2009 Ford F-150
This year drew an ordinary 324 complaints for a Ford F-150 — the model's median is 3,077. What they were about is the unusual part: 10.2% of them mention accelerated, against 4% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Ford F-150 was redesigned for 2009. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 324 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 3,077 |
| Involving a crash | 28 |
| Involving a fire | 8 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 16 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- accelerated — 10.2% of this year's complaints, against 4% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: accelerated, cruise control, slowed, vehicle neutral.
- cab — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.3% across the other years of this generation (5.1×).
- pressure — 7.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.5% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: pressure, apply.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
WHILE ENTERING INTERSTATE I-10, EARLY MORNING TRAFFIC. TRAFFIC MOVING AT 20 - 25 MPH. ENGINE MADE A SERIES OF REVVING NOISES. TRIED TO APPLY BREAKS TO MERGE OVER. BREAK PEDDLE WOULD NOT ACTIVATE. STUCK IN UP POSITION. I APPLIED BOTH FEET AND PRESSED FULL PRESS…
CRACKED EXHAUST MANIFOLD 2009 FORD F150 5.4 TRITON V8. I HAVE NOW CRACKED THE SECOND RIGHT SIDE ENGINE EXHAUST MANIFOLD. THIS IS IRRITATING AS EXHAUST FUMES ENTER THE PASSENGER CAB WHEN STOPPED.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 11V049000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 09V150000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford F-150 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2009 Ford F-150? What happened to yours?
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