general problems of the 2020 Ford F-150 - part 1

The transmission has a history of harsh shifting and slipping. At 101,600 miles being told this is a known issue with the transmission and likely needs to be replaced.

I own a Ford F-150 equipped with the 10r80 10-speed transmission. The truck has approximately 79,000 miles and has been diagnosed by a Ford dealership with cdf drum/cylinder and solenoid body failure. The quoted repair cost is over $10,000 for a remanned transmission replacement. This truck has shifted hard since approximately 30,000 miles, but I was led to believe it was normal behavior for the 10-speed transmission. The vehicle has been lightly used and properly maintained through Ford. It is still on its original tires and brakes, which supports that this is not a high-abuse or heavy-use vehicle. A major transmission failure at 79,000 miles under normal use is not reasonable vehicle durability. The failure involves the cdf drum/cylinder, a known failure point in the Ford 10r80 transmission. This can cause harsh shifting, delayed engagement, gear skipping, slipping, abnormal acceleration behavior, and unpredictable shifting. These conditions create a safety concern when accelerating into traffic, merging, turning across lanes, passing, or driving at highway speeds. Ford has issued technical service guidance related to the 10r80 transmission and cdf drum/cylinder failure, including diagnostic procedures for hydraulic leakage and internal repair. This confirms the issue is known and identifiable, yet owners are still facing extremely expensive failures outside the standard warranty period. Another concern is that Ford is proposing remanufactured transmission replacements rather than new replacements, despite reports of repeat cdf-related failures after remanufactured units if updated cdf components are not included. This is not normal wear and tear. This is premature failure of a known defective transmission component that affects drivability, reliability, and safety. Ford should not leave customers responsible for potentially multiple $10,000+ repair costs for a known 10r80/cdf drum failure.

The 10-speed automatic transmission in my 2020 Ford f150 slips between gears and has failed to engage from a stop in multiple instances. There are no warning lamps or other indications that anything is wrong with the vehicle. The issue is known as a very common problem with this transmission, as confirmed by multiple mechanics when inquiring about a potential fix.

Transmission shifts hard and downshifts with a huge clunk. Jerking the vehicle very big known issue for these trucks and am extremely low miles. Under 50k miles a bad safety issue and huge repair bill for the consumer.

When starting the vehicle, while the vehicle was in park, it acted like the vehicle was in drive and surged forward. This is unsafe and needs to be addressed by Ford.

I took it to the Ford dealership, they said the transmission needed to be replaced.

Driving down the highway at 70mph the truck dropped from 10 gear to 1st gear while losing speed I tried to accelerate to maintain safe speed but did not have power. The car jerked back to 8th gear then back down to 1st gear. Eventually back up to 10th gear but not full power. I was able to pull to the side of the road and turn the car off. After turning the car back on, the yellow wrench symbol disappeared from the dash and I was able to drive. The transmission now skips gears and does not have full power when accelerating. It felt extremely unsafe going 70mph then suddenly being in 1st gear losing speed as other cars continue around me at highway speeds and my car is decelerating without me using the brakes. There were no prior indications of this fault, my car was even serviced at a Ford dealership 2 months ago.

Transmission disengaged while driving rendering the truck immobile in traffic. This occurred on multiple occasions. No warning lights or indicators of vehicle problem. Diagnosis and condition/issue reproduced by a Ford dealer resulting in complete rebuild of the transmission. This vehicle has the 10r80.

My family and I were merging onto the highway when without warning, the automatic transmission bucked, making a loud thump sound, then it lost power nearly causing a severe accident. The transmission then began to hunt for gears, seemingly confused. It even cycled through 1st gear, my heart dropped, but luckily it did not engage 1st gear since that would have caused havoc at highway speeds. Afterwards, the vehicle regained some power but was suddenly limited to only two gears (5th and 9th). I immediately drove home, when entering my driveway the transmission could not engage reverse. Therefore I had to roll it in using forward momentum. I just had the vehicle serviced a few days ago because this issue happened before (not as severe). However, I was told the vehicle was operating fine and a leaky transmission pan was the culprit. After the transmission pan was replaced, I picked up the vehicle just yesterday (4/11/26), and this incident occurred today,(4/12/26). Please help, this transmission was rebuilt by Ford under warranty (60k mile powertrain warranty) just two years ago due to the notorious defects that have been ongoing. I contacted Ford corporate but they've refused to provide any help. This problem was confirmed by Ford corporate and the dealer, which led to the initial transmission rebuild (in 2024). However I fear this defect may not be repairable since the issue has returned and is more severe. I believe Ford was aware of this defect and did not disclose this information to me prior to buying. If I had known, I wouldn't have purchased this vehicle. Thank you for any support you could provide on this matter.

