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.
Most everytime I start the vehicle, i get asked to confirm settings for the Sync System. I have attached pictures of what the screen says. Sometimes the rear camera works but other times it does not work. Sometimes the system will prompt me while I am driving making the sync navigation unable to be seen on the screen. Sometimes I have a black screen for entire drive with no functions like the backup camera or any other function. Sometimes it shows my reverse camera for my entire drive, even if I never put the truck in reverse. Also the Radio blasts whatever station it feels like which almost caused me to have an accident. I contacted Ford with no timetable for a fix. Was told that this is happening to a lot of vehicles with Sync 3.4. There's a partition on the onboard computer that's responsible for remembering settings that fills up, then you get this behavior constantly - forgetting camera and preset settings, popping up this message, not remembering the last radio station, etc. This is a very dangerous situation that Ford must have not tested for a bug in the Sync system before sending the software update out to be installed in the vehicle. Every time I drive the vehicle, it is dangerous when the sync system malfunctions.
Trailer brake controller to apply breaks to Trailer is not working and unable to stop safety. Problem has been reproduced with dealership. The trailer control module has been replaced and did not resolve the issue. Still have no trailer brakes. Errors I get is " Trailer disconnected or no trailer hooked up" does this with any trailer I hooked up. Tried with 3 different types. As of right now the dealership does not know what is going on. Everything on my trailer is working according to dealer. I even took trailer to dealership and is there now for testing. It's been a week now and still have no clue what is the problem and spending alot of money to even find the problem that no one knows how to fix.
Gps/ radio failing, under warranty Ford tried to fix, needs a new radio but doesn't know when they can get one. Also cruse control not functioning properly- Ford dealer replaced steering wheel buttons but on one occasion when pushing the reduce speed button the truck kept accelerating to 10 miles above speed limit before it disengaged. Ford garage said if they can't get it to repeat this problem, they can't fix it. Drivers seat when parked reclines on its own, again garage could not get it to repeat the problem so not fixed. Possible emergency brake recall. Truck gives no fault codes. Was told not to use cruse control but then if it doesn't repeat the problem Ford won't fix it. I and my wife no longer feel safe in the truck and am trying to get Ford to buy it back. No paperwork given at the time of repairs because they could fix nothing. Spitzer Ford in dubois is the garage I used. 3 year original truck warranty will soon expire, I believe in September or early October of 2023.
Having issues with sync 3. Radio default settings are not being saved, phone will not stay connected, sync auto update confirmbscreen appears at every vehicle start up, voice command will not work for phone calls, some times when using "call person abc" the system navigation wants to start up. Sync boot up is very slow to start up. I attempted system master rest working with Ford customer care. The sync system went screen blank and locked up. I eventually had to disconnect battery to final get a successful boot up. This seemed to clear up issues for about 1 week then all symptoms came back but worse. I brought this to dealer three times. First two times they could not reproduce issues but tried master rest of sync 3. This was only a short term fix (a couple days at best). They were very helpful but were having very difficult time to reproduce. Third time they finally got APIM to fail. Prior to replacing module dealer called me back and said they just had another customer come in with similar F150 to mine stating same issues. Dealer investigated again and found that we both had the same over the air updates pushed to our vehicles within a 2 week time frame around February to March 2023. Dealer believes Ford may have sent out corrupt update. The recommendation by dealer was to wait a month or so to see if Ford pushes out new update. They did not feel by replacing APIM would resolve if software was corrupt. It has now been about 30 days and no news of any new sync 3 updates. Issue has progressively gotten worse to the point that I have to reload my phone everytime I start my truck and hope maybe it will work with voice activated hands free feature. Radio still will not hold previous settings in memory and system auto update screen consistently pops up with every vehicle restart. Attempted to to manual software updates but it reports my sync software is up to date.
Ford issued an update for the sync 3 system (3.4) and now the radio / camera system resets on each start up. When this happens, the back up camera feed gets hung up and freezes, causing either a collision unknowingly or difficulty on backing with a trailer. The radio loses most of the settings that are usually saved. There is a whole internet discussion about this problem and it seems that the memory does not overwrite and causes the system to reset each time. Ford has not addressed this issue with an update yet.
