Blog Posts
19 Glaring Problems With Ford Pickups Everyone Just Ignores
- by Natasha Brown
- – on Sep 14, 2018
Ford was responsible for the creation of the very first pickup truck back in 1925, and the company has continued to dominate the market ever since. Despite their economic success, the modern pickup trucks created by Ford are far from perfect. In fact, many of their models are blighted by quite serious faults, which for some reason do not deter the great American public from continue to spend their hard-earned cash on these vehicles.
Since the very first Ford Model T Runabout with a pickup body rolled off the production line in 1925, Ford has led the way in developing new innovations for pickups. And this has led to the company continuing to outsell their rivals in the pickup truck market. In 2017, Ford sold almost 900,000 of its F-Series trucks, the range which includes the lightweight F-150 and the seriously heavy duty F-550, outselling competitors like the Chevy Silverado and Ram Pickup.
In fact, in 2016, the F-Series had been the best-selling pickup truck in the US for forty years in a row and has sold an incredible 40 million vehicles since the trucks first went on sale in 1948. Despite their reputation as environmentally unfriendly gas guzzlers, modern motorists still love to buy and to drive Ford pickups – despite the fact that these well-loved vehicles have more than their fair share of flaws!
19 Rupturing Airbags
Safety belts aren’t the only safety features on the Ford F-Series which have let drivers down. In 2017 Ford was forced to issue a recall for a number of F-150 pickup trucks which may have had faulty airbags.
The problematic airbags had been found to rupture upon crashing, showering the occupants of the vehicle with tiny metal shards.
So actually harming the driver and passengers rather than protecting them. Luckily. No one was seriously hurt, and Ford replaced the potentially dodgy airbags free of charge, but the company’s reputation for safety took a bit of a dent in the process.
18 Faulty Brakes
Safety belts and airbags may be relatively recent automobile safety innovations, but the good old fashioned brakes have been around since day one. Sadly, Ford hasn’t even managed to get this basic function right in some of their cars and pickup trucks, with several customers reporting some serious issues with the brakes of their 2016 F-150 models. Some experienced sliding brakes – which must have been a scary experience – others found that their brake pedal would sometimes slip to the floor. This could have had serious repercussions for Ford pickup drivers, but amazingly no-one was hurt as a direct result of this particular flaw.
17 Engine Problems
The Ford F-Series has been plagued by engine problems in recent years, so much so that the US Government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration even held an inquiry into the failures reported by the owners of F-150 pickup trucks in 2013, after it received reports of sudden engine failure from almost 100 owners. Over a thousand Ford drivers reported similar issues to the company itself, and it was a miracle that no-one was seriously hurt as a result of their engine suddenly failing during an overtaking maneuver. The F-Series motto may be “Built Ford tough” but it seems that this doesn’t apply to the truck’s engines.
16 Faulty Spark Plugs
Spark plugs regularly need changing in any car – even those who are mechanically challenged can usually have a go at changing their spark plugs.
However, if you drive a Ford F-250 or a Ford Triton with a V8 engine, look out, as your spark plugs may find themselves ejected at rather inopportune moments!
In addition, spark plugs in F-150 pickup trucks from 2011 have a tendency to break while in position, leaving owners raking about in the darkest corners of their engine to find the missing pieces. Either way, what should be a simple repair job suddenly becomes an expensive trip to the local garage.
15 Suspension Issues
The 2011 models of the larger F-250 and F-350 pickup trucks came with more than their fair share of issues too, particularly with regard to the vehicle’s suspension. Drivers soon noticed that these trucks weren’t as steady on their wheels as you might expect, with the culprit soon being identified as an unsupportive and frankly unsteady suspension system. Some of these flaws were identified soon after the trucks had driven off the lot, long before there should have been any natural wear and tear on the suspension. Driving a vehicle which has a tendency to wobble in unexpected ways can be a bit hair-raising for the person behind the wheel!
14 Electric Windows Get Stuck
In the grand scheme of things, finding that the electric windows on your vehicle frequently get stuck, either refusing to open in the first place, or declining to close when you need them to, is not a major issue.
After all, a car with dodgy windows will still get you from A to B – it just means that wet weather or thieves can also get into your truck more easily!
The electric windows on several models of the Ford F-Series have proven to be more than a little contrary, particularly from 2004 onwards; something to check out if you’re buying a second-hand model.
13 Myford System
MyFord Touch is an in-car communication and entertainment system designed especially for Ford vehicles and based on technologies developed by Microsoft. If you know anything about computing, then that will probably have set your alarm bells ringing already, as IT geeks are very familiar with the failings of Microsoft software. The issue with MyFord Touch, which is installed in many of their new vehicles, including the F-Series pickup trucks, is that it has proved to be a very unstable system – both in terms of the technology behind the screen, and the screen itself, which has an alarming tendency to crack at the slightest touch.
12 Corrosion
In the early noughties, Ford started to use aluminum in manufacturing the hoods of some of their vehicles including their F-Series pickups.
Unfortunately for those who bought these cars and trucks, the aluminum they used had not been properly insulated, leading to issues with corrosion.
Even more worryingly, Ford knew about this issue quite early on, yet failed to warn consumers that they were buying vehicles that could be only a few months away from becoming a rust-bucket. Unsurprisingly, some angry drivers took Ford to court over the flaw, although ultimately the lawsuit was thrown out by a New Jersey judge.
