2005 Ford F-150 problems
The 2005 Ford F-150 has 1,364 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (20%) concerns wipers, windshield & visibility. After that come engine (17%) and brakes (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 1,364 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Wipers, windshield & visibility 20% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 66 and 42
- Injuries and deaths
- 69 and 2
- Typical mileage
- 62,000 miles 1,174 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 157 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 175 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 226 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 205 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 153 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 80 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 70 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 33 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 35 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 17 |
| 200k+ miles | 23 |
What the data shows
Among the 1,174 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 62,000 miles. For wipers, windshield & visibility specifically, the median reported mileage is about 51,000 miles (260 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 66 complaints mention a crash; 42 complaints mention a fire; 69 injuries reported; 2 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2005 ranks 14th most-complained-about out of 36 model years of the Ford F-150 with enough data (759 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
The f-150 was parked in the carport attached to my son's house. It had been parked and not running for at least 3 hours. A passerby noticed the truck on fire and tried to wake all occupants in the house(duplex). At 5 a.m on 9/11/2008. My son never left the house. His body was found just inside the house by the carport door. The fire was coming from someplace in the engine compartment.
Dt: contact stated while traveling at 35 MPH the tire came off the rim. He lost control of the vehicle, causing the vehicle to veer into on coming traffic, and colliding with four other vehicles. There was no warning prior to the accident. The vehicle was towed to a dealership. The vehicle was totaled. The manufacturer has not been contacted to determine what might have caused the problem. Injuries were reported.
I was going to meet my husband on the side of the highway to pick up my son. I started slowing down from highway speed of 90kms/hr quite a ways back. I slowed the truck to about 30kms/hr about 40 feet behind his pickup. All of a sudden the truck I was driving gave a couple of lurches, sped up and slammed into the back of my husbands truck. I did not remove my foot from the brake the whole time. There was nothing I could do to stop the truck.
Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle had an improper brake adjustment which made the slack adjuster length different on each side of an axle. The dealership did not find any problem and the contact requested that the brake chambers be replaced and each of the service chambers must be of the same size across the vehicle's axles. Updated 10/18/2006 - the brake pedal travels past the accelerator pedal and has caused trouble while the consumer attempts to stop the vehicle.