FaultScore

2021 Ford F-150 Hybrid brake problems

13 of the 340 complaints about the 2021 Ford F-150 Hybrid are about the braking system — 4% of everything reported for this model year. Half of the failures with a mileage on record happened before 22,250 miles.

D

13

Complaints

2

Crashes

0

Fires

1

Injuries

Exactly what failed

Service Brakes 11 84.6%
Service Brakes, Hydraulic 1 7.7%
Control Unit/Module 1 7.7%

What owners said

Filed with NHTSA, in their own words.

at 43,000 miles Oxford, MS

SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC

The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the ABS, auto collision, and traction control warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel while depressing the brake pedal. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective electronic brake booster. The vehicle was repaired by the dealer. Upon investigation, the contact discovered NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V533000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic) which the contact linked to the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the vehicle was not included in the recall. The manufacturer referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 43,000.

NHTSA complaint #11610853 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Dunedin, FL

SERVICE BRAKES

If you pull onto a road and try to accelerate, the vehicle is unresponsive. The RPMs will increase, yet the vehicle drive train (10 Speed Transmission) is unresponsive for several seconds. This has been an ongoing issue with the vehicle since new and was first reported to Ford Customer service on Jan 2022. Ford has made several attempts to fix this issue, yet the transmission continues to fail with the same issue. This is a critical safety issue that jeopardizes the passengers in the vehicle. Vehicle parking brake engages without notice. At any given time, the electronic parking brake engages without warning and you have to manually release. While sitting at a controlled intersection, on an inclined street, waiting for traffic light to change, with vehicle in Drive, foot on the brake, the electric parking brake engaged. Vehicle shift lever moved to the park position on its own. Vehicle engages it's parking brake and moves shift lever into Park while sitting in traffic is very dangerous. Vehicle shift column failed in drive and vehicle would not move or run. This caused drive train to lock in place, freezing all four tires. Ford had to drag truck onto flat bed with tires locked. It had to be dragged off flatbed when delivered to Ford dealer for repair. They had to put grease down on the flatbed so truck would slide off without tires rolling. While at the dealership, the mechanic had to manually disconnect the calipers in order to move vehicle. The safety backup features failed and would not release wheels (lever under steering column).

NHTSA complaint #11585878 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Sandy, UT

SERVICE BRAKES

On November 29, 2023 I took my 2021 F150 to Larry Miller Ford for servicing and repairs related to Recalls 22S71 and 23S35. When the tech was rotating the wheels he discovered that the axle shaft bolts were sheered off on both the left and right rear wheels. The service manager called to tell me that this was a serious safety issue and that only the brake rotors were preventing the wheels from falling off the truck. The service manager told me there was a "Customer Satisfaction Program 22B34" issued by Ford, but no Ford Recall relating to the problem. Larry Miller Ford has replaced both axles and axle bolts. I am waiting to find out if there is damage to the rotors, calipers or brake pads, a concern since the sheered off bolts were rattling around within that area since breaking off apparently between service visits. I strongly believe Ford should be required to issue a recall on this problem. I never received a notification on CSP 22B34. Had it not been for my tire rotation, the wheels could have fallen off at highway speed.

NHTSA complaint #11557734 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Santa Clara, CA

SERVICE BRAKES

Electronic parking brake activated unexpectedly at low speed after taking off from a stop. From a stop traveling downhill at a low rate of speed, the parking break activated and caused the truck to skid to a halt three times causing a safety issue for drivers around the vehicle. Manually deactivated the electronic parking brake each time and after forward movement at about 5 mph, it activated again. After the fourth attempt to start forward movement, the electronic parking brake stayed off. After doing research, recall 23V-509 came up but this specific VIN does not appear to be tagged under that recall.

