NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
What owners actually said
254 reportsMileage unknown · Feb 4, 2022
Service BrakesUnknown Or Other
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 …
Read full complaint
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 ODI #11450382
1,000 miles · Feb 1, 2022
Forward Collision Avoidance
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150 Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving the vehicle, several safety features would not operate as intended. While driving in reverse, the rear cross-traffic alert would sometimes malfunction and not alert the driver that a vehicle or an object or pedestrian was near the rear of the vehicl…
Read full complaint
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150 Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving the vehicle, several safety features would not operate as intended. While driving in reverse, the rear cross-traffic alert would sometimes malfunction and not alert the driver that a vehicle or an object or pedestrian was near the rear of the vehicle. Occasionally, the message "inoperable" was displayed. Also, the forward-collision warning system would not activate when driving too close to a nearby vehicle or object. In addition, while driving, the adaptive cruise control was activated and the vehicle ahead reduced speed however, the adaptive cruise control deactivated instead of reducing speed causing the driver to press the brake pedal to avoid a collision. The vehicle was returned to the dealer who attempted to perform the software updates however, the updates failed to fix the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,000.
NHTSA ODI #11449705
1,500 miles · Jan 26, 2022
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 mechan…
Read full complaint
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 ODI #11448956
Mileage unknown · Jan 4, 2022
Unknown Or Other
2021 F-150 Powerboost giving "Trailer brake system fault" when not in use and has never been used. Additionally getting the "Key not detected" alert when key in truck. Battery in fob has been replaced and tested to be good. These errors have no known trigger mechanisms to repeat. Just happen on their own. I am becoming increas…
Read full complaint
2021 F-150 Powerboost giving "Trailer brake system fault" when not in use and has never been used. Additionally getting the "Key not detected" alert when key in truck. Battery in fob has been replaced and tested to be good. These errors have no known trigger mechanisms to repeat. Just happen on their own. I am becoming increasingly concerned if these can continue to worsen over time. Dealer says they havent really seen either issue. Truck was pruchased 11/17/21 and currently has 1998.5 miles.
NHTSA ODI #11446089
Mileage unknown · Dec 29, 2021
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 a…
Read full complaint
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 ODI #11445442
2,061 miles · Dec 28, 2021
Forward Collision Avoidance
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle began to independently accelerate up to 85 MPH in 35 zone. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to disengage the cruise control and drive at the normal speed limit of 30 …
Read full complaint
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle began to independently accelerate up to 85 MPH in 35 zone. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to disengage the cruise control and drive at the normal speed limit of 30 MPH. The contact stated he had experienced the same failure twice. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 2,061.
NHTSA ODI #11445207
Mileage unknown · Dec 21, 2021
EngineStructure
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving her vehicle at various speeds , her vehicle felt as though someone hit the back of her vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle speeds up and slows down intermittently without warning. The contact stated that she has contacted the dealer as well as the…
Read full complaint
The contact owns a 2021 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving her vehicle at various speeds , her vehicle felt as though someone hit the back of her vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle speeds up and slows down intermittently without warning. The contact stated that she has contacted the dealer as well as the manufacture, but was not successful. The contact also stated that there was a water leak that was leaking over the body control module in the vehicle , causing mold to grown under the hood of the vehicle as well as the cabin of the vehicle. The failure mileage was 8000.
NHTSA ODI #11444595
Mileage unknown · Dec 14, 2021
Electrical System
Infotainment system shutoff twice during operation on 12/13/2021, proceeded to pulse between displaying and not displaying. System non responsive to touch. Continued to respond to tactile button input and play sounds. System again shutoff, without pulsing, twice on 12/14/2021. Brought to dealership to schedule evaluation. C…
Read full complaint
Infotainment system shutoff twice during operation on 12/13/2021, proceeded to pulse between displaying and not displaying. System non responsive to touch. Continued to respond to tactile button input and play sounds. System again shutoff, without pulsing, twice on 12/14/2021. Brought to dealership to schedule evaluation. Concerned that system will shutoff during reversing.
NHTSA ODI #11443736
Mileage unknown · Dec 12, 2021
Service BrakesUnknown Or Other
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 sca…
Read full complaint
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 ODI #11443519
Mileage unknown · Nov 27, 2021
Service Brakes, Air
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 fo…
Read full complaint
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 ODI #11441828