2008 Ford Ranger problems
NHTSA has received 344 complaints about the 2008 Ford Ranger, and 86% of them involve air bags. After that come body & structure (3%) and electrical system (2%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 344 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 86% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 11 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 8 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 57,000 miles 83 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 | 12 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 12 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 19 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 8 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 14 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 5 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 5 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 83 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 57,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 78,000 miles (45 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 11 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 8 injuries reported; 1 death reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2008 ranks 27th most-complained-about out of 28 model years of the Ford Ranger with enough data (28 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 5 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.
Tl*the contact stated that the driver owned a 2008 ford ranger. While merging onto the interstate at 35 MPH on a wet road he lost control of the vehicle, and crash into some rocks on the side of the road. The vehicle rolled over onto the drivers side and then landed back on the wheels. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was destroyed. The driver was wearing a seat belt and died on the scene. A police report was filed. The dealer was called and stated that they would make a note of the incident.
Car accident on 6/21/2023 - Richardson Texas Air bags never deployed. The truck hit a tree head on . The air bags were maintainced at the Ford dealership a couple of years ago when we got the recall notice Passanger air bag never deployed
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 ford ranger sport. The contact was driving 45 MPH when he crashed into an embankment. The air bags did not deploy and the contact was injured. A police report was available. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the dealer advised that the air bags should have deployed. The impact was severe enough that the entire frame would need replacing. The vehicle was repaired.
Whilst driving with cruise control on I approached a large hill. I depressed the clutch to down shift & drive up the hill to drive up the hil in a lower gear and without cruise control on. When the clutch was depressed the throttle stuck down/the cruise control clutch disconnect switch failed causing a spike in engine RPM while in neutral. The RPM raced past 6500 before I managed to control it.
The dash lights would blink intermediately and if the truck was turned off while that is happening, the engine immobilizer would engage and the truck would not start. I drove the truck this way for a while and just let it run and not shut it off. Ford didn;t know what was causing it. Eventually I found out that the wiring harness that came together in a y shape, and was supposed to be securely taped only had one strand of tape wrapped around the wires.