general problems of the 2018 Ford F-150 - part 1

Started with harsh shifting, lead to no shifting and no movement. Shifting came back and lunged forward and harsh stop. Happened multiple times and now vehicle will not move.

The 10 speed transmission does not shift smoothly and will periodically shift hard when downshifting from 4 to 3 and 3 to 2. Ford is aware of bushing walking which they addressed in 2022. I am one year out of my warranty which Ford would not address when under warranty but issue was less of an issue. Now that it is routinely shifting rough, they will not stand behind their transmission they knew was problematic. I have on numerous occasions been almost rear ended because they hard shift mimics a hard braking without warning.

1st problem transmission: hard shifting up and down in certain gears. 3 gear seems the worst. When slowing down to almost stop it down shifts and lurks forward which can cause a safety issue. Loud banging noise when it does this hard shift. 2nd problem when starting the truck up get a loud chain rattle. Think it’s the phaser/cam rattle I keep reading about with no fix. Mileage on my truck is 63,000 miles never tow or haul anything. Crazy Ford can sell something like this and be ok with it.

Truck will not shift into 7th gear, will down shift to 1st gear once it reaches 6th gear around 40mph. Causing the vehicle back tires to brake and skid and lose control of vehicle.

While driving home from a work appointment in rockwall, texas, I entered an intersection with three lanes of uncontrolled cross traffic traveling approximately 35-45 mph. As I accelerated my Ford F-150 equipped with the 10r80 transmission, it started into the intersection and then began sporadically hunting for a gear. The truck suddenly lost nearly all acceleration and slowed to an almost complete stop while I was in the middle of the intersection. Vehicles were approaching me from the driver side, leaving me with almost no ability to get out of their path. I was extremely fortunate that I was not t-boned. This is the second time this truck has experienced a sudden and dangerous loss of acceleration, the first was with a 4th gear slip on an on-ramp. Neither incident was preceded by a warning light or other dashboard indication. I understand Ford has been aware of problems involving the cdf clutch drum in the 10r80 transmission and that the design was subsequently revised in later versions. My vehicles issues are textbook cdf drum problems. Meanwhile, the known 10r80 problems have significantly reduced the vehicle's value, leaving me owing more than I can reasonably recover by selling it. This is not simply a reliability issue. A transmission that can unexpectedly eliminate a vehicle's ability to accelerate without warning is a serious safety hazard. Twice, this defect has put me in a situation where I could have been killed by cross traffic. I am asking NHTSA to investigate the 10r80 transmission, including the cdf drum/design issues, and determine whether these failures create an unreasonable safety risk and whether Ford has taken adequate corrective action.

I own a 2018 Ford F-150 4wd with approximately 24,600 miles. While traveling approximately 70 mph on the highway in 2h with cruise control operating, I suddenly heard an extremely loud metal-on-metal grinding/ratcheting noise from the driver's-side front wheel area. The noise caused immediate concern about a possible front wheel or drivetrain failure. I disengaged cruise control and the grinding stopped. Within approximately 50 miles on the same trip, the grinding occurred a second time while again traveling approximately 70 mph in 2h without cruise engaged. Because of the severity of the noise, I pulled over on the side of the highway and inspected the vehicle. I found nothing visibly wrong and resumed driving. The condition has since occurred two additional times while accelerating from a stop in 2h. These incidents were less severe but involved the same metal-on-metal grinding/ratcheting from the driver's-side front wheel area. I have also noticed a brief air/vacuum-type "whoosh" immediately before the grinding occurs. My Ford service manager directed me to Ford TSB 24-2188, which addresses grinding/clicking/ratcheting from the front wheel area associated with partial engagement of the integrated wheel end (iwe). The truck is scheduled for diagnosis but has not yet been formally diagnosed. I contacted Ford customer satisfaction, case cxh-090-0329-26-v5r9-p-5. Ford declined assistance due to vehicle age despite the low mileage. I am reporting this because the condition has occurred four times, including twice unexpectedly at 70 mph. I am concerned about the safety implications of a front wheel-end component potentially partially engaging at highway speed and believe this warrants NHTSA review.

Loss of power while acceleration from a stop sign. Vehicle would not shift into gear and acted like it could only drive very slowly. Repair shop inspected it and stated that the transmission needed work and would cost 8200. 00 to fix issue that has a TSB out meaning Ford knows about the issue.

