Ford F-150 Complaints (2018)

2,327 consumer complaints on file.

#11697212November 3, 2025
ENGINE
I have a 2018 Ford F-150 with a 3.5L Ecoboost engine. In October 2021, I received a Customer Satisfaction Program 21B10, 21N03, and 21N08 notice of a software upgrade to reduce the engine cam phasor rattle on engine start up. This was a limited time repair notice. Unfortunately, I thought it was a recall notice and did not act on this upgrade until a few weeks after it had expired on July 31, 2022. When I called the local dealer a few weeks after this date, they stated they would not perform the upgrade free and instead would charge me. I also had a mechanic state that this issue was not required and recommended I not pay for this upgrade. Even if I had performed the upgrade, it doesn't sound like it would have necessarily fixed the cam phasor issue because thousands on Ford customers have complained. Over the years, the engine "rattle" noise has gotten worse, the engine has been harder to start, and the engine surges at highway speeds which is a "safety concern" since I no longer feel safe driving the truck because it feels like it will "stall" at any moment. When I took the truck into the dealer on September 3, 2025, they stated there was not warranty recall for the cam phasor issue even though this was documented by Ford Motor in the October 2021 Customer Satisfaction Program stated above. They told me it would cost ~ $5,600 to fix the issue. I do not understand how there is not a recall on this since Ford Motor knew they had a defective cam phasor design in their 3.5L Ecoboost engines. I am sure there are quite a few complaints posted with NHTSA. Any help you can provide with this issue would be greatly appreciated by me and all the Ford owners. Thank you.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11697304November 3, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
-Auto stop/start system failed and is available for inspection. I was driving down the road and braked for a vehicle about to pull in front of me, when I let off the brake and pushed the gas I noticed the vehicle had shut off there was an error message on the information center, Error message: "Auto startstop shift to P, then restart engine" -I could've been in an accident due to immobilized vehicle -Vehicle taken to dealer. Was told the failure was unlikely to be duplicated. Was told to unplug(deactivate) auto stop/start system to hopefully avoid recurrence. -No -No messages or symptoms prior to failure.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11696820October 31, 2025
POWER TRAIN, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Hello, WE have been experiencing downshifting and slipping of shifting with our Ford f-150 that has 80k miles on it. This has caused us to loose power on the road thus putting us in an unsafe position with other drivers. WE have reached out to our local dealership where we purchased the vehicle and found that we need a new transmission. When researching this, we found that there are alot of Ford f-150 owners the same years as ours that have the same situation. We are concerned that this is not a recall. It is obviously a safety issue for drivers and others on the road.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11696621October 30, 2025
POWER TRAIN
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while in reverse(R) and attempting to shift gear, the transmission jumped from 1st to 3rd gear, and there was a hesitation while changing gear. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the transmission was slipping and needed to be replaced or rebuilt. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11696670October 30, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
backup camera stopped working around 07/2025 and now starting 10/2025 it will work when it wants to but its not clear it will be distorted.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11696333October 29, 2025
POWER TRAIN
The truck will randomly downshift to when driving steady on the highway. The truck will also skip gears and stutter transitioning gears
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11696415October 29, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Backup camera started glitching on and off for a couple weeks and eventually stopped working completely and screen is now black when shifted in to reverse. Purchase new camera from dealer, installed, but did not fix issue so I returned it. Found out later that the camera requires initialization or programming depending on year so replacing my consumer does not appear possible.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11695984October 28, 2025
POWER TRAIN
