general problems of the 2020 Ford Expedition - part 2

The transmission failed. It is being rebuilt when the dealership can get to it. So it's available until then. The transmission would slip, lag shifting or slam into gear sporadically and unpredictably. This caused inconvenience at best and erratic vehicle behavior that endangered myself and other drivers at worst. This has been confirmed by the dealer who recommended a rebuild with improved parts to correct this know condition/failure. Yes the Ford dealer inspected the transmission. There we never any warnings or messages to indicate anything is wrong. The symptoms progressed for a couple days before I brought it to Ford.

While overtaking another vehicle on the interstate at 75 mph, a loud clunk was heard and drive power was temporarily lost as the car slowed by 20 mph. The transmission subsequently reengaged, enabling the vehicle to regain speed. At that time, there was no traffic behind. No warning lights appeared, and the dashboard gauge indicated normal transmission temperature. The transmission fluid had been changed approximately 5,000 miles earlier during the 100,000-mile service. Since this event occurred late Friday afternoon, I was unable to contact the dealer.

I am writing to bring attention to what I believe is a serious and ongoing issue related to the design of my vehicle’s transmission system. I recently contacted Ford motor corp. Regarding this matter and was assigned a case number; however, the case was open and closed within a 5-minute conversation. I was informed that there are currently no known issues or recalls related to the transmission in my vehicle. Despite this, there is a problem I continue to experience recurring transmission problems that raise significant safety concerns while operating the vehicle at various speeds. Erratic and unreliable shifting, the transmission often feels like it is “floating” between gears, shifting abruptly, or sometimes not shifting at all. Slipping gear, there are frequent instances many of which I would consider close calls where the transmission slips during acceleration, causing a sudden and unexpected loss of power. These issues make it extremely unsafe to perform routine driving maneuvers such as pulling out from a stop sign into moving highway traffic, crossing busy intersections, merging onto highways, or responding quickly to changing traffic conditions. The inconsistent vehicle response under normal driving conditions puts not only my family, but others on the road, at significant risk. Based on my own experience and further research, I am concerned that this may be a broader, well-documented issue that has not been adequately addressed by the manufacturer. The Ford dealerships are aware of this problem and are so inundated that the current dealership cannot even see my vehicle for over a month and I am told have parts delay due to the repair demand. Given the nature and potential danger of these transmission problems, I respectfully urge a thorough investigation into this matter. Thank you for your attention to this serious concern.

Transmission exhibits harsh shifting and slippage. One scary example is when accelerating at highway speeds, transmission will occasionally and suddenly drop into first gear causing complete loss of power to the wheels. On occasion will also display transmission warning on dash and lock into 4th gear, causing vehicle to exhibit downshift breaking and rapidly slow vehicle when in traffic at highway speeds.

Transmission losing power while driving. This is a known safety hazard with this 10r80 10 speed transmission with a poorly designed cdf drum. Ford chooses to wait and hope for power train warranty to expire so can be fixed at customer’s expense. This is a safety issue. If I was entering a roadway and needed to accelerate and car had no power, a terrible accident could happen.

While driving on the interstate (I-35) and attempting to pass a vehicle, the transmission went out of gear and felt like it was in neutral for a few seconds and then ‘clunked” back into gear finally. This happened 4 times that day. This happens almost every time we go on a trip with this vehicle and is extremely dangerous to my family as well as other drivers. This seems to be a common issue with this model/year. It’s been reported to our dealer multiple times and they attempt to reprogram but doesn’t change anything. They said there’s no other fix. I have extended warranty.

Ongoing problem already had 2 repairs done to transmission. Gears o not shift properly when the gears go from 3-4 and 6-7. If I am not careful when I press on the gas and try to accelerate it does not shift gears and gets stuck on and my truck will not move more than 5-10 mph while I am trying to get on the highway at times with trailers coming full speed ahead behind me. I have reported this issue many times. There has been no remedy. The gears get stuck and make a jerking motion and movement causing truck to slow and barely move. It is not just a one time thing so I cant give a specific date as it happens often.

