Complaint volume
910 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2021 Ford F-150 Complaints
910 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Ford F-150, grouped by component category.
910 Total complaints
13 Crash reports
4 Fire reports
6 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are power train, exterior lighting, visibility. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 13 crash reports, 4 fire reports, 6 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 203 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 45,841 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to power train, exterior lighting, visibility?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2021 Ford F-150?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2021 Ford F-150
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Ford F-150 complaints?
13 Crash
4 Fire
6 Injury
0 Fatality
27 Towed
3 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Ford F-150 complaint categories?
POWER TRAIN 201
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 75
VISIBILITY 64
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 52
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 52
VISIBILITY/WIPER 41
ENGINE 33
STEERING 24
SERVICE BRAKES 19
BACK OVER PREVENTION 18
910 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2024 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated that upon her husband entering the vehicle and closing the driver's side door, the rear window suddenly shattered. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened, and the contact was referred to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 18,500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 18,500 |
| Jan 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,EQUIPMENT | Loud popping noise from radio. It sounds like gunfire. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | LANE DEPARTURE | This vehicle is equipped with Ford BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system. This system was activated when this occurred and my hands were off the wheel. Driving Southbound on [XXX] in Georgia, [XXX], left-most lane, with an ~8 ft shoulder and barrier, a few miles before mile [XXX], right around Sparks and Adel, GA. There were two dark tire skid marks in the road leading from the lane into the shoulder/barrier. It seemed like the truck thought those tire skid marks were the lines in the road and took the truck with them into the shoulder. Luckily I was paying close attention and consider myself to have quick reflexes. I was able to grab the wheel and correct before the truck got too far out of the lane. Only when the truck started going out of the lane did the system turn off and tell the driver to take control. This dash warning occurred fractions of a second after I grabbed the wheel to correct. I had my dash camera operating at the time, but I was too slow to capture and save the exact occurrence, however I do have an image of the same portion of highway where this occurred. I have uploaded two images. One unedited image and one "example" image of what the tire skid marks looked like in the road. Someone paying less attention or with slower reflexes could have easily ended up in the barrier at 70-80 MPH. The vehicle has not been inspected for this. Other than this incident, it has functioned seemingly fine and without indicating any error codes or check engine lights. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | POWER TRAIN,STRUCTURE | The contact's business partner owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while his business partner was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with a fractured driveshaft. The dealer replaced the driveshaft. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but informed the contact that the VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V986000 (Power Train, Structure). The failure mileage was 80,230. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | 80,230 |
| Jan 2024 | STEERING | The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and making a turn, the vehicle made a clicking sound. The contact stated that the steering assist fault warning light was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering gear needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 84,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 84,000 |
| Jan 2024 | POWER TRAIN | While driving my truck, I attempted a merge onto interstate 80, and completely lost power. I was accelerating to merge, and when the transmission shifted the truck lost all power. This is a dangerous situation and should be addressed. I cannot believe that nothing is being done about the issue, and Ford knows about this, as my local dealership is months out on transmission repairs.. It would sure be great if the agency responsible for forcing a recall would work for us.. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving in the rain at an undisclosed speed, the windshield wipers became inoperable. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was determined that the windshield wipers motor needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact that the vehicle could not be repaired under NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V842000 (Visibility) because the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 85,000 |
| Jan 2024 | PARKING BRAKE | The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V509000 (Parking Brake) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | It started with the loss of Sirius, then intermittently maps, and now the radio is gone and my display on my dash goes black and restarts. I will be driving down the road (interstate) and all of my dash disappears. No speedometer at all. The APIM is out and Ford has no APIM's available. I took it to local Ford and they confirmed the APIM was out. It controls the whole truck and weird things have happened. Locks, seating changing, steering wheel changes. There is a case opened with Ford but apparently no timeline on fix. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V842000 (Visibility) and the vehicle was repaired; however, prior to the repair, the windshield wipers operated erratically, damaging the wiper blades and left a 2-inch streak across the windshield, causing an issue with visibility while driving. The vehicle was diagnosed but was not repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The contact stated that the wiper blades were not included in the NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V842000 (Visibility) repair. The failure mileage was 54,556. | Crash: No Fire: No | 54,556 |
