/23/2017Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 17S3517V669000 10/23/2017Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 17S3717V672000 10/23/2017Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 17S3517V669000 09/25/2017Ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 201-?? Needs Action 17S2917V598000

- Long Beach, CA, USA

problem #98

Jun 232023

F-150

  • miles
#9 - [Recall] Power Train:Automatic Transmission:Gear Position Indication (Prndl) Reported 8 months, 2 weeks ago by FORD SUNRISE Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the shift cable locking clip and properly seat it, if necessary, free of charge. The recall began on april 13, 2018. Owners may contact ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for the recall is 18s10. Owners may also contact the national highway traffic safety administration vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

- Long Beach, CA, USA

problem #97

Jan 302024

F-150

  • miles
Vehicle did not have tires pressure sensors at the moment of the purchased

- Waterbury, CT, USA

problem #96

Jan 172024

F-150

  • miles
Lights independently flicker on and off continuously until the battery is completely drained and died. No capability to stop this from occurring.

- Hartland, WI, USA

problem #95

Dec 222023

F-150

  • miles
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that the START/STOP feature intermittently failed to operate as needed. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that while pulling out of a parking lot and entering traffic, another vehicle attempted to run a red light. The contact stated that the vehicle was unable to accelerate due to the failure with the START/STOP feature, and the other vehicle crashed into the contact's vehicle. The air bags deployed upon impact. No injuries were reported. A Police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to the residence after the crash. The dealer and the manufacturer were notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.

- Plainfield, IL, USA

problem #94

Dec 012023

F-150

  • miles
The truck currently has 75xxx miles on it. I've had it in at the dealership before for transmission issues. The repairs/fix they did lasted for a while before the same problems came back. It started as rough shifting/jerking. Recently the truck will, when accelerating, jump out of gear completely while indicating on the dash that it is in gear, and the engine will rev up on its own (up to 3500 rpm) for several seconds before violently jerking into gear. I worry that the engine may try to rev up while actually in gear and cause rapid acceleration and possibly an accident if it's unable to be stopped in time.

- Tuscumbia, AL, USA

problem #93

Dec 132021

F-150

  • 20,000 miles
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while starting the vehicle on two occasions, the electrical systems in the vehicle failed to illuminate. The contact was unable to restart the vehicle. The contact stated that on another occasion while driving 30 MPH, the interior and exterior lights and electrical systems became inoperable. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to identify the cause of the failure. After the third failure, the contact took the vehicle home and had an electrician inspect the vehicle. The electrician diagnosed that the ground wires had begun rusting due to being made of a nonferrous material. The electrician disconnected, sanded down, and used di-electric grease to prevent the rust from reoccurring; however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000.

- Chesapeake, VA, USA

problem #92

Aug 032022

F-150

  • miles
The vehicle as of 12/9/2023 at 3:00pm CST is at a mileage of 79,503. We are consistently experiencing the slipping of gears when the truck is switched from park to drive. The first couple gears seem to slip as it accelerates. The speedometer will be showing at under 10mph, and the truck will jerk forward. The engine/transmission gets loud as if the car is still in a lower gear as it-??s accelerating. While it-??s jerking and making the loud noise, the speedometer will not go over 10mph. We are concerned that it is a problem with the powertrain control module. It seems to happen when the shift lever is moved from Park to Drive, possibly it causes a loss of gear indication on the instrument cluster display and a momentary selection of an unintended gear, such as Reverse or Neutral before the vehicle achieves the Drive function. We have a column shifter.

- St Paul, MN, USA

problem #91

Nov 082023

F-150

  • miles
We have had several problems with this vehicle since we bought it in 2020. It uses way too much oil for it to be new. We were told it was a common issue, but if the oil level ever gets down to a certain point, the truck acts weird. We have to put 3-5 quarts of oil in the truck in between oil changes (3,000 miles). We have put the truck in the shop several times for different issues, specifically engine knocking that we were told was "just how the motor is, all of the 5.0L engines do this, " and oil issues. We also just had purchased it, and the timing belt broke while driving. We understand that used vehicles often come with problems that cannot be diagnosed before purchasing, but the vehicle only had 30k miles on it. My husband was driving down the highway today and the truck flashed "auto start/stop disengaged" and the truck died. DOWN THE HIGHWAY. Luckily, he was able to pull over and restart his truck. The 5.0L motor and the 2018 F150s are trash. As you are - or should be - aware, there are SEVERAL lawsuits against Ford that coincide with the issues that we have had out of this truck, yet no recalls have been made. Can't they see that it is a lemon? PLEASE take our complaint (and those of many others) and have this vehicle recalled before someone is killed due to a faulty vehicle. I should not have to constantly worry about my husband driving this vehicle. It makes me sick to my stomach knowing that it is a ticking time-bomb.

- Muscle Shoals, AL, USA

problem #90

Oct 272023

F-150

  • miles
Vehicle randomly stalled out as I was slowing down and an error appeared stating that there was a problem with the auto on/off feature and that I would need to put the vehicle in park and restart it manually. Fortunately I was turning onto a side road but if this was to happen as I was trying to make a quick turn through traffic it would have been a much larger issue.

- Tyngsboro, MA, USA

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