Component/system failure: the vehicle is experiencing a catastrophic transmission failure (specifically the 10r80 transmission) beyond what is described in Ford TSB 24-2101. The transmission slips significantly and loses all power transmission while in motion. Safety risk: my safety and the safety of other motorists are at extreme risk. While driving at highway speeds (approx. 65-70 mph), the vehicle suddenly loses the ability to maintain speed or accelerate. This causes an immediate, unexpected deceleration in high-speed traffic, nearly resulting in rear-end collisions. The system takes several seconds to "reset" or catch a gear, during which time I have zero control over the vehicle's propulsion. This is an intermittent but recurring failure that makes the vehicle unpredictable and life-threatening to operate in traffic. Confirmation/inspection: the problem has been confirmed by a Ford dealership service center and a secondary certified independent mechanic. Both confirmed the transmission is failing and cited TSB 24-2101 as the diagnostic path. The Ford dealership inspected the vehicle and confirmed that a full transmission replacement is required, but stated they would not provide financial assistance as the vehicle is just past the default warranty, despite the TSB acknowledging a known manufacturing defect. Symptoms/warning lamps: symptoms began approximately August 2025. There were no warning lamps prior to the first failure, although it flashes lights temporarily when the problem occurs. The primary symptom is a sudden "free-spinning" or rattling engine sensation followed by a complete loss of forward momentum. The issue has grown progressively worse over the last months and as such is not safely drivable.

Driving and transmission gear bumping hard when shifting gears. Have pulled out twice to pass and transmission made hard bump and I could not go anywhere. The last time this happened was 7/29/25 and it made a lot of clanking noise and the faulty light came on. I let off the gas and it went back in gear and I made it home and have not drove it since. Ford dealership said there was no recall on transmission but I have read alot of complaints from other 2020 Expedition owners about this problem I have 70,000. Plus miles and have taken extreme care of this vehicle.

We bought this truck new. When accelerating in “normal” transmission, mode, it would downshift and the turbos would kick in at the same time giving an unwanted surge of power. I found that driving in “sports” mode would give me more normal acceleration. Another issue I had as it got older was getting a big clank from the transmission when putting it in gear, especially in the morning when cold. I described it as hitting an anvil with a hammer. I took it to our local Ford dealer in carthage, missouri in early January 2025. The service rep said this was normal and I should let the truck warm up before shifting into gear. I told him I parked in the garage and that was not possible. He did not schedule an appointment to check it. About two weeks later on February 5, 2025 with 57,796 miles I returned to the dealer and insisted they check it before the warranty expired. They found nothing wrong. On the weekend from [xxx], I drove approximately 700 miles. During this weekend when accelerating to pass cars at highway speeds the truck would lose complete power like the transmission had shifted into neutral. This happened at least three times. I took the truck back to the Ford dealership on August 7, 2025 with mileage of 66,683. They said the transmission needed replaced. My cost was $9914. 95. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 26v344000 (seat belts), 26v368000 (structure) and 26v402000 (power train); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. Additionally, the contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle jerked and stalled and needed to be towed on several occasions. An unknown dealer was initially notified of the failure during an oil change appointment, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the vehicle had become undrivable and was parked at the residence. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

Hard downshift, loss of power.

The contact owns a 2024 Ford Expedition the contact stated while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as intended and gear shift operates independently. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic to be diagnoses. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified on the failure and transferred the contact to NHTSA to file a complaint. The approximate failure mileage was 127,000.

Failure of transmission, leading to unsafe operation on roadway.

Info sent to Ford in working with cust service w/o action: our 2020 Expedition had 4 separate instances of slipping out of gear during a road trip (2 instances on 7/11 and 2 on 7/19). During each incident, the vehicle slipped gear at highway speed, rpms maxed out on the dial, lost all acceleration and significant speed, and the vehicle remained unresponsive for several (3-5) seconds until finally accelerating after the unresponsive period. It goes without saying that completely losing gear at highway speed while navigating traffic is a serious life and safety issue. Having that occur four times on a single round trip presents unreasonable risk. We documented the mileage and engine conditions by taking a picture of the dash after recovering from each occurrence. Those details were shared with the krieger Ford service center on 7/22. That Ford service team was not able to recover fault codes from this information. Without being able to identify a root cause based on lack of fault codes, Ford service performed a transmission relearn on 7/22. The service team confirmed this step is an initial measure due to lack of codes and not being able to see inside the sealed transmission. Abandoning further assessment in favor of a potential but unlikely quick-fix may be appropriate with an inconvenience issue, but not acceptable on one with such serious consequences. I recognize that further assessment will require additional cost. The assessment cost relative to the risk associated with not properly addressing the root cause of this dangerous issue is clearly justified. I’ve previously communicated this same situation to Ford when it occurred on a road trip in July of 2024. We contacted the dealership (germain Ford of dublin) and were deferred multiple months due to Ford's transmission tech backlog. The codes were not available by the time a service appointment was open. Without error codes and a single occurrence at that time, Ford service was unable to investigate further.

