2018 Ford F-150 Problems & Owner Complaints
Age-normalised, this year draws ~1.6 complaints per year on the road — ranking 2 of 5 Ford F-150 years we track (1 = most complaints per year).
Thinking about buying a specific Ford F-150?
This page shows problems reported across all 2018 Ford F-150s. Before you buy that one car, enter its VIN: get a free open-recall check, then unlock the full $19 safety report: every complaint, safety ratings & a downloadable PDF for that exact vehicle.
Checking a specific 2018 Ford F-150? Enter its VINFree recall check · optional $19 full safety report before you buy
What owners report
Power Train is the most-reported problem area on the 2018 Ford F-150, cited in 12 of 14 filed complaints (86%).
Electrical System is next (2 complaints, 14%), followed by Engine (2), Vehicle Speed Control (2), Exterior Lighting (1).
No complaint for this vehicle reports a crash, fire, injury or death.
Complaints by vehicle system
Owner complaints filed with the U.S. NHTSA for the 2018 Ford F-150, grouped by the vehicle system each cites. A single complaint can name more than one system, so the group totals can add up to more than 14.
Power Train 12
“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.”
NHTSA complaint #11754871, 2026
“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…”
NHTSA complaint #11754224, 2026
“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…”
NHTSA complaint #11754225, 2026
Electrical System 2
“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.”
NHTSA complaint #11752609, 2026
“I was on Spencer street at the light about to cross on Saint rose park way. When the light turned green my truck wouldn’t let me proceed and the it went into a low gear and make a lot of noise until I crossed and stoped at the Horizon ridge light. At the light I turned off the truck like I have done every time this had happened after ford said they did the recall but after they did the recall I’ve been having all these issues. I turned the vehicle back on and put into into drive and it went into reverse I immediately pressed my brakes knowing there is a car behind me. Thankfully the guy saw th…”
NHTSA complaint #11732044, 2026
Engine 2
“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.”
NHTSA complaint #11752609, 2026
“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 engin…”
NHTSA complaint #11749654, 2026
Vehicle Speed Control 2
“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 engin…”
NHTSA complaint #11749654, 2026
“I was on Spencer street at the light about to cross on Saint rose park way. When the light turned green my truck wouldn’t let me proceed and the it went into a low gear and make a lot of noise until I crossed and stoped at the Horizon ridge light. At the light I turned off the truck like I have done every time this had happened after ford said they did the recall but after they did the recall I’ve been having all these issues. I turned the vehicle back on and put into into drive and it went into reverse I immediately pressed my brakes knowing there is a car behind me. Thankfully the guy saw th…”
NHTSA complaint #11732044, 2026
Exterior Lighting 1
“The OEM LED headlights will not adjust, causing excessive glare to on coming drivers. This issue is 300 times worse than the miniscule amount of light that the daytime running lights emit, but somehow the running lights get a recall, but the headlight adjusters do not! I'm completely flabbergasted at such an absurd and unjust oversite to such and important issue, please record this protest in the appropriate file, thanks. I constantly get offended drivers flashing their lights at me.”
NHTSA complaint #11753459, 2026
Unknown Or Other 1
“Transmission stopped gearing into 2nd gear because of known transmission issues with 2018 F150’s. This happened before 60,000 miles on the truck, but was outside of warranty because was not reported until after the 5 year mark. Causes truck to jerk and transmission to deteriorate.”
NHTSA complaint #11753223, 2025
How we read this (methodology)
How to read this: raw complaint totals are not a clean reliability score — a model year with more cars sold, or simply more years on the road, accumulates more complaints regardless of how good it is. So this page leans on two signals that are not distorted by sales volume: the share of complaints falling on each vehicle system (the breakdown above) and NHTSA's own crash / fire / injury / death flags. When we compare model years of the same model, we normalise by years on the road (complaints ÷ vehicle age) rather than comparing raw totals. Age-normalised, the 2018 Ford F-150 draws about 1.6 complaints per year on the road, ranking 2 of 5 among the Ford F-150 model years we have ingested (1 = most complaints per year on road).
Before you buy this Ford F-150
Don't buy on the strength of a problems page alone. Check the exact VIN of the car you're looking at. The open recalls are free, and the full $19 safety report pulls every complaint, safety rating and a downloadable PDF for that one vehicle.
Related
Data source: U.S. NHTSA (nhtsa.gov). SaveVIN surfaces public recall data and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NHTSA.