I bought my 2018 Ford F-150 with the 3.5L EcoBoost, 4x4, and 10R80 transmission as a Ford Blue Certified truck from a Ford dealer at about 92,000 miles. Putting the truck into gear to pull out of the parking spot it "clunked" into drive, which I mentioned to the salesperson who was with me shrugged it off as "it's probably because it's been sitting for a while." The problems started shortly after purchase and have gotten way worse over the next 34,000 miles. It jerks hard shifting in and out of 3rd, 5th, and 8th gears. Oftentimes it skips 2nd and 4th gear. In 7th gear it feels like a "false neutral" where the engine revs with no power before slamming into a higher gear. The worst of the safety concerns are that on the highway in 9th or 10th gear it will suddenly downshift to 1st causing sudden deceleration and pegging the RPMs to the top end of the gauge, and when decelerating to a full stop the transmission will stay stuck in 7th gear leaving me unable to accelerate into traffic, until it decides to slam back into 1st gear after a few moments. The wrench light also comes on. This is a huge safety risk, and many other have experienced serious near-miss incidents or accidents such as rear-end collisions or losing control and their vehicle ending up off the road. I took the truck to the dealer initially and they programmed the transmission for an "adaptive drive cycle" relearn which masked the underlying issues for a little while that ended up returning much worse. Their latest diagnoses quoted me $5,071 to replace the CDF drum / clutch cylinder for the known root cause of a faulty design of the inner sleeve shifting out of place - which has since been redesigned. Ford has issued TSBs about this issue (22-2428, 23-2250). This matches NHTSA investigation PE22015 on 1.3 million F-150s for downshifts and lockups with over 138 complaints to date. We urgently need a full RECALL for this design flaw - it is endangering lives on the road and costing Ford customers.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11695956October 27, 2025
POWER TRAIN
The transmission failed at 116000 miles. Initially it was due to low oil level, never checked at the dealership in all the services I've had done. I added a quart to bring up to the property level. Had the fluid and filter changed the next day, and techs didn't say anything about what they found during the test drive they did. Ford then went straight to me needing a new transmission at $11000 for parts and labor. An independent technician that is Ford certified also looked at the vehicle and transmission and confirmed it's most likely the CDF clutch cylinder and the "Trashcan" as it's called. These are both known issues and it's why Ford updated the design after several failures at low miles. The independent mechanic quoted me at $7,000 for parts and labor and it's the same updated transmission.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11695385October 24, 2025
POWER TRAIN
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle experienced erratic and unexpected transmission shifting and a loss of motive power. The vehicle was taken to the local mechanic, who diagnosed that the transmission was faulty and needed to be repaired or possibly replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the failure started shortly after the vehicle was repaired under an Emissions recall. No further information was available. The failure mileage was 125,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11695135October 22, 2025
POWER TRAIN
Was driving my truck on 55 mph road, when truck started rough shifting and becoming unresponsive to the accelerator pedal, which cause my car to quickly decelerate on the road and become hazardous to others as my brake lights were not on (since I wasn’t actually braking). Another time at a stop light, I started trying to drive, and transmission stopped responding in the middle of the intersection, barely made it through before light turned red… had a child in the car with me too. Brought truck into Ford dealership to diagnose the issue, they said it was the CDF in the transmission, and this is a known and not uncommon issue. Seems crazy that this isn’t an issue Ford is fixing on the affected vehicles if it can cause people to get stuck in intersections with no way to move out of harms way, especially if this is a relatively common issue? No warning lights or anything indicating this was a problem prior to the issue. I had actually just had my truck at the dealership for 90k mile maintenance less than 1000 miles before this happened, and Ford gave me a “green checkmark” on my transmission being good at that appointment.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11694768October 21, 2025
POWER TRAIN, ENGINE
Transmission has lots of issue, clunky shifting, surges, weird noises. Happens every time you drive. Dealer said it was normal but it's not. I've driven plenty of these 10r80s and they didn't have this issue. Engine makes noises that are not on other examples of this engine, my dad has the same truck and had similar issues and had to spend thousands of dollars to fix an engineering defect in the cam phasers. Dealer also said these noises were normal while under warranty - I see countless posts on forums saying the same thing then for others, after warranty suddenly its a problem because a retail job pays 30-40% more than a warranty job. Such a scam and you just keep allowing it. There is simply no reason that the 10r80 transmission and 3.5 ecoboost gen 2 engines haven't been recalled yet. Ford has issued updated parts, admitted to engineering issues that caused these issues so why are customers forced to pay to fix engineered issues? They admited fault, they need to make it right for their customers instead of screwing us over.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11694588October 20, 2025