Safety hazard & risk ?the 10r80 transmission exhibits sudden, unpredictable gear slipping, power loss, and violent slamming/lunging during gear shifts while navigating active traffic. This erratic behavior creates an immediate collision risk when merging, accelerating, or changing lanes, as the truck unexpectedly loses momentum or lunges forward. ?incident & repair history ?the vehicle required two complete transmission overhauls under 68,000 miles at apple Ford (columbia, MD), both confirmed by certified technicians and warranty inspectors: ?overhaul #1 (invoice #273111 | Aug 14, 2024 | 42,571 miles): diagnosed under TSB 24-2101 for shift failure. The dealer overhauled the valve body and replaced internal components, including the cdf drum (part #jl3z7h351b). ?overhaul #2 (invoice #351672 | Sep 11, 2026 | 67,587 miles): less than 25,000 miles later, severe slipping and 5th gear binding recurred. Teardown revealed a sticking main pressure control valve, burnt e & f clutch packs, and an outdated cdf drum. The dealer replaced the complete valve body (part #jl3z7a100crm), installed a redesigned cdf cylinder (part #pc3z7b177a), and replaced scorched clutch/steel plates. ?complaint response summary ?system failed: 10r80 transmission (cdf drum sleeve migration, sticking valve body, burnt e & f clutches). Vehicle is available for inspection. ?safety risk: sudden power loss and violent lunging in active traffic, creating severe collision hazards. ?confirmed by dealer: yes. Diagnosed and verified twice by apple Ford master technicians. ?inspected authorized Ford dealer technicians and an official warranty company inspector. ?symptoms/timeline: no warning lights appeared prior to failure. Physical symptoms (slipping, violent slamming) first appeared before Aug 2024 (42,571 miles) and recurred in July 2026 (67,587 miles).

Transmission slips out of park. And starts like it's in gear , can vehicle feel the truck jump a little. Also shifts stalls and feels like it's stopping when taking off from a intersection. Started doing this when truck was about 2 years old. Had dealer change trans filter and fluid last year but it's still doing it.

Direct failure of cam phasers and confirmation. This led to erratic engine runtime leading to transmission shifting learned behaviors based on the bogus engine information. This causes erratic hardshifting into drive and most importantly dropping gears on the highway resulting in unsafe driving conditions at random. This includes both random downshifts at highway speed and a similar situation when accelerating the wrong gear is engaged both causing unsafe conditions for the driver and those surrounding. Upon phaser replacement the engine then ran correctly and transmission was reset both kam tables and learned behavior to rectify the transmission safety challenges. This should at least be a TSB not just a mystery to owners and dealers alike.

The transmission is failing. It is a known issue. 2018 Ford f150 lariat. The transmission shifts very hard; it's slipping out of gear. It is getting stuck in gears and not shifting as it should. It is flaring when shifting gears. My safety is at risk because I never know when the vehicle is going to move if I am stopped. It could happen in the middle of an intersection; it could go out when I'm going at highway speeds. Yes, the problem has been confirmed by a Ford dealer. The component has not been inspected by anyone on my personal vehicle except by the Ford technician at a local dealership. There were no warning lamps or messages. At first, when you would pull out for the first time of the day, it would have a little trouble shifting through 3rd and 4th gear for the first few minutes, then it was fine the rest of the day. Now it is slipping out of gears, shifting hard, missing shifts, banging when shifting gears, flaring when shifting gears, getting stuck in gears. I did not know this was an issue before buying the vehicle. After it started occurring, I looked it up, and this is a very widely known issue with this Ford 10r80 transmission in multiple models of their vehicles, and they refuse to recall them. This is an incredible safety issue, as the vehicle can slip out of gear or randomly change to the wrong gear at any time and make the driver lose control of the vehicle.

My 10r80 transmission has failed at 79000 miles. This tranmission has been problematic during the life of this truck. Hard shifting, delayed shift, clutch flutter. Ford refused to honor my extended warranty that covers the power train beyond the 5/60000mile base warranty.

Truck starting missing gears when pulling onto highway. Rpms jumped high and truck wouldnt shift. Thankfully we made it across before the oncoming traffic or we would have been hit. Finally got it to go but it was missing gears causing it to drive sluggish. No prior engine lights warning me. When the incident happed I got a notification of a power train malfunction/ reduced power.

I live on a busy road on top of a hill. When leaving the truck will often hesitate leaving me with a heavy loss of acceleration. I’ve I been in numerous situations were I was almost rear ended! the truck will also jolt you when it shifts like hitting a wall.

