Page 6 of 6 · complaints 251–266 of 266

2021 Ford F-150 Hybrid complaints

Owner reports filed with NHTSA about this vehicle, newest first and reproduced as filed. They are unverified accounts: one proves nothing, and a pattern across many is the thing worth reading. Back to the full 2021 record →

Service Brakes
Filed Dec 12, 2021MO

While towing an RV trailer, the trucks brake controller failed to send signal to trailer when brakes were applied relying on truck only to stop load. The truck recognized trailer was attached but when brake controller was squeezed message on dash was “No Trailer” Stopped at dealer in Kerrville Tx but problem was not seen on scan tool. This issue seems to be intermittent with no warning message when it happens. Manually monitoring brake controller is the only way to determine if the trucks brake controller is functioning correctly. Consumer took the truck in to 2 different dealers with this trailer brake issue. Both dealers wanted to assume the truck loses connection with trailer. Consumer stated truck does not, the trailer brakes just stop working. Consumer stated has taken the truck to 2 different dealers with this trailer brake issue. Both dealers want to assume the truck loses connection with trailer. Consumer truck does not but trailer brakes just stop working. The attached picture shows me squeezing the brake controller while showing the brakes lights coming on on the rear camera.

Unknown or Other
Filed Nov 27, 2021TX

I had my vehicle on cruise control set at 76mph I switched lanes to pass another vehicle and while still on cruise control I sped my truck to approx. 80mph to pass and after doing that my truck kept accelerating on its own. It reached a speed of 90mph during this time I was pushing on the brakes which did slow the truck but as soon as I would let go it would accelerate back up. After about 15 - 20 seconds it finally stopped doing it and the truck worked fine afterwards. I tried to reproduce the action but it did not do it again.

Service Brakes, Air › Antilock › Control Unit/Module
Filed Nov 27, 2021CO

2021 F150 XLT Powerboost (4x4, 9420 miles). Brakes failed while at a complete stop and truck propelled forward despite brake pedal being being pressed down. I was in a fast food drive through at a complete stop with my foot on the brake pedal and the instrument cluster went crazy, warning lights flashing, malfunction messages for what seemed like everything (believe pre-collision, ABS, traction, hill, and some others- cant recall for sure), warning chimes sounding non stop, the brake pedal dropped towards the floor board, and truck started moving forward despite pressing pedal as far down as I could; this all happened almost instantly. Pumped breaks (not sure if it did anything) but I barley stopped in time from hitting the car in front of me, and I left a far amount of room between us initially. After this, when limping the truck through the drive through (was stuck in the line at this point), it took about 10ft to stop from a 1-2mph roll. After clearing the drive through line, I was limping the truck to open area of parking lot and the truck randomly bucked (like bump starting a manual) and all the instrument cluster warnings disappeared and brake pedal pressure and braking performance returned. Just as how the issue instantly occurred, it also disappeared instantly. Despite all the warnings on the cluster, only ABS Fault and Pre-Collision show on the FordPass app. Prior to to this, there were no issues. The vehicle has yet to be inspected by Ford as the service department

Electrical System
Filed Nov 18, 2021TX

Trailer brake controller spontaneously fails while towing. This is an extremely well documented failure for the 2021 F-150 7-pin connector and is a very serious safety problem. The trailer connection was verified and the trailer brake was manually activated at the start of towing to ensure it was working correctly. Spontaneously during towing, the trailer brake suddenly stopped working. This was confirmed by manually activating the trailer brake switch. This is a very well documented problem experienced by a large number of owners: https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/trailer-brake-not-working.3039/

Electrical System › Integrated Trailer Brake Control
Filed Oct 25, 2021VA

Towing faults. Trailer brake faults. System resets itself after truck shuts down and problems go away until an unknown later time. These problems can happen at any time while towing and can cause the tow vehicle to loose control especially when brakes are applied. Happened many times over a 4800 mile trip. The work around fix is to stop every now and then, turn off truck and wait 15 min before reattaching trailer wiring. This problem has not be reproduced by a dealer because the problem goes away after the truck sits and resets itself. At first a trailer module fault would appear when the problem started, after some time the faults would not appear and the trailer brake module would just stop working without warning.

Electrical System › Adas › Autonomous/Self Driving › SoftwareCrash1 injured1 killed
Filed Oct 8, 20212,000 milesAL

The contact's father owned a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while his father was driving at 75-80 MPH on self-driving mode, the electronic steering wheel inadvertently locked, causing him to lose control of the vehicle and the vehicle crashed into an exit sign on the interstate. The air bags deployed. Then, the vehicle accelerated uncontrollably 260 yards and crashed into a tree where the vehicle came to a stop. A police report was filed. The contact stated his father sustained injuries and was transported out of the vehicle to the hospital by emergency units. The contact stated his father deceased 4 hours later. The vehicle was towed to a tow lot, where it was totaled. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 2,000.