| Dec 2023 | POWER TRAIN | Passenger side rear axle retainer bolt sheared off. My vehicle was manufactured 20 days after the existing recall. Repair was done under warranty but obviously should be included as part of the recall. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | POWER TRAIN | When moving the shift lever from Drive to Reverse, and physically feeling the two detents from Drive, through Neutral, and into Reverse, intermittently the shift lever will still indicate Neural and the vehicle will stay in Neutral even after two physical detents have been felt (i.e. the truck should indicate and be in Reverse after two physical detents). The truck and shift lever will stay in Neutral even after I remove my hand from the shift lever. The truck will only engage reverse after physically pressing the shift lever further forward within the physical Reverse detent area. There were no warnings on the dash and no trouble codes present within the system. The vehicle is available for inspection, and a video is available, however it is intermittently operating in this manner. When performing a 3-point turn on a roadway, this has led me to believe that my vehicle was engaged in Reverse, but it was in fact not, but in Neutral. This has introduced significant delay in what would otherwise be a safe maneuver and has put me and my occupants safety at risk. The local Ford dealership has updated the shift software, but it has continued to operate this same way intermittently. I have demonstrated this to the dealership service advisor and shown a video to the shop foreman, however the dealership is unwilling to replace the shifter because there is no trouble code. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone other than the local Ford dealership. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | SUSPENSION | The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated while the vehicle was at the dealer for tire rotation services, the dealer informed his wife that the rear passenger's side axle bolt was fractured and was stuck inside the hub of the wheel. The dealer determined that the rear passenger's side axle needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 79,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 79,000 |
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | --Exhaust leak, at left first band clamp downstream from catalyst --Safety is of immediate concern due to exhaust leak directly under driver seat --Local Ford dealership service dept did not fix leak --Exhaust leak was inspected and reported to local Ford dealer service dept- NOT fixed On 20 November 2023, I purchased a 2021 Ford F-150 XL, VIN: [XXX] , from Crain Ford of Jacksonville, Arkansas, 1800 School Drive, Jacksonville, Arkansas 72076. Phone 501-436-4981. After driving the vehicle for a day, I noticed a fluid leak on my garage floor under the vehicle’s engine area. On 21 November 2023, I took the vehicle to the dealership, which I bought the truck from, Crain Ford or Jacksonville, AR. They inspected the underside and found no leaks and suggested I just keep an eye out for any fluid leaks. The next week I kept watching for leaks, and each day I saw what appeared to be a fluid leak of some type or fluid on the floor of my garage. On 27 November 2023, I took the vehicle back t o the same dealership, Crain Ford, and I showed them a video of the leak I discovered. The video can be viewed at: [XXX] As the video shows, upon cold startup of the vehicle, you can see water leaking from the band clamp on the exhaust system just below the left catalyst. I fully understand that the fluid is water and is a byproduct of the combustion system and is normal. That is NOT the problem, the problem is, if water can leak out at the band clamp on the exhaust system, as shown, then so can deadly exhaust fumes right under the driver area. I showed the video to the Ford service dept foreman and he had a technician check the exhaust and assured me that the band clamps were at factory spec torque and they could smell or observe no leaks. I took the vehicle home. The next morning, there is still a deadly exhaust leak occurring at the band clamp on the exhaust pipe as I can see water dripping out, just as the first video showed INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | WHEELS | Broken Right Rear Axle bolt, F150 with ~37500 mileage, Max tow Package, Already identified by FORD customer "satisfaction" Program 22B34 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,BACK OVER PREVENTION | When a trailer is connected the right side trailer brake light fails to operate; the lights on the truck work properly. When the trailer has been recently disconnected warnings on the dash appear saying "Blind spot and cross traffic alert deactivated trailer attached". I also get trailer left and right turn lamps fault check lamps warnings and the turn signal indicators flash at double speed. These things always clear up after a couple of days until a trailer has been connected and disconnected again. I have two different trailers and they both do the same thing. Just for the record, the right turn signal and hazard flashers on the trailer work correctly. My dealer has observed everything that I stated above but claims he is unable to get parts to fix it. The cross traffic alert malfunction and the non operative trailer brake light would appear to be safety issues. So far, no one has been involved except my dealer's service department. If I don't hook up a trailer everything has and does work correctly. I took this truck in to the dealer a couple of years ago due to the dashboard warnings but did not take my trailer with me at that time; they were unable to fix it. I was unaware at that point that I had no right trailer brake light; this is not easy to see unless someone is following