The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission was shifting erratically. The contact stated that the transmission shifted from 1st gear to 7th gear and back to 1st gear. The check engine warning light and an unknown warning light was illuminated after the failure. During an oil change service, the contact described the failure to an independent mechanic, who performed a diagnostic test but found no transmission failure. The contact was advised that NHTSA campaign number: 26v375000 (power train); recall repair could repair the vehicle; however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The contact notified the manufacturer by telephone. The manufacturer confirmed that the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.

While driving, the automatic transmission started to act up. The truck would attempt to go into 3rd gear but would bypass it to 4th, similar action around 7/8th gear. When pressing the accelerator at times, the truck would not switch gears or increase speed. A warning light did appear on the dashboard, indicating a problem. A code reader indicated two possible issues related to the transmission. These issues made the truck unsafe to drive in any traffic since I wasn't sure the truck was going to continue moving and was concerned about being either being stranded or being rear-ended. The truck was taken to a repair shop that my extended warranty works with. The shop was able to reproduce the issue. The shop indicated that there was an issue with the transmission. A warranty company technician came to the shop to run a diagnostic on the truck. After review of the technicians analysis, the warranty company approved the transmission repair and shop is waiting on parts.

My Ford F-150 supercrew XLT 10r80 10-speed completely failed resulting Ford replacing it with a new transmission unit for a cost to be of $7,300. As the transmission failed at 96,000 miles the gears would be skipped with harsh shifting, not fully engaging 4th gear and at times while driving would refused to shift into any gear and high revs and me unable to accelerate. I was nearly involved in a crash when I would pull out into traffic legally but suddenly unable to accelerate and approaching cara from the rear needed to suddenly brake and change lanes to avoid a collision. All diagnosis was conducted by Ford. At first it cost me approximately $300 for them to drain and fill transmission fluid. When that didn't fix the problem they then said it was the dcf drum failure at a cost of $5000. When they were unable to fix it they informed me that they needed to install a brand new transmission at a cost of $7,300. Current mileage is approximately 98,300 miles. As a prior certified leo traffic homicide investigator, I was terrified driving the truck knowing what could happed if it failed as I was crossing traffic or pulling out and fail, as is had already and therefore I was unable to use my vehicle.

I am reporting a safety-related transmission problem I experienced with my 2018 Ford F-150 XLT equipped with the 10r80 automatic transmission. While driving normally, the transmission suddenly lost power and failed to engage into gear causing hesitation in the middle of driving. This occurred while in stop and go traffic, creating a potentially dangerous situation because the truck did not respond as expected when I needed predictable acceleration or propulsion. I believe this incident may be related to the known 10r80 cdf clutch-cylinder/sleeve problem. Ford technical information identifies axial movement of the cdf sleeve that can cause hydraulic-circuit leaks and harsh or delayed engagement and shifting. This condition can result in slipping, rpm flares, delayed engagement, unexpected gear changes, harsh downshifts, lurching, or loss of propulsion. This is a safety concern, not merely a transmission quality or reliability issue. Unexpected loss of propulsion or unpredictable shifting while merging, accelerating into traffic, crossing an intersection, turning, or traveling at highway speed can create a collision hazard. Because I personally experienced this unexpected transmission event, I request that NHTSA investigate the 10r80 cdf clutch-cylinder/sleeve condition in Ford F-150s. Please review Ford warranty claims, dealer repair records, transmission replacements, consumer complaints, and field-failure data to determine whether this is a safety defect requiring a recall. I believe owners should not have to wait for a potentially dangerous transmission failure before this known condition is addressed.

Truck will flare on lower gears of the 10 speed transmission. The 10r80 to be exact. The cdf drum was engineered incorrectly and Ford has made an updated part but they didn’t make it till 2023. So that leaves years 17’-22 to have transmission problems and catastrophic transmission failures because of a bad design. It’s very dangerous for a transmission to lose power on the roads and or react in a way that can make you lose control of vehicle. Ford has acknowledged the issue but not for the affected years. People have spent millions out of pocket and or if they had warranty coverage they spent have spent lots of unnecessary time with vehicles in and out of dealers and shops.

This vehicle has been into the Ford dealer multiple times for transmission slipping type issues. From before the 60,000 mile powertrain warranty ended and after. The dealer said the only thing needed was an update and reset. Today a different Ford dealer has informed me that during the transmission flush, there are tiny specks and slivers of metal. The engine issue in regard to cam phaser repair recall/customer service bulletin has been leaking due to issues with proper sealant. The rear camera goes out and screen turns white at times.