11 Questionable Durability
Using aluminum in parts of the bodywork is bad enough, but from 2016 onwards, Ford started to make most of the exterior panels of its popular F-150 pickup truck from this much lighter metal. Lighter may be what you’re looking for if you’re buying a sports car, but for those who were in the market for a rough and ready pickup truck, it didn’t quite meet their requirements. Ford, who had always prided themselves on their stability and durability, soon found that some of their trucks weren’t up to scratch, and the company saw a decline in F-150 sales as a result.
10 Air Condition Faults
Like the dodgy electric windows, a fault with the air conditioning system in your pickup truck is unlikely to be a deal-breaker if you’re thinking about buying – unless you happen to live somewhere hot and sunny, of course!
However, Ford has received several complaints about the air conditioning systems in their F-Series pickups.
Sometimes the systems won’t turn on until the truck has been running for ten minutes, leading to a sticky start to your journey, while other systems turn on fine, but randomly turn themselves off at inopportune moments. Repairs could often prove costly but are essential for summer driving.
9 Recall For Safety Belts
The quality and reliability of safety features in your vehicle, on the other hand, should never be compromised, which is why some of the most serious issues faced by the Ford F-Series have revolved around parts which are supposed to keep the drivers and passengers safe. In 2017, Ford recalled thousands of F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450, and F-550 trucks which had been installed with manually operated passenger seats, as opposed to the models with power seats (more on them later). It turns out that the safety belt buckles on these manual seats had not been properly welded into position, making them pretty useless as a safety device.
8 Loose Power Seats
Remember the safety belt issue which was only found in F-Series trucks with manually operated seats? Well, it turns out that even drivers who opted for the models with power-assisted seats didn’t get off scot-free!
Ford was forced to issue a recall for over 200,000 F-150 pickup trucks in 2016 after it was found that these power seats were actually loose, with the front seat adjuster often breaking off completely from the interior of the car.
Needless to say, unsecured seats in a fast-moving vehicle are extremely dangerous. No safety belts in the world would keep you safe in a collision if your whole seat was unrestrained!
7 2018 Recalls
Surely a car builder afflicted by flaws as significant as the ones on this list would have learned from their mistakes over the years? And yet, if Ford’s 2018 record is anything to go by, their F-Series is still racking up the complaints and still affected by faults and issues. The company has already issued several recalls for their F-Series pickup trucks in 2018, including one for problems with the transmission on thousands of F-150 and another for faults in the F-150 models fitted with 3.5-liter v6 engines which could cause the engine to actually lock up while the vehicle was actually in motion.
6 Poor Handling
And the issues with the F-150 model from 2018 don’t end there. Drivers have also reported issues with handling – not a fault in the conventional sense, but certainly not a great selling point for the vehicle either.
Pickups aren’t exactly well known for their handling, but the F-150 has a particularly poor record on this issue, proving to be clunky and awkward, especially if you take it off-roading.
You might just enjoy a smooth road on the highway, but if the surface is even a little on the bumpy side, then make sure you keep tight hold of the steering wheel.
5 Noisy Interior
Another issue which affects many pickup trucks, and which Ford has done little to resolve in their F-Series, is the noisy interior. In fact, many drivers have said that problems with cabin noise have only deteriorated in recent years – since Ford started using aluminum for their bodywork, in fact. The noise, which sounds something like high-speed wind mixed with a good deal of door rattling, seems to start when the vehicle hits about 45mph and just gets worse and worse as you speed up. Ford is yet to offer a permanent solution, so the best thing you can do for now is to turn up the tunes on your in-car entertainment system.
4 Problems With Transmission Roll Pins
This isn’t the first time that the transmission of the Ford F-Series trucks has been mentioned on this list.
Owners have reported several issues of the years with both the vehicles’ automatic and manual transmission systems, but there was one particular flaw which led to some serious bad press for Ford.
A problem with the transmission roll pins of thousands of Ford pickups had the potential to prevent trucks from moving forwards when the vehicle was in drive, as well as sometimes allowing them to roll and jerk forward even when the driver had put their manual transmission into park.
3 Incompatible Infotainment
We have already seen that many drivers have experienced some annoyingly irritating interactions with the MyFord Touch in-car entertainment system. Aside from technology failures and cracking screens, however, the MyFord Touch system does have one serious flaw for a high-tech, supposedly compatible system; some people find it difficult to actually connect their cell phones and devices with MyFord Touch in the first place. It seems to defeat the purpose of a compatible in-car entertainment system if you can’t get your devices to talk to your car – and will probably just lead to frustration, road rage, and a dangerously distracted driver.
2 Issues With Truck Doors
There may be flaws with the engines, the transmission, the brakes and even some of the most important safety features of pickup trucks in the Ford F-Series, but the most problematic area of the vehicles is something a little less dramatic; the doors.
Almost two million F-150 trucks were recalled in 2016 after it was found that the door latches froze when water seeped into the latch, which could lead to them swinging open while the truck was in motion.
Some later trucks were found to spring open, in the event of side panel collisions, leaving the passengers at increased risk of serious injury after an accident.
1 Expensive For A Pickup
The Ford F-Series may be one of the best-selling pickups in America, but if you’re looking for a bargain buy, then this might not be the truck for you. If you’re buying a brand new vehicle off the lot, then prices for the most basic F-150 models start at around $30,000, but once you start adding a few optional extras, the price will soon start to grow. In fact, the average price for an F-150 truck is $45,000 – significantly more than some of Ford’s rivals in this competitive marketplace. Splash out on one of the bigger trucks in the F-Series, and you could end up paying well over $50,000 to drive a pickup home.