Transmission gear shifting isn’t smooth. This has been occurring for 50k miles. Often going into one low gear to the next will hear a “clunk” sound.

The vehicle has less than 95,000 miles on it. The vehicle was purchased with around 83,000 (11/15/2024) started having issues with the transmission around 85,000. The truck will go from 6th to 3rd or it may go from 10th to 1st while running a good speed down the highway or it pulls out fine then goes to neutral. This is a safety issue. There needs to be a recall made on this vehicle before it causes one of us to get hurt. Please have someone to investigate. We need this matter corrected and I do not feel it should be out of our pocket to correct it. Yes, we could trade it but we do not want someone else to get hurt. Seeing as how the dealership sold it to us knowing this was an issue I'm sure they would not fix it to sell it. No incident has occured at this time. I'm trying to be proactive in preventing that.

As I was driving my truck down the highway at 60 miles an hour, it tried to downshift to first gear several times. During that same time it lost several gears in the transmission. Ford is now replacing the transmission which is going to cost me a significant amount since the vehicle is just barely out of warranty. The truck did not have any prior warning lights or codes. It was hesitating to shift between gears occasionally for the last few thousand miles. This was an unsafe situation because the tires could have locked up and caused me to slide off the road at a high rate of speed. The dealer called after the diagnostic and essentially said "there's no way around it, this truck needs a whole new transmission and parts related to the transmission replacement.

Having hard or delayed shift as described on TSB 23-2123. What I see dangerous is momentarily downshifts from 4th to 1st.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle unexpectedly downshifted. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and was diagnosed with transmission failure. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 110,000.

The vehicle just downshifted from 6th gear to 1st gear on the freeway nearly causing a accident and it caused a blown transmission.

My transmission unexpectedly jumps gears and down shifts. My car just stopped getting any sort of power on the highway. All this with my children in the car. I was able to pull over safely, but it was extremely scary. I put the truck in park and then put it in drive and it started driving again. My Ford f150 has under 80,000 miles on it. In my opinion this is a huge safety concern. A wrench popped up on my dash indicating that service was needed, but it has since gone away.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission unexpectedly slipped while changing gear, with the power train warning light illuminated. The dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.

The transmission shifted unexpectedly from highway speed to first gear. The back wheels felt like they locked up and my passenger asked if we had been hit.

* this complaint concerns a catastrophic failure of the transmission in my vehicle. This defect was first reported to a Ford dealer while still within the 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty (Jan 3, 2023, at 58,679 miles; invoice #xxx). * the condition worsened. Between July 2024 - Jan. 2026, I received 7 digital "service engine soon" warnings via the Ford app. My dealer advised that the vehicle was "ok to drive" as long as the light (which never stayed on) was not flashing. I was told diagnostics could not be made unless the light was active at the dealership. Jan 16, 2026, the light came on; I was able to take the truck to the dealer. A fault code was finally captured, but the dealer reported a two-month service backlog. I could not wait that long. 2026, I established a clean engine baseline. I spent $833. 15 to replace O2 sensors (ej’s automotive) to rule out engine?related performance issues. During this service (at 103,431 miles), an inspection confirmed metallic clutch material contamination in the transmission fluid only 10,248 miles after a 2nd professional flush. This failure occurred despite a total maintenance investment of $11,533. 80 across 21 service visits. * this failure resulted in a dangerous loss of motive power, creating a collision risk. The vehicle is currently grounded and completely inoperable. The dealership verbally designated the vehicle as vor due to the confirmed diagnosis, only to contradict that status by claiming it was "driveable" after I declined a $15,000 quote for a teardown to diagnose the issue. * since the truck can no longer tow, 2 third-party transports for a horse and a trailer relocation are necessary. The failure has also resulted in a total parasitic battery drain. The tailgate latch and door locks are inoperable, suggesting the transmission fault is interfering with module communication. This is consistent with the root cause Ford has acknowledged in tsbs 24-2101 and 25-2126 involving the cdf clutch drum sleeve. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of.

My truck down shifted from seventh gear all the way down to first, making rev really high and slow down all the sudden. I was doing 50 mph.

The vehicle transmission is slamming when the vehicle decelerates. I can feel the jerking in the vehicle. I am concerned the transmission will fail while operating the vehicle resulting in a crash. This is the second time I have had this issue. It was repaired once by the Ford dealership. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone for this occurrence. It has in the past for the same occurrence. There were no warnings prior to the occurrence. This is the second occurrence in several years. The current occurrence began on February 16, 2026.