- Abingdon, MD, USA
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The Blindspot system, cross tragic system, airbags, and climate control all were disabled intermittently. Climate control disabled allowed my windows to fog up impairing visibility which posed immediate danger of collisions. I read an online forum and found that my tail light had water in it which created a short to all those systems.
Truck turned over but display was blank and all gauges read off. Front windows would not roll down. The check manual(wrench) was indicated on the DIC. Truck had been shifting strangely for a few days and it-??s performance seems diminished. Will be checked at dealer. Battery checked and no problems nor loose cables found.
Ii stopped at a stop sign and the auto stop feature engaged. As I began to pull out the engines started and then stalled. I received an error message in the message center above the steering wheel, it said -??AUTO STOP START SHIFT TO P THE RESTART THE ENGINE-??. Fortunately it was a secondary road. There was a car coming but I was able to coast to the side of the road, activate my flashers before he arrived. I put the vehicle in park and was able to restart the engine without a problem. It did not happen again.
I was driving down the highway when my engine starting shaking so bad I could barely control the steering. I managed to get to the side of the road, and even in park the whole truck was shaking. Had to call a tow truck (cost $100) to take it to nearest Ford dealer. Rodents had chewed through wiring to fuel injectors and knock sensor ($1400). This was the second incident of rodent damage on the wiring of this truck. Mechanic said the soy-based wire coating Ford is using is irresistible to rodents. Insurance company said rodent damage claims on the vehicles using this type of wire coating are 59x higher than on other vehicles. This is a safety concern because of things like happened to me! I could have very possibly wrecked due to this shaking that was so violent. The other event caused my locking system to malfunction. I could have been locked in my vehicle! This is unacceptable. My previous vehicle (Jeep) was parked in the exact same location daily and never had a rodent damage incident. Ford needs to address this!!
The contact owns a 2020 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while his wife was driving 55 MPH, the vehicle lost motive and electronic power. The vehicle rolled to a complete stop. After approximately five minutes a message on the center display stated, -??Shift vehicle to Park and restart-??. The vehicle was restarted and driven to the residence. The next day the contact had the vehicle towed to a local dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 23,000.
The tail gate lowered on its own while we were driving down a high way and towing our camper. It dented the propane tanks and shifted the hitch system in addition to totaling the tail gate.
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.
Ford cameras recall: 20C19 and 20B39. I received notification of the recall during normal maintenance on March 1, 2021, not via Ford headquarters. Apparently, the recall was on 09/23/20. Two different Ford dealerships (in palm desert area) have said one of the cameras is on backorder with no clear indication when it would be received for installation. Therefore, from the date of the recall until now (approximately 6-months), I have not received the corrected parts or installation.
Complaint is that Ford will not complete the work on their recall in a timely manner. The front camera intermittently does not work. Issue started approximately 9-10 months ago at which time it occurred approximately 20% of the time. Ford issued a recall notice on 9/23/20 to address this and after 6 months they still will not repair my truck. The front camera fails to operate approximately 90% of the time at this point.
There is a known recall on the backup camera wtih Ford. But my local dealer has the part on backorder for going on 3 months now. This seems to be a safety issue. How can a major company issue a recall and then not have the part available to fix for more than 3 months?
The contact owned a 2020 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the lane departure and blind spot detection failed to alert the driver. The contact also stated that the front camera sensors failed to alert the driver. The contact stated that a warning message stating driver assist not available, would appear on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to harbin motor company, Inc. (564 micah way, scottsboro, al 35769) where it was diagnosed with the windshield needing to be replaced. The contact stated that the camera sensor was located inside the windshield. The windshield was replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure but offered no further assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 600. The VIN was unavailable.
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
My -150 lariat has been giving me problems with the front collision camera and detects when no other vehicles are around. My computer for sync does not always turn on and freezes not allowing me to use navigation and other features. I almost got into three accidents because the vehicle accelerated on its own. In the same night when I pressed the gas it would not accelerate. At one point the speedometer was stuck at 67mph yet the truck accelerated well over 70mph. My brakes did not work properly several times. I pressed them and the truck would not stop. I took it in to the Ford dealership and they essentially told me no codes could verify the problems. I am very concerned about the safety of my vehicle and I and other drivers were put in severe danger.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Charleston, SC, USA