On xxx at approximately 5pm my passenger and I were traveling west on the xxx from [xxx] to [xxx]. While driving at highway speeds with cruise control on at approximately 75/80 miles an hour, my 2018 f150 3. 5ecoboost with the 10r80 10-speed automatic transmission suddenly without any input from myself, the transmission jerked out of gear causing the rear end to shudder violently. The vehicle briefly went into limp mode, after I pulled over and stopped, I turned the vehicle off and let it sit. When I turned it back on the limp mode went away but the transmission felt like it was slipping gears. My vehicle has only had light city and highway driving and never towed anything. With the known issues and on going class action lawsuits against Ford motor company regarding the 10r80 transmission, evidence shows my vehicle is also suffering from the known dangerous 10r80 10-speed transmission issues. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving 55 mph on the highway, the vehicle lost motive power, and the brakes became inoperable. The drivetrain and wrench symbol were displayed. The abs warning light was illuminated and dtc: u100 (failure of communication for engine and transmission) was displayed. The codes were cleared after restarting the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with a communication error with the engine and transmission computer. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure reoccurred. The transmission upshifted from first gear to seventh. After a while, the vehicle resumed normal operations, but then the vehicle drove abnormally. The rpm increased to high, and the temperature gauge was at hot. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer and was diagnosed with complete transmission failure. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 62,513.

The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while accelerating from a stop light, the vehicle failed to properly accelerate and jerked and hesitated. The contact stated that the transmission upshifted from 1st to 3rd gear and then from 3rd to 7th gear. During the failure the wrench symbol was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer to be diagnosed, and it was determined that the transmission needed to be repaired, and the cdf drum need to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 96,000.

Truck downshifted to a gear too low for the travel speed, caused the rear tires to briefly lock up, very lucky to have kept control. Unsure why the truck did it, it’s happened twice now at 89,000 miles.

Around 108018 miles started to experience rough, harsh, slamming shifts and skipping gears from 1 to 4 or 3 to 6 and then from 8 slamming to 1st gear at times very unsafe and erratic and through my research this transmission has been a big problem on Fords. I took to a local transmission repair shop they drove and confirmed the shifting issues and said yes the valve body/shift solenoids need replaced and also the cdf drum/cylinder is going bad they also dropped the oil pan and confirmed metal/aluminum shavings in the bottom of the pan. I was quoted $8,800 to repair and this is a huge expense that Ford knows of the problem and needs to be held accountable. There needs to be a recall to replace these bad transmissions with new updated units.

Approximately four months ago, my truck started shifting hard going into second gear, then it quickly became jerky shifting in other gears with slippage, dangerous hesitation and engagement problems. It was so bad that I was almost rear-ended 3 times. Then the hesitation happened more often and a few times lost all power to transmission, and I had to stop in moving traffic for the transmission to find a gear. Very dangerous situation! a few weeks later, sudden downshifts for no reason were happening. I am the second owner of this truck that had 24,000 miles when I purchased it, and now it only has 49,500 miles with major transmission issues that are unsafe for me and my passengers, and the vehicles around me. The Ford dealer in my area has had my truck for a week, and nobody has called me, only making things worse. Hesitation or delayed engagement sudden downshifts clunking noises occasional loss of power.

Typical 10r80 transmission problems you’ve guys seen a million times and have yet to force Ford to issue a recall . I can’t even make it through an intersection without it stopping suddenly and putting me in danger . Please do something. This is gonna cost me a lot of money to fix .

The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle shuddered intermittently and had occurred on several occasions. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact researched and was made aware of an unknown recall; however, the VIN was not under recall. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and confirmed that the VIN was not under recall. The failure mileage was approximately 111,000.

Component; likely the transmission safety revs went to almost zero on highway. Transmission seemed to stop the truck. Then intermittent on and off transmission. Seriously struggled to get the truck off the highway momentarily no ability to control speed: then on and off with the acceleration. Very scary! sudden drop in speed on the highway could have caused an accident with no brake lights on problem been reproduced: not to my knowledge. Its at a dealer now. Not safe to drive been inspected: at dealer now prior warning - lamps etc: none whatsoever oil lamp came on, then the check engine light came on well after the initial scare.

Hello, I have a concern with my trucks transmission. I haven't had it diagnosed by Ford but am an independent tech myself. I believe the cdf drum is failing. Here are the problems I had. The biggest is the safety. I was pulling out on busy street and I accelerated. Truck moved and the transmission delayed in shifting causing truck to slow down and then slamming into gear. Oncoming traffic got very close. It has done it numerous times. I don't know when it will do it and when it won't. Transmission has also gone from 3rd gear to 8th and back to 2nd on its own.

