What ownership is like, what breaks at what mileage, what the repairs cost, and what to check before you buy one.
NHTSA complaints per catalog listing run from 0.68 (2020) to 2.54 (2015), against a generation median of 1.64, so no year gets near the 2.0x line. The pattern owners talk about is the 10-speed's harsh shifts from 2017, plus brake master cylinder recalls on the 3.5L trucks. Ad mentions run low across the middle years (3.5% to 4.7% of enriched ads for 2016-2019), and 2020 sits higher at 8.6% (51 of 593 ads). Ad mentions are not confirmed failures.
| Miles | Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60K-100K miles on 2017-2020 trucks (Autos of Chicago) | 3.5L EcoBoost cam phasers (rattle on cold start) | Phasers only $2,400-$2,750 at a specialist, $3,800-$4,500 at a dealer; full timing overhaul $2,850-$3,200 specialist, $4,600-$5,200+ dealer (Autos of Chicago). Empire Auto Protect puts a phaser replacement at $1,900-$3,200 (2026). Owner posts: $4,310 pretax customer-pay (2024); a $5,300 dealer quote on a 2017 at 116K miles (2023). | 11-14 book hours for the job. Ford issued TSB 21-2119 and 22-2200 and customer satisfaction programs 21N03 and 21N08; these are not safety recalls. Check whether a program applied to the truck you're looking at and whether the work was done. |
| Not verified | 10R80 10-speed automatic: harsh or erratic shifts (2017 and later) | Reflash 0.8-1.6 labor hours; remanufactured transmission $3,530-$5,158 before labor (ShopEarl). TSB 25-2126 (March 2025) addresses a clutch cylinder (Rohnert Park Transmission). Transmission Repair Cost mentions a solenoid pack and a class action. | The $3,530-$5,158 figure is the price of a remanufactured unit, the top of the range.Ask whether bulletins or reflashes were done, and feel for harsh 1-2 and 2-3 shifts on a cold drive. |
| any | Brake master cylinder leaks into the booster (several recall campaigns) | Free at a Ford dealer when the recall is open | Recall campaigns 20V332000 (2014-2017 3.5L), 22V150000 (2016-2018 3.5L) and 25V236000 (2017-2018 F-150) all describe brake fluid leaking from the front wheel circuit into the brake booster. Check by VIN that all of them are closed. |
| any | 10-speed transmission recalls (17V671000, 18V213000) and 2017 cluster power loss (17V053000) | Free at a Ford dealer when open | 17V671000: a shift linkage pin can come out, so the transmission may not respond to the shift lever. 18V213000: a roll pin may be missing, possibly causing loss of the Park function. 17V053000: the instrument cluster may lose power after cold starts on trucks with the eight-inch screen. Confirm by VIN. |
No year in this generation was flagged. A year is flagged by our rule only when all three hold: (1) its NHTSA complaints per catalog listing is at least 2.0x the median for its generation, (2) the share of ads that mention a problem is above the generation median, and (3) we track at least 30 listings for that year. The cutoff was fixed before we looked. Ad mentions are not failures, and a flag is a reason to inspect harder, not a verdict on any one car.
| Year | Complaints | Top components | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,425 | Service Brakes, Engine, Power Train | |
| 2016 | 1,686 | Service Brakes, Power Train, Engine | |
| 2017 | 1,066 | Power Train, Engine, Unknown Or Other | |
| 2018 | 1,835 | Power Train, Engine, Structure | |
| 2019 | 953 | Power Train, Engine, Unknown Or Other | |
| 2020 | 506 | Power Train, Engine, Unknown Or Other |
source: NHTSA complaints database (api.nhtsa.gov). Complaints are owner reports, not confirmed failures.
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We don't tell you to skip a year; we flag it by a fixed rule (see 'Years flagged' in each generation), and exactly one F-150 year trips it: 2004. That year has 7.57 NHTSA complaints per catalog listing (2,036 across 269 listings) against a Gen 11 median of 1.65, and ads mention a problem in 28 of 184 enriched ads (15.2%) against a 9.6% median, with the 'rust' flaw excluded from the count. Two more years come close on the first test and fail the second. 2005: 3.76 complaints per listing (2.3 times the Gen 11 median), but with rust excluded only 15 of 199 ads (7.5%) mention a problem against a 9.6% median. 2011: 4.92 complaints per listing against a Gen 12 median of 2.40 (2.05 times), but 15 of 317 ads (4.7%) against a 4.8% median. Ad mentions are not confirmed failures.
It depends on the engine and generation. Gen 10 (1997-2003): spark plugs that blow out of the two-valve V8's head. Gen 11 (2004-2008): spark plugs that break on removal in the 5.4L 3V, plus visibility complaints on 2004. Gen 12 (2009-2014): timing-chain stretch on 2011-2014 3.5L EcoBoost trucks. Gen 13 (2015-2020): cam phasers on the 3.5L and shift complaints on the 10-speed. Gen 14 (2021 on): recalls more than wear. Each is priced, with sources, in the generation sections.
On the 5.4L 3V (2004-2008 trucks), the two-piece plug can snap during removal. Dwells Automotive puts a trouble-free job at $300-$500, one or two broken plugs at $800-$1,000, and four or more at $1,200-$1,500+. Ford's interval is 100K miles, and the same source suggests pulling them near 80K. RepairPal's standard-job estimate is $299-$391; RepairPal members have filed 50 reports about plugs that are hard to remove.
For 2011-2014 trucks with a P0016 code, Go-Parts gives $2,000-$4,000+ for the chain job, and says wear often shows up between 70K and 100K miles. For 2017-2020 trucks with cold-start rattle, Autos of Chicago quotes phasers at $2,400-$2,750 at a specialist and $3,800-$4,500 at a dealer, with a full timing overhaul at $2,850-$3,200 and $4,600-$5,200+. Owner posts range from $4,310 (2024) to a $5,300 dealer quote (2023). These are shop and owner figures, not a quote for your truck.
Owners and shops report harsh shifts on 10R80 trucks (2017 and later). ShopEarl lists remanufactured units at $3,530-$5,158 before labor and a reflash at 0.8-1.6 labor hours; a March 2025 bulletin (TSB 25-2126) covers a clutch cylinder. We don't have a failure rate, only these reports, plus recalls 17V671000, 18V213000 and 22V188000 that cover linkage pins and a false pressure code. Ask for service records.
Our complaint-per-listing figures are measured against each generation's own median, so compare within a generation, not across. Within Gen 13, the range is 0.68 (2020) to 2.54 (2015); within Gen 14, 1.09 (2022) to 1.62 (2021), and our data has no complaint count for 2023 onward. No year in Gen 10, 12, 13 or 14 trips our rule.