2023 Ford F-150

2024 Ford F-150 Lightning Complete instrument cluster blackout while driving. Screen goes entirely black intermittently, lasting up to 30 minutes. Occurs while vehicle is in motion. Issue persists even after stopping and restarting vehicle. Loss of speedometer, battery state of charge, warning lights, and all driver information. This creates unsafe driving conditions with no way to monitor speed or critical vehicle systems.

While driving my 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor, the vehicle suddenly lost throttle response. The accelerator pedal produced no response and the engine would not rev even though the vehicle remained powered on. A battery warning light briefly illuminated at the time of the incident. I was able to bring the vehicle to a stop, but during the event the steering wheel became locked or extremely stiff and the vehicle did not respond normally to inputs. After stopping, I placed the truck in park and was unable to shift the transmission back out of park. The vehicle appeared to remain powered on but multiple systems were not responding. After pressing the start/stop button and cycling the vehicle, the issue cleared and the truck began operating normally again. Prior to this incident, the vehicle had already been scheduled to go to the dealership because it had been displaying numerous warning lights and diagnostic codes across multiple systems, totaling approximately 30 alerts. The vehicle was taken to a Ford dealership for diagnosis. The dealership reported codes indicating a network communication issue between vehicle modules but stated they were unable to reproduce the failure and no repair was performed. The dealership has requested that I take possession of the vehicle despite the unresolved cause of this failure. Given the loss of throttle response and steering function while the vehicle was in motion, I currently feel the vehicle is unsafe to operate until the underlying issue is identified and corrected. A sudden loss of throttle response and steering control while the vehicle is in motion creates a significant risk of collision, particularly in traffic or at highway speeds. The fact that the failure temporarily cleared after cycling the vehicle suggests a potential intermittent electronic or communication failure affecting critical vehicle control systems.

I was trying to park the vehicle and it unexpectedly started to accelerate. I had to slam on the brakes. This is not the first time this has occurred. It’s happened many times. I took it to the Ford dealership and they said they cannot find any problems so then I did some research on the Internet and found there’s other people saying the same thing so there’s clearly a problem with this vehicle. Unexpected acceleration.

While driving down the road, the driver gauge display screen completely goes dark. All information displayed normally on the screen, such as speed, mileage, and vital information about the vehicle stops, displaying entirely. This has happened multiple times. Usually the next day, the issue is solved. Then, several months later, the issue reappears. Whenever the vehicle is taken for repair, the dealer simply cannot replicate the issue. This is a known issue that has been reported online by many people.

The contact owned a 2023 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly and the front passenger side of the vehicle crashed into a tree. No warning lights were illuminated prior to the failure. The air bags were not deployed. No injuries were sustained and no medical attention was sought. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the vehicle was totaled; the failure cause was unknown. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 22,000. 

On [XXX] at [XXX] I dropped my wife and 2 children off at the Funland Arcade in Deep Creek, Maryland. The parking lot was full from the holiday weekend and I was planning on taking the Lightning to a nearby charger while the family gamed so I double parked perpendicular to the arcade entrance, put the hazards on, and let them out. After the 3 of them got out, I placed the Lightning in reverse to back up 5-10 feet so that I could exit the parking lot through the same way I came in. Once I had enough space from reversing so I could make the turn to exit I placed the Lighting in drive. The moment the Lightning switched to drive it accelerated at a very high speed as if I was flooring the gas pedal, which I was not. The lightning was in one-petal mode which I always use unless I’m on a highway. I immediately began pumping the brakes but the truck would not stop, I probably slammed on the brake petal 4-5 times to no avail. I even tried shifting the truck back into park but it would not shift out of drive. I was able to luckily steer the truck into a hillside approximately 150 feet away. The truck ran over numerous small trees and shrubs before crashing to a stop approximately 16 feet up the hill. Shortly after the shock wore off, I slowly reversed the truck down the hill, exited the truck, and informed dozens of onlookers who came out of the arcade to see what the noise in the parking lot was from, that the truck just took off on its own but that I was fine. I called 911 and the police came. Luckily no people or vehicles were between the arcade entrance and the hillside or the outcome would have been significantly worse. This crash was witnessed first hand by wife and 2 children. I have grave safety concerns about this truck now and will not put my family or self back in it until Ford fixes this problem. I am making this complaint in case this information can help prevent future crashes of this vehicle. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Thank you for a chance to file this information. The cruise speed control and lane keeping systems are not working consistently and properly. They fail every week when tested. So far - the dealer-warranty fixes have not been the remedy needed. The cruise control system on steeper slopes doesn't provide braking to stay at the set speed - and at times it doesn't provide any braking resistance - so the vehicle takes off full speed with gravity. The lane keeping system doesn't provide consistent drivers' assistance to prevent departing the lane - even with new/freshly painted center-lanes/side of the road lanes.

The contact owns a 2023 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at speeds between 65 - 80 MPH with the cruise control activated, the cruise control malfunctioned, and the vehicle decelerated to 10 - 20 MPH slower than the cruise control was set for. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the vehicle. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The manufacturer referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was 29,700.

This is something I've noticed a few times, it's concerning, and I'm trying to hash out what's actually happening. After reversing at slow speed (from a parking spot for example) and then shifting into drive, I've felt what appeared to be uncommanded throttle response. The cruise control engages as if it had been set to 15mph and trying to accelerate to that speed. Being in a parking space and shifting to drive, I was at a stand still. This morning, after backing out of driveway, slowing to a near stop, and selecting drive, it felt like the truck had a significant throttle engagement which I imeddiately had to brake. The cruise control had again engaged to 15mph and was green signifying it was active and accelerating to catch up to the 15mph. This occurs immediately when shifting from reverse to drive. The only common factor I can isolate to is when backing, if I simply shift to drive after slowing to a near stop, without braking, it engages. I cannot replicate and Ford says they are not aware of any issues.