I believe this was a cdf clutch drum failure on the 10r80 transmission. Caused me to loose power midway through a signalized intersection. It is currently at the shop being diagnosed, but may be available for inspection upon a timely request. This issue put me and my family at risk because it caused my vehicle to stop in the middle of the road. No warning lamps, but the truck will no longer shift past 2nd gear.

The internal mechanical failure of the Ford 10r80 transmission due to design fault causes unsafe driving conditions as the transmission stalls (fails to power at request) or lunges (powers forward without driver input) causing unsafe conditions for vehicle occupants and nearby vehicular & pedestrian traffic. My vehicle exhibits two well known and documented conditions; stalling and lunging forward. The most common failure is that the transmission fails to shift from 1st to 3rd gear in a low speed condition (e. G. Navigating parking lots amongst pedestrians). Upon the failure to shift, the vehicles computer system senses this, overrides by raising the vehicle rpms significantly without driver input to do so, the vehicle then hard shifts and jerks forward several feet in an uncontrollable manner. Anticipating the jerk and overriding with the brakes fails to stop the vehicle from lunging forward. The second most common failure is the transmission totally failing to provide drive. A common scenario would be sitting at a traffic light waiting to make a left turn. Upon the opportunity to make a safe left turn, the vehicle at times will roll slightly forward (in its first gear), it will then attempt a shift while the vehicle may potentially still be in cross-traffic, and the vehicle at times will fail to drive, without any inputs (brake, gas, manual shift) getting the vehicle out of the no-drive condition, and leaving the vehicle subject to a dangerous potential for collision or safety hazard. The issues with the 10r80 transmission failures are well documented, well understood by Ford motor company, and specific to my vehicle have been identified by a reputable dealer as requiring repair. My vehicle's transmission is exhibiting failure at 47,000 miles. No warning indications exist prior, during or after this repeatable incident. Ford has since fixed the design flaw, but refuses to address the safety issue with vehicles manufactured before the re-design.

I am submitting this complaint regarding a serious and ongoing transmission safety concern with my 2018 Ford F-150 3. 0l diesel. The vehicle has repeatedly exhibited unsafe and unpredictable transmission behavior, including harsh downshifts at highway speeds, delayed gear engagement, slow transitions between gears, and abrupt jolting that can forcefully move occupants forward. These issues create a safety risk because the vehicle does not shift predictably during normal driving, including at highway speeds and during acceleration or deceleration. The vehicle was previously taken in for service due to these transmission concerns. At that time, the transmission fluid was found to be approximately 75% low. The dealer performed a software update; however, the transmission problems have continued and may have worsened since that repair attempt. Today, the vehicle displayed a transmission-related error stating: “the transmission control module has detected a concern when trying to shift to 4th gear. A failsafe logic disables 4th gear for the remainder of this key cycle. ” this warning indicates that the vehicle’s transmission control module detected a fault during operation and disabled 4th gear as a protective measure. This is a significant escalation from rough or delayed shifting, as the vehicle is now entering a failsafe condition that removes a gear while the vehicle is being driven. The condition presents a safety concern because the transmission may downshift unexpectedly, hesitate, jolt, or fail to provide expected acceleration or power delivery. This could be especially dangerous while driving at highway speeds, merging into traffic, passing, towing, or navigating traffic where predictable power and gear engagement are necessary. The abrupt shifting and jolting are severe enough to physically move the driver and passengers forward, creating concern for loss of vehicle control or a crash. The prior service action did not resolve the problem.

Ford F-150 have a known transmission failure problem which causes them to have to be replaced with low mileage due to the cdf drum. This causes the transmission to hit hard while the operator is driving which could cause them to lose control. Ford is aware of the problem and has refused to fix it.

When cold: - delays in shifts, sometimes up to a few seconds, hard jolt due to revs being too high once it finally shifts (really bad in 2nd gear, pretty bad in 3rd) - slight delay in overdrive gears sometimes (7th, 8th, 9th, 10th) after warming - delay upshifting into 4th and 5th almost always, even in manual mode - slight jolt downshifting into 6th at random: - gearbox gets confused and defaults to downshifting to 1st. This happens when accelerating. Has happened upshifting to 4th, 8th, 9th. When this happens, it will actually downshift to 1st when attempting to upshift to 4th. When this happens while attempting to upshift to overdrive gears, it does not actually downshift (money shift) to 1st, luckily. - might be slipping a bit in 3rd or 4th gear.