NHTSA complaint #11538361 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Reedsville, WV 1 injured

SERVICE BRAKES

This is the 4th time since purchasing the truck that this event has happened with time having the most severe results. When shifting from reverse to park the shifter goes into park and jumps back into reverse. First event (after exiting the truck) the truck rolled into a shipping dock breaking a taillight and buckling the rear bumper. Next two I had one foot on running board and one foot in the truck ant was able to hit the brake stopping the truck. This fourth event one foot was on the running board and one on the ground. As truck went back the door flattened me to the ground and the front tires rolled over both of my legs. The truck rolled up an inclined parking lot, across a busy road and down a bank. I was driven by ambulance to the hospital and then transferred and airlifted to trauma center at Ruby Memorial Hospital. After the second event the local Ford dealer said they could not duplicate the event. The brakes do not hold even though they are depressed and set when the shifter is shifted.

NHTSA complaint #11537888 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Greensburg, PA Crash

SERVICE BRAKES

2021 FORD F150. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO SAFETY RECALL 21S56. THE CONSUMER STATED THE VEHICLE BEGAN ROLLING WHILE IN PARK AND THE ENGINE POWERED OFF. THE VEHICLE STRUCK A TRASH CAN. THE VEHICLE WAS SCHEDULED FOR AN APPOINTMENT TO BE DIAGNOSED.

NHTSA complaint #11459235 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Hamilton, OH Crash

SERVICE BRAKES

Brakes failed to stop vehicle when entering my garage. Vehicles brake pedal went all the way to the floor board while truck continued to roll crashing into garage wall damaging personal items stored in garage as well as drywall, studs, and hair-line vertical cracks in exterior brick veneer. I have security video of the complete incident.

NHTSA complaint #11450566 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Hawthorne, FL

SERVICE BRAKES

My trucks integrated brake controller will not consistently control the electric trailer brakes. I plug in the trailer and get confirmation that it is controlling the brakes by manually testing them while rolling and at some point during the trip it stops controlling them without warning. I have tried all methods to be sure the 7 pin connection is seated properly and I am sure it is. I have a 7 pin tester and when I check the electric output at the plug it lights up the circuit (BK) for the brakes. When traveling and I realize I no longer can control the trailer brakes, I pull over and unplug the trailer, plug in the tester and when squeezing the brake controller it will not light up the circuit marked (BK). If I leave it disconnected and shutoff the truck for 15+ minutes and reconnect, it works again only to stop again at some unknown point. There is obviously a seriously dangerous issue here. I have taken it to the Ford dealer and they can't find anything wrong. When it resets you can't duplicate it until you tow for an undermined distance for it to fail again. I have searched the internet and found many people with the same issue and no one has been able to get it solved by all manner of efforts including many efforts at Ford dealers and electrical shops. This form asks for the date it occurred. It started as soon as I took delivery with 5 miles and is ongoing.

NHTSA complaint #11450382 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

at 1,500 miles Weatherford, TX

SERVICE BRAKES

The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 36 MPH and approaching an intersection, the brake pedal was depressed and went to the floorboard. The vehicle continued through the intersection. The anti-lock brakes warning light then illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure however, no further assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 1,500.

NHTSA complaint #11448956 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Austin, TX

SERVICE BRAKES

The trailer brake on my truck is not working consistently. When coming down a snowy mountain pass two days ago, the bake controller disconnected (after working for about 5 hours). This is incredibly dangerous and due to the fact that I am on a cross country road trip and all dealers are booked months in advance I have not been able to get any information from Ford. I am going to post links to other people having this same problem. This has happened since the truck was purchased. This is an incredibly dangerous situation and I would have expected more from a Ford Truck. I believe based on these other peoples experiences that the issue is with the Powerboost Hybrid specifically. Motor Trend even noticed this in their review: Software Struggles We also intended to evaluate how much the electric motor's torque helps with towing, only to be thwarted by another bug, this one in the trailer brake controller. No matter what we did, the integrated trailer brake controller would not activate the trailer brakes—even with the gain all the way up. We verified the issue was with this F-150 by hitching the trailer to another truck, where the trailer brake controller and trailer brakes worked fine. Link to Motor Trend Review: https://www.motortrend.com/news/2021-ford-f-150-powerboost-hybrid-review/ Other Examples of customers experiencing the same problem. https://tfltruck.com/2021/08/ask-tfl-ford-150-trailer-electrical-issues/ (read the comments at the bottom of the article) https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/trailer-brake-failure.5105/ https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/trailer-brake-not-working.3039/page-2 https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/trailer-tow-power-issue.3259/ https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/trailer-towing-issues.2619/