I was driving pulling off an exit incoming to a highway that needed me to speed up to catch a 65 mph traffic while I was going 35mph the car while on d for drive somehow engine rev went up to 5500 rpm no power to drive vehicle slow down to 30mph and all of the sudden a violent engine and all the body clunk as if another gear or park all of the sudden! tires stop spinning as you can hear tires screeching and this lasted a second and then transmission caught up again and started to accelerate again normally. We were almost hit from a moving truck behind us with 3 small kids in the car! this already happened 3 separate times while we are out traveling out of our hometown. 98 degrees outside dry conditions flat surface in florida got it all on dash camera on video and audio hope to get this fixed before someone gets killed!.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that while the transmission was shifting in and out of eighth gear, the vehicle failed to respond as intended. The contact stated that the transmission occasionally failed to shift into eighth gear. While decelerating, the vehicle responded, and the transmission shifted roughly. The failure became persistent over time. There was an abnormal clunking sound coming from the vehicle. The transmission fault message was displayed. The local dealer was contacted and confirmed that there were no issues or recalls on the VIN related to the failure. The dealer informed the contact about a diagnostic test to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was taken to a transmission specialist who informed the contact about a transmission replacement and the cost to rebuild the transmission. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000.

The transmission is consistently hesitating to switch gears, very jerky gear shift, and will sometimes completely fall out of gear. You could so easily lose control if this happened on the highway. Thank goodness we weren’t on a busy street. This isn’t the first reporting according to a simple search online and there should be a recall for safety reasons. This could be life or death for someone driving on the highway.

Transmission hesitated when entering traffic almost causing accident. This is not the first time this has happened. After the first incident I addressed the issue with the service manager. He said it’s common that this model transmission shifts rough, and has some hick ups but, nothing to worry about. It also randomly shifts into neutral randomly.

I’ve owned my 2020 Ford Expedition for just over a year. Initially, the transmission performed flawlessly. However, over time I’ve noticed a few concerning issues: at low speeds, the transmission shifts very hard. While accelerating at interstate speeds, it feels like the transmission is slipping. When I shift the vehicle into gear, it makes a loud clicking or knocking sound.

Recall issue with catalytic converters causing check engine light to come on. I took in for recall to reset check engine light. Repair did not do anything to vehicle as check engine light comes on for a few days and goes away for a few days and the cycle repeats up until this day it continues to happen. When they did the reset Ford let me know that they reset the check engine issue for recall but I would have to pay about $5k for getting new converters if I wanted to because light would still be one since it was diagnosed that converters were bad.

At highway speed 70mph, I accelerated and the vehicle downshifted to 1st, followed by loss of gear with a loud clunk. Then alarming for transmission. After coasting to about 30mph the teansmission clunked again and powere cane back. Happened while passing a semi truck. This was reproduced multiple times, on demand and I have video documentation. Dealer eventually rehauled the transmission. But now its starting to miss gears / have hard shifts. This transmission is a huge safety risk.

This SUV has 10 speed transmission that has faulty harsh shifting hesitation, acceleration problem when shifting on highway or in situations when you need to slow down and or accelerate. This has happened many times while trying to get on the highway and switching lanes. I have almost been run over because it stalled someone is going to get killed. I have had the powertrain control module pcm reprogramed twice and it keeps happening. Ford is aware of this. They need to get this trucks off of the road!.