Electrical System
Filed Sep 27, 2021IL

The issue is with the trailer brake control system on the 2021 Ford F-150 truck. During normal driving/towing conditions the trailer brake will stop operating. This is a serious safety issue as it puts the safety of myself and others at risk if I am not able to control or stop the vehicle due to lack of braking control. The same problem has been reported on online forums with no solutions provide by dealers. I have not taken the vehicle to the dealer yet for this issue. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone. There were no warning indications prior to the failure. I noticed the failure when applying the brakes when stopping for a traffic light.

Unknown or Other
Filed Sep 24, 2021KY

On several occasions while waiting in an intersection to make a left turn, the vehicle loses power or something. I can put the pedal to the floor and I get no response from the vehicle. Eventually after stepping on gas the truck seems to reimage and go. The only problem is I have nearly been T-Boned thinking I will have the power to make a left turn before oncoming traffic gets to me. I suspect it has something to do with the electrical power is trying to switch to engine power and something is failing. I have no confidence in this truck anymore.

Power Train
Filed Sep 18, 2021TX

Fails to accelerate when switching from electric power to gas power. This happens when pulling out of a parking lot onto a Houston,Tx feeder street after the truck has set for awhile and on electric power when started and medium to full power is used to merge into traffic. The switch over from appears to work but shows no turbo boost causing a lack of power to merge safely and this only happens after first start the rest of the day truck operates normally or until it is shut off again for awhile making this truck a accident waiting to happen. Yes the service manager witnessed this so left truck to be repaired but since no engine check lights or codes he had to call ford without knowing all the answers from one little short ride they came back with a answer that was unacceptable blaming it on a clutch operation that was normal. If so why does it happen only after new start and corrects itself?

Unknown or Other1 injured
Filed Sep 7, 2021TX

My Sunroof exploded. I was driving down the freeway on a Sunday morning. There were no other vehicles around me and noting overhead anywhere near me. I heard a loud bang similar to a shotgun blast and my sunroof glass shards began to rain down onto me. The sunroof was closed but the moonroof cover was opened. There is little to no chance that anything struck the sunroof because I was alone on the road with no other vehicle within many yards. Also there was a lot of glass in and on my truck bed so it seems like the glass exploded outwards before gravity took over. I was cut up on my arms, hands and on my forehead luckily I was wearing a hat and glasses so the glass did not get into my eyes. Even more luckily my children were not in the car considering their car seats were full of shattered glass. Also I am lucky there were no vehicles around me because this explosion was clearly a distraction. Also, my truck is less than 2 weeks old and has just over 500 miles on it. There was no warning or known issues with the glass considering it is a brand new truck. I have learned that Ford f150 sunroofs are tempered glass not laminate which causes them to break in this dangerous way as opposed to crack like a windshield would.

Electrical System › Integrated Trailer Brake Control
Filed Aug 30, 2021ID

THE TRAILER BRAKING SYSTEM ON MY NEW 2021 F150 POWERBOOST MALFUNCTIONS EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. WHILE TOWING MY 27 FT AIRSTREAM TRAILER THE BRAKES WILL OFTEN STOP WORKING. THEY ALWAYS WORK WHEN I BEGIN A TRIP, BUT THEN THE BRAKES FAIL DURING THE TRIP. I RECEIVE A NOTICE WHEN ATTEMPTING TO MANUALLY APPLY TRAILER BRAKES FROM INSIDE THE CAB THAT THE TRAILER IS NOT RECOGNIZED. SEVERAL OTHER NEW F150 POWERBOOST OWNERS ARE EXPERIENCING THE SAME ISSUE AND THEIR EXPERIENCES CAN BE FOUND ON THE F150GEN14.COM USER FORUM. I HAVE INCLUDED A LINK TO THE FORUM THREAD. https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/trailer-brake-not-working.3039/ SO FAR NONE OF US HAVE ANY SUCCESS WORKING WITH FORD DEALERS. I HAVE TRIED SEVERAL AND THEY ARE NOT HELPFUL. I ALSO CALLED FORD CUSTOMER SERVICE BUT THEY COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING IN THEIR DATABASE INDICATING THERE IS A PROBLEM. THE ONLY CLUE I'VE FOUND SO FAR, FOR MY TRUCK, HAS TO DO WITH THE SEVEN PIN PLUG. WE HAVE TRIED TWO DIFFERENT TESTING DEVICES AND BOTH SHOW THERE IS ABOUT A 6 SECOND DELAY SENDING A SIGNAL TO THE EBRAKE PIN. THE OTHER PINS FOR LIGHTS FIRE IMMEDIATELY, BUT THE EBRAKE PIN HAS A DELAY. OTHERS ARE LOOKING AT THE BRAKE MODULE IN THE TRUCK AND OTHER PROGRAMMING ISSUES. AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE USER FORUM THERE ARE MANY THEORIES AND NO SOLID SOLUTIONS YET. I HAVE HAD MY AIRSTREAM BRAKES INSPECTED TWICE AND THEY HAVE NOT FOUND ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY. THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE BECAUSE A 7K LB TRAILER PUSHING YOU DOWN A STEEP MOUNTAIN

