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.
-The surround sound speaker system has produced a load popping sound as if being struck by lightning on several occasions upon starting the truck. It is extremely loud and normally goes away after a few seconds. The most recent incident occurred while I was driving and did not stop for several minutes. It is as if the radio is turned to it's highest volume and produces an electrical static sound. I had to return to my home and shut the truck off to stop the sound. I restarted the truck twice and the sound started again each time. -This is a tremendous saftey issue as the shock of the sound is very frightening and could cause someone to lose control of the truck. In addition, the sound is so loud that I was unable to hear any outside sounds or sirens. It could cause hearing damage as well. -It is a very sporadic issue and until my most recent incident, only occurred upon starting the truck. It's very difficult to replicate with the dealer, but I understand this is happening with many owners of Ford F150's. -The vehicle has not been inspected for this specific issue. Normal maintenance has been followed and there has been nothing to indicate this is an issue. -No warning lights, but there may be a connection with the software updates. This is pure speculation, but it seems to occur when Ford pushes a software update to the vehicle.
I am having multiple electrical glitches with the vehicle. While I was in bluecruise the self driving mode the vehicle warned me to take control and when I did the vehicle was stuck in a loop on the highway with notifications alarms. I was able to take a video one of the times. I took it to the ford dealer and they said they needed me to bring it back when an engineer was available. While waiting to go back had another serious issue with the head unit/audio system when I started up the vehicle. Ear damaging sounds came on and I lost control of the head unit. Shut the truck off and turned it back on and the ear piercing noises persisted. I made a video of this too. My head unit randomly reboots while driving the vehicle. Went back to ford and they did an update instead of having engineers diagnose the problem. Audio system still doesn-??t work right and I think it is damaged from the event.
Loud, oscillating static through speakers when starting vehicle. Measured at 106db. Audio controls non-responsive. Shutting off vehicle and opening door eventually caused it to stop. Resumed again when restarting vehicle. Eventually stopped after letting it sit 30 minutes. This is extremely dangerous. Not only is this a level that can lead to hearing damage, but if this happened while driving, it could easily result in an accident.
Very Loud pulsing/crackling noise coming from speakers. I was Startled and had to pull over on busy highway to figure out what was happening. Thought truck was going to blow up.
Audio system creates loud pops and static noise, intermittent, continues with audio off, discontinues with vehicle off. Loud enough noise to be a hazard while driving.
Vehicle started making EXTREMELY loud popping noises from all speakers. This occurred at start up and repeated several times. I turned off the vehicle and did not drive but I-??ve now researched and found others with the same truck system-??s experiencing the same and some crashes have occurred. There does not seem to be any Ford representative acknowledging the problem so I wanted to report it.
Upon starting my pickup after work a loud static sounding noise was heard coming from the speakers in the rear doors and in the A pillars of the vehicle. I was unable to get the noise to stop even if the radio was turned off. I had no control of the volume coming out of the speakers and it seemed that it was as loud as they could go. The noise was not always constant, sometimes quieting down for 10 to 15 seconds at a time. However, I have a half hour drive to get home and this sound was continuous for the entire drive. The noise was loud enough that I feel hearing protection would be required to operate the vehicle. I drove the vehicle to the dealership where I had purchased it and made an appointment to have the issue resolved.
This has happened to me 3 times now. When I start the truck, a loud pop can be heard and then an extremely loud static noise starts throughout the entire truck. All speakers produce loud static and popping sounds. I took this to the dealer and while happening and the dealer had -??no idea-?? what to do. The only remedy I-??ve been given is to disconnect the battery for 5 minutes and reconnect. This makes the awful sound stop. This happened while drive and almost caused me to crash twice. There is talks of this on forums happening to other truck owners with the BO Unleashed sound system. Ford, NHTSA please create a TSB and figure this issue out. It affects my hearing every time the static and popping starts. Forums have said the Digital Sound Processor is a part of the problem when streaming with Apple car play or android auto. I spent $70K on this truck and am tired of this happening. please please get this issue fixed or else it will cause a serious crash. This has occurred three times from years April 2022-December 2023!!!!
I was driving this morning and out of nowhere, my radio starting making the loudest noise I've ever heard (x3). Louder then a darn gun shot. I almost had an accident because I thought the truck was exploding. Had to slam on the breaks and jump out. Dealership was no real help, so had to walk all the way home to get noise canceling headphones so I could reenter the vehicle. Re-entered to a burning smell. Called Ford and was told to try and remove and reinstall the battery. I did this and it fixed it, but now driving with noise canceling headphones and can't have anybody in the car out of fear for hearing loss. Sitting here at my desk with ringer ears and bad headache.