My transmission started jumping gears and slipping at 65k miles. I had it checked out then and the mechanic said that these transmissions shifted rough, but they were not really sure why and that they reprogrammed the computer and that should fix it. It went on intermittently for the next 6 months to a year and I took it in again and was told they couldn't get the transmission to shift rough or skip so I would have to come back once it got worse. The longer I drove it, the worse it got until I would regularly lose all power to the wheels even at high speeds as the transmission failed to find a gear to engage. I finally took it back to the dealer again and this time they found that the front differential had failed and was full of metal shavings, the transmission was shifting really hard and missing gears and the driveshaft seal had failed and begun leaking as well. The vehicle had approximately 90k miles on it, and Ford didn't even recommend a transmission service/fluid change until 100k. I drive almost exclusively highway, rarely use 4wd, and had only towed twice with less than half it's capacity. I pressed the dealer and Ford on how it's possible that a transmission fails before it's first recommended service. They said it shouldn't have and offered to replace my transmission with a remanufactured one for the low price of over $9,000. I had the transmission rebuilt at a local shop who said they are regularly rebuilding these Expedition transmissions and that they fail frequently. The vehicle losing all power to the wheels, with no warning lights and searching for gears with no warning is incredibly dangerous. After doing this several times, it did eventually throw the first loss of power blinking lights across the dashboard, and day transmission fault.

On several occasions the engine has slipped/stalled. Vehicle has only 27k miles on it, single owner. When moving from a stoplight the engine "slipped", all lights came on "service alert" or something similar. Vehicle recovered but I am very uneasy as I am a 52 year old female usually driving alone and often on a very busy section of I-85. (this has occurred multiple times) when increasing speed, as to pass a vehicle or otherwise, vehicle is unresponsive or lags. To be clear this happens at speeds of 40-50 mph. It is unpredictable when this will occur nor why. I will likely sell this vehicle due to this safety issue. I spoke with a service rep at the local Ford dealership who was able to look into the vehicle computer remotely but there was no record of the "alert" or otherwise. I took the vehicle to my local mechanic who drove it and was able to replicate the danger/slipping. I was advised to do "zip code" driving only. I believe this "engine slipping" is related to the recall just issued except the 2020 Ford Expedition is not included in this recall. Others have noted this issue as well with NHTSA.

At 45000 miles the transmission started slipping gears, we took into our local Ford dealership for a warranty repair. They had it for a month and a half stated the computer just needed reprograming. Well now we sit at 72000 miles and the vehicle needs a whole new transmission. They are stating that due to axial movement of the cdf clutch cylinder bushing it has caused failure of the transmission. My vehicle has came to a complete stop no warning multiple times in the middle of the roadway, I have been stopped at a red light and when I hit the gas, the car rolled backwards. There were zero warning lights, only a hard shift every now and than. The car is currently at the dealership and Ford is refusing to help even with multiple other vehicles with this same issue. They have sent me a 10k bill. From my understanding this same transmission has already been recalled in other Ford vehicles.

Transmission has exhibited harsh/delayed engagement and/or harsh/delayed shift during lane changes, almost causing me to crash on two occasions.

The vehicle's transmission shutters upon rapid acceleration, especially at high speeds. It feels like it goes into neutral while trying to shift and jerks into the next gear. The rpms shoot up and back down when this happens. You can also feel the car lose power (decelerate) when this happens.

A 2020 vehicle with 80k miles is in need of a new transmission, after having hard shifting problems a few months previous. Rarely used for any towing. Appears to have a defective transmission.

The shift cable is not seating correctly causing the vehicle to slip out of gear. This mostly occurs if you are at cruising speed and then accelerate to pass a slow vehicle. The transmission slips out of gear and then you have to decelerate to allow it to find gear. It also makes a hard clunking noise when shifting out of park into drive. This is the same exact issue that was recalled for the police versions. However, my vehicle has the exact same issue and concern, verified by the Ford technician. Mine is not covered under the recall as it only covers police versions. So I was asked to pay $9,859 for a new transmission. I am 6,000 miles outside of warranty and have no vehicle to drive now as my 4 year old vehicle is basically totaled over a transmission. Ford corporate declined any financial assistance even though it is a known product issue.