Electrical System › Integrated Trailer Brake Control
Filed Aug 30, 2021MI

When towing a trailer with trailer brakes, the trailer brakes are tested and confirmed to be working at the beginning of the journey, but at some point during the journey, the trailer brakes will stop working with no indication compromising my stopping ability. This issues has occurred multiple time and can confirm there are no problems with the trailer brakes themselves. This same issue is being reported by multiple other 2021 F150 owners.

Electrical System › Integrated Trailer Brake Control
Filed Aug 15, 2021MI

Trailer brakes although operational at start of journey intermittently fail to operate some time thereafter at which point they stay failed. This happens without any warning or notice to the driver. All indications are that trailer is attached correctly e.g. vehicle self diagnosis of trailer lights shows lights operational and trailer connected. Operating the trailer brake via. dash brake controller either shows normal BUT no trailer braking occurs OR will show an error message "No Trailer Attached" but trailer attachment is verified through trailer lights shown (by truck) as operational. Safety implications of this should be obvious - no trailer brakes will force truck to stop truck+trailer combo using only the truck brakes, leading to drastically increased stopping distance or possibility of brake failure e.g. on long downhill stretch of road. Dealer is unable to reproduce the problem, has suggested changing brake controller (but really for lack of other ideas) and agrees that the physical fit/dimensions of the trailer plug itself seem poor quality compared to other trucks - possible cause? Other instances of owners experiencing this problem are documented in this forum thread: https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/trailer-brake-not-working.3039

Electrical System
Filed Aug 6, 2021NC

I purchased a new Hybtid 2021 Platinum Ford F-150 in March. On Wednesday, August 5th, I reported to Ford I received a warning light “your charging system required service soon.” Since I had the truck serviced one week before, I contacted the dealer and the earliest they could see me was next Tuesday. ( specialist has to work on the truck). Since I was out of town located in Boone, NC, I went to their local Ford dealer and reported my problem. The earliest they could see me was one week from now. I drove the truck for two days with no additional warning lights. I stopped the truck under a shade tree with the truck running (in electrical mode) to have lunch with my wife. I left the AC on and my dog in the truck. For safety reasons, I opened the passenger door to keep an eye on the dog since he had heart disease. About 20 minutes later I noticed my dog panting. I went into the truck and the AC was blowing hot air. The car’s battery charging system light was on and the battery light was on. I turned off the truck and put my dog in a cool location. Since the dog has end stage heart disease, I am confident my dog would not had survived in this hot weather if I did not catch this problem early. I restarted the truck, drove the truck around, the warning lights did not turn in and the AC worked fine. Since EV hybrid trucks can run indefinitely beyond 30 minutes with the user option to turn the generator pack turned on, there is absolutely no warning this type of issue can occur. I am

Unknown or Other
Filed Jun 19, 2021NV

When slowing down the truck lurches forward when going back into electric and/or gas mode, and has nearly caused my truck to collide with the vehicle in front of me. The truck will pick up speed when slowing down, as when downshifting and switching out/in electric to gas mode it propels the truck forward even while firmly pressing the brake.

Service Brakes
Filed Jun 9, 2021NC

I bought a new 2021 F-150 Powerboost exactly 60 days ago, drove approximately 1500 miles until I completely lost brakes on the car almost causing an accident. I brought the car over to the dealer Cross-Roads Ford of APEX and after one day with my truck, they diagnosed the issue, made software updates to all modules, and returned the car. I got the car and within 5 minutes from the dealer, lost brakes again and had to manage to stop the vehicle... Returned to the dealer and it's in for diagnosis again but they asked me to contact Ford. This is not acceptable, I put my family at risk twice and possibly others in the road with this truck. Opened a case with Ford CAS-32036511-Y0W3W4.

Reading these

NHTSA publishes every complaint as the owner wrote it and investigates only a fraction. Spelling, capitalisation and judgement are the filer’s own. What carries weight is repetition: the same component failing the same way across many filings, and whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.

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