2021 Ford F-150
This year drew an ordinary 5,121 complaints for a Ford F-150 — the model's median is 2,553. What they were about is the unusual part: 13.1% of them mention visibility, against 4.9% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Ford F-150 was redesigned for 2021. 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.
| Complaints filed | 5,121 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 2,553 |
| Involving a crash | 70 |
| Involving a fire | 23 |
| Recalls | 29 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- visibility — 13.1% of this year's complaints, against 4.9% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: visibility, wipers, windshield wipers, confirmed parts.
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 using windshield wipers, the wiper arms detached. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V250000 (Visibility). The approximate failure mileage was 15,200.
while driving 55 MPH, the contact activated the front windshield wipers, and the driver’s side wiper arm separated from the wiper motor. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The dealer was contacted and stated that the failure was a known failure and confirmed that…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V986000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 21V090000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 21V805000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V533000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 21V653000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V381000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 21V407000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 22V142000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 29. 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 2021 Ford F-150? What happened to yours?
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