My 2020 Ford Expedition was repaired by Ford (under the power train warranty) in early 2024 for down shifting and loss of power when attempting to accelerate. That repair took multiple weeks. Last week (March 2025), while driving on the highway at 75mph, the vehicle lost all acceleration and the power train warning light came on. We pulled over since we could not accelerate. The vehicle was brought to the same Ford dealership where they diagnosed another transmission issue. The vehicle remains at the dealership until Ford determines an exact diagnosis and how they will proceed. The vehicle has now had two major transmission issues, the second of which occurred at highway speeds. The vehicle was purchased new in June 2020 and currently has 56k miles.

When accelerating quickly, such as to pass, the truck feels as if it is in neutral. When the gas pedal is pushed down, the rpms jump up, but the truck doesn't accelerate. After letting off the gas, the rpms will drop, there is a loud "clunk" in the rear end and then power will be restored. No codes are being stored to diagnose issue. Happens intermittently and all speeds.

Transmission, it is available for inspections. Loss of acceleration power while at interstate speed, the otr driver behind us could barely stop quick enough. Two more occurrences happened same trip while driving from new orleans to lake charles. Driving 75 in left lane, took foot off accelerator to coast and navigate into right lane and while transmission was supposed to be downshift, I lost power again and watched my rpm’s rise suddenly. Ford dealership ran diagnostics, and told me the valve body needs replaced at roughly 2k, I am 15000 out of warranty and they acted like they knew but wouldn’t help me. An independent transmission dealer in lake charles told me to trade the vehicle in or put a 2025 Ford transmission in at 7k, the problem is, I don’t have that kind of money, and this should absolutely not be happening at 85k miles. He insisted the transmission was damaged and dangerous to be driving, and this is prevalent with the type of transmission in Fords and chevy’s from 2019-2024. No warning lights or alarms came on at the time of these incidents that I recall, honestly I was too busy making sure I didn’t kill my wife and 4 kids. Apparently, this is a well known issue with these transmission, but now I’m faced with having to either trade in a vehicle that I am most likely upside down on, to no fault of my own, having to purchase a new vehicle that fits my family, or purchasing a 2025 Ford transmission at the recommendation of local transmission dealer, there is no history on Ford 2025 transmissions so idk if this the way to go. While I will get this figured out, I am taking the time to express my personal concern and experience in this matter and hope there are no future casualties related to this issue, which I’m afraid Ford will only address if there is, sadly.

I was driving my vehicle at 48 mph and went to accelerate; the car slips out of gear and drops into neutral, started smelling smoke. This is the 5th occurrence. Previous occurrence happened while traveling in dark, rainy weather on the interstate. I am lucky that no accident occurred. I had car serviced for this same issue in 8/2024, but they did not fix the transmission issue. The vehicle is currently at the dealership service department. The dealer has been unable to reproduce the issue as it has happened a handful of times and does not give the service department a diagnostic code upon diagnosing. The dealer service department inspected the vehicle and is saying that I need a whole new transmission, although the first time I took it in for the same issue they fixed the throttle body, which is completely unrelated to the transmission. At the time of all of the incidents, the car flashes a "system fault/failure". It happens so quickly I cannot remember exactly what it says. When service department tries to diagnose there are no diagnostic codes. No warning symbols appear on dash after car is shut-off and restarted. This seems to be a known issue with Ford 10-speed transmissions (10r80). Why have they not had to recall these? I am lucky that I have not injured in these incidents. Are they waiting for someone to get critically hurt??.

First my vehicle kept saying service shift system fault, then when the dealership did something to repair that, the next week they told me I need a new transmission. This put my family of seven at risk because the transmission started stalling while we were going on a trip and also had a hard time shifting to different gears and would make a clunking sound. We also started rolling backwards down a hill and barely made it up the hill. The car also started stalling while I was driving it on the interstate which almost made us get into a multi car accident at night. When I took my vehicle to one Ford dealership they told me it was the transmission but when I took it to a different one they told me something else just for them to fix it and then a week later tell me it’s the transmission. My Expedition has been at the Ford dealership for over two weeks now because I’m trying to get goodwill assistance from the Ford corporate office. The warning sign that came on was service system fault and a wrench light.