2016 Ford F-150
This year drew an ordinary 5,088 complaints for a Ford F-150 — the model's median is 2,553. What they were about is the unusual part: 18.4% of them mention fluid, against 6.7% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 3 of the Ford F-150, which began in 2015 and ran to 2020. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 5,088 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 2,553 |
| Involving a crash | 146 |
| Involving a fire | 66 |
| Recalls | 14 |
| EPA combined | 18.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- fluid — 18.4% of this year's complaints, against 6.7% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: fluid, cylinder, master, master cylinder.
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 DRIVING MY TRUCK I HAD TOTAL LOSS OF BRAKE FUNCTION WITHOUT WARNING. FURTHER INVESTIGATION SHOWED THE FLUID RESERVOIR WAS EMPTY DESPITE NO EVIDENCE OF LEAKS. I FEEL THIS IS INLINE WITH THE BRAKE BOOSTER/MASTER CYLINDER RECALLS OF 2013-2014 YEAR MODELS. I…
NO BRAKES. TOOK TO FORD. DOES NOT FALL UNDER CURRENT RECALL OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER 20V-332. HOWEVER MY FORD DEALER IS CHARGING ME TO REPLACE THE SAME EXACT PARTS UNDER THE RECALL. BRAKE BOOSTER PUMP AND BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER. EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. NO BRAKES…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V894000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
- 19V278000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
- 18V568000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V652000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 17V526000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V331000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES
- 16V475000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V767000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 14. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2016 Ford F-150? What happened to yours?
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