2020 f150 with only 63000 miles has a failed transmission. The truck doesn't shift gears properly, gets stuck in gears, loses power suddenly. This is a huge safety risk as the vehicle just stops accelerating or working when driving. This clearly endangers me and other drivers. Ford refuses to pay even though their check engine light gave a transmission/power failure alert and the Ford dealership inspected it and their diagnosis replace complete transmission assembly. Has internal cdf drum bushing failure. This is an ongoing issue with these 10 speed transmissions on these f150s. There are several class action lawsuits against Ford over these 10r80 transmissions. Ford is not only refusing to recall these dangerous vehicles but also refusing to pay to cover the repairs on transmissions they've known are defect.

I bought a 2020 Ford f150 xl with 83,000 miles on 27 Jan 2026 from a local phil long kia dealership. I started to notice that the shifting was very harsh immediately after buying the truck and that the transmission was dropping the gear when I was driving at stoplights and even when I was entering an intersection almost causing an accident. I notice the issue more at slow speeds and in lower gears. Today is 19 Feb 2026. I brought the truck to a local Ford dealership and they told me that the transmission needs to be replaced.

While driving my F-150 I made a turn and when I went to accelerate again, the truck acted like it was in neutral - would not go. Engine continued to run but would not accelerate. A second car was directly behind me and almost rear-ended me when truck failed to move. Pulled over, tried low gear and reverse and nothing happened. Transmission is shot. Currently in for a rebuild. This is the Ford 10-speed trans, which has been known to fail. I only have 33,000 miles on the vehicle. Could've been much more dangerous had I been on the freeway when it failed.

While driving the truck automatically down shifted. If I drove move 20 mp it would shift. The truck would not go into reverse, the gear was stuck. I had to turn if off and then turn it back on then it let me shift the gears. On the dashboard the wrench and other indicators lit up on the dashboard.

Vehicle was purchased certified pre-owned from dealer at around 35k miles. Currently around 65k miles. Complete loss of power at 45 miles an hour. Truck shifted from 7th gear to 1st in a split second and brought the truck to a complete stop. Luckily able to pull onto shoulder to avoid getting rear ended from car behind. Decent maintenance records with dealer, no prior issues with transmission other than some rough shifting before this issue. Vehicle was dropped at dealer on 2-5-26, have not received any type of feedback or updated since dated 2-8-26. I know there is a current TSB on these transmissions, I believe they are defective based on other reports and my personal experience. Complete safety danger, 45 to 0 in under 2 seconds.

Transmission has hard shifting, skips 2nd gear and sometimes will downshift out of 10th gear.

Transmission erratic shifting causes unsafe vehicle handling characteristics. Vehicle will not properly accelerate under certain circumstances. Occasionally in parking lots, vehicle will accelerate on its own after throttle is released under certain conditions. Transmission has been replaced several times, and issue persists in all units. Problems are reported in TSB’s sent out by dealerships.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving from a complete stop, the vehicle went into limp mode and failed to accelerate as intended. After a while, the vehicle accelerated, but the acceleration was delayed. The wrench warning light illuminated, and the contact received a notification from the Ford app with the message “powertrain power reduced”. The contact drove the vehicle to a dealer, where it was diagnosed that the transmission had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 49,244.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds and attempting to shift into third gear, the vehicle started shaking abnormally, and the gear shift was difficult to engage, causing the transmission to shift hard. The contact stated that at faster speeds, while attempting to shift into seventh gear, there was a delayed response. The powertrain fault warning light was illuminated. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to technical service bulletin: 23-2123 (harsh/delayed engagement and/or harsh/delayed shift); however, the VIN was not included in the TSB. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 117,000.

The 10r80 transmission has harsh erratic shifting. The transmission will occasionally launch when downshifting into first gear when pulling into my driveway causing me to almost hit the front of my garage. The transmission also has harsh clunking when shifting gears and will clink and throw you forward when downshifting in traffic.

The transmission exhibits violent, harsh shifting, sudden and unpredictable deceleration, and most alarmingly, abrupt downshifting from 10th gear to 1st gear while driving at highway speeds. This is not a minor drivability issue — it is a severe safety defect that places my life, my passengers, and other drivers at risk.

Transmission (10r80) down shifts hard and shifts hard between 3-4 and 7-8 gears. And front differential makes a noise.

Transmission shifted from 10th gear to 1st gear at highway speed. Transmission was rebuilt by Ford, and is again exhibiting poor/harsh shifting.

Transmission is stalling, jerking, skipping gears and slipping. I have talked to the dealership several times about the transmission slamming really hard in 4th and 8th gear. They would tell me it’s just trying to find the right gear to be in, your battery is causing it or it needs to be reprogrammed. There has never been any warning lights. This truck has spent over 4 months in the shop for drive train issues. New rear end, new drive shaft and a vibration that has never gone away.