This horrifyingly loud rhythmic noise came out of my speakers yesterday. I have a F-150 Platinum with B&O Stereo system. My ears felt like they were bleeding and I actually experienced pain due to how loud the noise was. It happened when my truck was parked and I went to start it and the deafening noise hit. No matter what I did, turned the volume down, radio power off, turned the truck ignition off - it still made the noise. I also smelled a very strong burning smell that smelled like burning wires or transmission fluid. I have a video of it. I walked away to call Ford service and came back in about 5 minutes and the noise had stopped. When I opened the drive door, the noise started up again. I left and came back again and noise had stopped and didn't start up again. Had it towed to the dealer who said they had never heard of this before. They have it now and I sent them a link to the Ford F-150 forum and articles that are online talking about it from back in August. Extremely frustrating!!!
There has been times when for no reason at all I will start up the vehicle and a loud static pop sound comes out of the speakers. Then after that the sound will go on and off throughout the speakers, I have no way of turning it off, I even try to turn off the vehicle and let it sit of a minute and get back in and start it, it did not go away. I had to drive it with the static noise going on. But after I get to my destination, and park the vehicle. Let it sit for a couple of hours, then I get back in the car and the sound is gone. I have try to complain to ford, and they keep on telling there's nothing they can do.
B&O sound system loud scary pops and static, Sync 4 screen goes blank while driving, also blank sometimes for minutes at startup, I have had it come on, watch the 360 camera begin to backup and look in the mirror the camera lags not showing the car behind me. Constant messages of steering failure, catalytic converter failure drivetrain failure dealer says nothing wrong.
Randomly and suddenly while driving on OH State Route 98, my vehicle started a ROARING audio expulsion that could NOT be stopped. It was coming from EVERY speaker and at MAXIMUM volume and lasted for about 45 minute. I tried audio controls, I pulled over on the side of the road and shut down my vehicle. I opened my door to "complete" the computer shut off. I tried randomly pulling fuses to no avail. I did NOT have tools to remove the battery connection. It produced such power that a distinct odor of electrical fire was present. I did NOT witness flame, but I was very worried it was soon to happen. I drove to dealer. All controls SEEMED to work normally. The audio was dangerously loud and we recorded a video / audio.
I started the truck. I heard a loud pop over the sound system. This was followed by a loud crackling noise over the speakers. The sound continued after the sound system was turned off. The speakers smell like they were burning.
On start, a loud "pop" was heard and the audio system went into full volume static and other sounds. Radio could not control it, on/off or volume, nothing would stop it. sound was deafening and lasted as long as the ignition was on. turned off ignition, yet it kept on regardelss of what I did with any interior controls. Sound was deafening and as I came to a stoplight, I could not hear the siren of an ambulance approaching from the left. I could not hear the siren due to the noise in the cabin! No way to stop the noise except after shutting down the ignition and leaving it alone for 15minutes........and it turned itself on again even after I had left the vehicle!
Truck speakers randomly emit excessively LOUD pops and static. Took in truck for service and they -??couldn-??t replicate.-?? This was at a Ford dealer in Mew York. Gave truck back. It has done it everyday since and it-??s so loud it-??s almost like I-??m in a concert. It lasts 5-10 seconds. It causes disaffections when driving as well. First time it happened I thought something broke a window. I saw many complaints posted about this through NHTSA and found online via [XXX] that Ford issued a bulletin for this fix but my service department at the local dealership didn-??t bother to fix it. This has been an ongoing issue since I purchased the truck in late 2022. This was my first attempt to have it fixed. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Upon pressing the start button the sound system put out an ear piercing pop and loud statis continued for 5 -10 minutes. Audio on/off and volume buttons were rendered ineffective, no response. Disconnected the negative on the battery with not effect. Static continued from all speakers. After 10 minutes tried to start the truckand system seemed to return to normal. Reported it to Ford Dealer said they haven't any idea what it is.
When turning on the radio, there was a very loud pop like a gunshot or firework going off in the cab followed by sustained white noise coming from the speaker system at full volume. The volume and radio buttons did not impact the volume of the sound requiring the driver to pull over, shut the vehicle off, and open the door in order to make the sound stop. The volume of the sound was loud enough that the driver was forced to release the steering wheel to plug their ears. Upon restart the vehicle produced the sound again.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Lancaster, OH, USA