NHTSA complaint #11445442 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Springfield, MO

SERVICE BRAKES

While towing an RV trailer, the trucks brake controller failed to send signal to trailer when brakes were applied relying on truck only to stop load. The truck recognized trailer was attached but when brake controller was squeezed message on dash was “No Trailer” Stopped at dealer in Kerrville Tx but problem was not seen on scan tool. This issue seems to be intermittent with no warning message when it happens. Manually monitoring brake controller is the only way to determine if the trucks brake controller is functioning correctly. Consumer took the truck in to 2 different dealers with this trailer brake issue. Both dealers wanted to assume the truck loses connection with trailer. Consumer stated truck does not, the trailer brakes just stop working. Consumer stated has taken the truck to 2 different dealers with this trailer brake issue. Both dealers want to assume the truck loses connection with trailer. Consumer truck does not but trailer brakes just stop working. The attached picture shows me squeezing the brake controller while showing the brakes lights coming on on the rear camera.

NHTSA complaint #11443519 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Pueblo West, CO

SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:ANTILOCK:CONTROL UNIT/MODULE

2021 F150 XLT Powerboost (4x4, 9420 miles). Brakes failed while at a complete stop and truck propelled forward despite brake pedal being being pressed down. I was in a fast food drive through at a complete stop with my foot on the brake pedal and the instrument cluster went crazy, warning lights flashing, malfunction messages for what seemed like everything (believe pre-collision, ABS, traction, hill, and some others- cant recall for sure), warning chimes sounding non stop, the brake pedal dropped towards the floor board, and truck started moving forward despite pressing pedal as far down as I could; this all happened almost instantly. Pumped breaks (not sure if it did anything) but I barley stopped in time from hitting the car in front of me, and I left a far amount of room between us initially. After this, when limping the truck through the drive through (was stuck in the line at this point), it took about 10ft to stop from a 1-2mph roll. After clearing the drive through line, I was limping the truck to open area of parking lot and the truck randomly bucked (like bump starting a manual) and all the instrument cluster warnings disappeared and brake pedal pressure and braking performance returned. Just as how the issue instantly occurred, it also disappeared instantly. Despite all the warnings on the cluster, only ABS Fault and Pre-Collision show on the FordPass app. Prior to to this, there were no issues. The vehicle has yet to be inspected by Ford as the service department is booked out for bit. Vehicle has since been parked as I am fearful a 6k lb vehicle without brakes can end with loss of life. Interesting enough, Ford does not seem to share this concern as their Roadside Assistance Dept says the truck does not have towing coverage while their Customer Care Team says it does but they can't work with each other and end result is I had to prepay $273.06 to Ford Roadside Assistance for the tow to the future service appointment, and maybe Ford might reimburse it.

NHTSA complaint #11441828 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Durham, NC

SERVICE BRAKES

I bought a new 2021 F-150 Powerboost exactly 60 days ago, drove approximately 1500 miles until I completely lost brakes on the car almost causing an accident. I brought the car over to the dealer Cross-Roads Ford of APEX and after one day with my truck, they diagnosed the issue, made software updates to all modules, and returned the car. I got the car and within 5 minutes from the dealer, lost brakes again and had to manage to stop the vehicle... Returned to the dealer and it's in for diagnosis again but they asked me to contact Ford. This is not acceptable, I put my family at risk twice and possibly others in the road with this truck. Opened a case with Ford CAS-32036511-Y0W3W4.

NHTSA complaint #11420244 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

Other 2021 Ford F-150 Hybrid problems

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