POWER TRAIN
The transmission failed at only 63,000 miles. Prior to the failure i had no codes or warning lights. It began to shift harshly and jump gears. At a stop light it would remain in 7th gear and then trying to get moving again would require a large amount of acceleration, then it suddenly would jump down to 1st gear and shoot ahead. This is a large pickup and i am concerned for the safety of pedestrians. Also, at faster speeds the transmission would suddenly downshift causing a large jerk and could easily result in a loss of control. After the transmission failed, i did some research online and was shocked to see so many similar postings from owners with this same transmission. Ford Motor Company agreed to pay a portion of the repair as they are fully aware this is a common problem with this 10 speed transmission. I hope you look into this as i feel it is an extreme safety issue for pedestrians as these are large pickups. Thank you.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11694394October 19, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Was listening to my radio in my 2018 f150 1min and the next the music stopped my phone stopped charging touch screen went black tried the soft reset nothing checked fuses nothing . Found out it’s my apim Ive also seen where a lot of people are saying they have had the same issue with this and it’s not a cheap fix one guy said he works at ford and done 15 in one day . Ford is suppose to be the best why isn’t there a recall on these . 98k miles and I have to spend $500-$1000 to be able to use my touch screen this is not right for anyone and this should be on ford . Believe I might be switching over to dodge now.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11694069October 17, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I have experienced a reoccurring issue with an hvac drain leak that creates black mold in the carpet this happened in many 2019 & 2020 f150 models. Some early on & some 6 years later (like my vehicle). This was covered in a prior TSB but did not always fix the problem nor did they replace the carpet (to fix the mold issue). Also, the TSB does not cover this issue out of the 36 month warranty. This is a health hazard due to the black mold, especially since their fix does not always cure the issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11694120October 17, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
We are having trouble with our rear-view backup camera not working properly like the F-250, F-350, and F-450 Super Duty trucks that are being recalled because their rearview camera images may not display correctly in certain lighting conditions. Our issues with the F-150 is the same as the others however ours has not been recalled and I think it should be.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11693757October 16, 2025
POWER TRAIN
Truck shifts hard and loses acceleration, sporadically. Several times in the middle of left turning intersections my truck would not accelerate, nearly causing other oncoming vehicles to t-bone me. Took it to an auto shop, they stated it is a dealer repair only Took it to Ford dealer, they suspect CDF drum bushing is shifted. Quoted me $10K My truck has been parked since April 2024, I pay $650.00 a month on it and Ford refuses to assist because I was 2000 miles over my extended warranty. I paid $40K for a vehicle that I drove for 20 months until April 2024 which its been parked for 1.5 years. Fast Forward to this week when I found out there is a class action lawsuit, I called on that, they said it could take several years for resolution and I should pay for the repair. I called Ford corporate, they said because there is no recall, they cannot help.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11693330October 14, 2025
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission failed to shift properly. Additionally, the contact stated that while the transmission was shifting gear, there was a clunking sound coming from the gear shifter. The power train warning light was illuminated. The contact used a handheld scanner and retrieved DTC: P07F6-00 (Gear 9 Incorrect Ratio Detected by PCM). The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where DTC: P07F6-00; was retrieved again, and the vehicle was diagnosed with transmission failure. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 96,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11693030October 13, 2025
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, ENGINE
When cold starting the engine, a rattling sound occurs caused by the cam phasers not aligning properly. My research shows that Ford claims this is not an issue, and has never issued a recall for this, however, I am worried that continued use might damage the engine further.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11693091October 13, 2025
POWER TRAIN
My truck would shift gears randomly and the transmission would slip every time I start to accelerate. I took it to the shop and they said that there was internal CDG cylinder failure. I looked it up and it seems as that this has been an issue with a lot of F-150's.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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