me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | POWER TRAIN | On 11-28-2023 I took my truck in for an oil change and new tires. When the wheels were removed the passenger side rear axle bolt fell out. It had been sheared off and I don't know how long I had driven it like that. The last time the wheels were off was when I had an oil change and tire rotation at the same dealership in July 2023, they did not alert me to a problem at that time. The dealer said it was unsafe to drive and I should leave it there to await parts and service. My truck is a 2021 F-150 Ecoboost with the Max Tow Package. It has 54,520 miles on it. The dealer service department has not looked at it to determine if it is an eligible warranty repair or not at this time but it is scheduled to be inspected today. There were no warning lamps or messages given related to this problem at any time. My own research online indicates that hundreds of other 2021 and later F150 owners with the Max Tow Package have had the same problem of axle bolts breaking. No accidents or injuries have been reported that I know of but there has been lots of inconvenience because owners are told the trucks are unsafe to drive. The dealers are saying that the axles must be changed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | STEERING | The power steering assist lamp went on and the vehicle steering became very hard to steer while driving my wife was driving and could have gotten in a bad accident the ford motor company has made recalls for this same issue in other vehicles and i believe that my vehicle should be in that recall as well i have a 2021 f150 xlt 2.7 liter engine and i want my vehicle to be inspected and repaired because the for motor company has put faulty parts in this vehicle as well it is only 2 years old i shouldnt be having this issue.please launch an investigation to have this vehicle added to the list that needs a recall on power steering assist fault power steering. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN | The bolt the holds the rear axle/hub on the 9.75 HD rear-end sheared off. This is an ongoing issue with their rear-end. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated while stopped the vehicle was at a stop light, the vehicle displayed a message reading "Service Advanced Auto Track," requiring the vehicle to be shifted into park and restarted. After restarting the vehicle, the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. The engine kill switch warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to three individual dealers, who were all unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 31,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 31,000 |
| Nov 2023 | POWER TRAIN | It was discovered during rotating my Tires that the center bolt for my Rear axle had snapped off. In talking with the dealership this has been an issue with other ford products. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | The passenger side windshield wiper failed to operate during a rain event. I later removed the wiper arm and observed that the knurled surface of the wiper arm was damaged beyond repair. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | POWER TRAIN | VEH: 2021 F150 FX4 SUPERCREW, 3.5L, MAX TRAILER TOW PKG COMPONENT FAILURE: Rear Passenger Axle Retainer Bolt (on Rear Axle Half-Shaft and Hub Assembly) On 11/03/2023, while having oil change at Simmons Rockwell Ford I was advised that they had located a snapped Axle Retaining bolt on rear passenger axle. I was advised that the axle to hub splines were also found to be damaged & loose. I was informed by service manager that he DID NOT RECOMMEND DRIVING VEHICLE DUE TO SAFETY CONCERNS. There is currently a Ford Customer Satisfaction Program #[XXX] in effect for some 2021-2022 F150 equipped with 9.75"HD Axle- 3/4 Float Axle. This Program replaces defective associated parts at no cost to owner w/no mileage limit. Production dates for F150's manufactured at the Dearborn plant included in this program are limited to May 1, 2021 thru September 30, 2021. My F150 was manufactured in 12/2020 and is not included in this program. My 2021 F150 manufactured in December 2020 has the exact same faulty axle & components as the F150's covered by this program. A check of internet shows multitudes of this same problem w/axle bolts breaking including vehicles outside of the cutoff dates of 22B34 set by Ford for this defect/safety issue. It's apparent F150's with the 9.75" HD axles (included with the Max Trailer Tow Package option) manufactured prior to May1, 2021 are also defective. I was advised by Simmons Rockwell Ford that my truck was the second f150 in two consecutive days to have the exact same problem w axle bolt breaking. Both of these F150 were manufactured outside of the dates included in CSP [XXX]. I was informed by Simmons Rockwell Ford that there are no current recalls for this safety issue. They further stated my F150 is out of warranty & this safety issue defect is not covered by warranty or the current Current Satisfaction Program [XXX]. This is a safety issue & warrants a recall for all models w/this axle including those manufactured before 05/01/2021. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated he received an alert on the Ford Pass to service the vehicle. The engine malfunction warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was using an excessive amount of engine oil. The low oil pressure and engine warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that there was no evidence of an oil leak, and the contact was offered an additional oil change. The dealer referred the contact to the manufacturer. The vehicle was repaired, but the vehicle continued to consume engine oil. The vehicle was taken to the same local dealer, who added oil to the vehicle, but the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, who completed the oil change. The manufacturer was contacted and opened a case. The contact was then referred to the NHTSA Hotline. The approximate failure mileage was 56,646. | Crash: No Fire: No | 56,646 |
| Nov 2023 | STRUCTURE | Panoramic sunroof exploded. This happened on a country highway with no other cars or debris around. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |