What 1,425 owners told NHTSA about the 2015 Ford F-150 Supercab Diesel

In 2022, while behind the wheel of my 2015 F150, I would be driving down the highway (70+ mph) and the transmission would suddenly downshift to 1st gear, then jump to 3rd, and then back down to first gear, all over the place. This happened on several occasions. It was erratic, I experienced sudden changes in speed, sudden and frightening revving of the engine (especially on the highway) and on several occasions I had to make sudden changes to my driving to ensure my safety as well as the safety of others on the road. After I was able to pull over and turn my truck off, the truck would either not turn back on or take a while to be able to turn on. I had no warning that the transmission was about to shift gears and only noticed a check engine light after the incident had occurred. After taking my truck to a transmission shop and they did not find an issue with the transmission (it worked correctly while they test drove it), I took it to a Ford Dealership where I was told there was a fault with the CAM Shaft sensors. After a $3,000 repair to fix the issue, I recently found Ford has Recalled 2014 F-150s for issues that sound identical to what I was experiencing in my 2015 F-150.

NHTSA ODI 11598020

Twice now in the past 2 weeks I was accelerating from a stop when soon after my truck shifts from 4th to 5th, it’ll slam back down into 2nd gear. Both times my rpms spike, obviously, and my tires briefly screech. Then the truck just shift back up and seems completely normal. There was zero indication of any issues prior to either of these incidents. One of the times, I had my wife and two toddlers in the truck. It was lucky I didn’t lose control either of the times. From the forms that I’ve read, it sounds like I have a faulty transmission range sensor or may need a software update. I have not yet had a dealership officially diagnose my vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11597843

Automatic transmission would suddenly downshift from a high gear, slamming into first gear abruptly slowing the vehicle down without warning. It felt like I was in an accident. I was so startled , I didn't know if I had hit something or if I had been hit in the rear end. On another occasion the rear end locked up and caused the tires to chirp. The vehicle only had 38,374 miles on it. I found a Ford training bulletin (TSB 15-0142 & TSB 16-0015) on 2015-2016 F150's with transmission issues. On 07/28/21 I took the vehicle to Jarrett Ford and they performed a transmission update 16-0015 on the vehicle, R/O Number 623834/1, but the problem was not resolved. On 08/23/21 I took the vehicle back to Jarrett Ford and they had to completely rebuild the transmission R/O Number 624682/2.

NHTSA ODI 11597366

Put truck in reverse and backed up. Then put gear shift into Drive and the gear got stuck in Neutral and won't budge. A Ford recall for 2014 was issued the same day but I believe based on this same issue, 2015 models need to be included in the 6/25/2024 recall also.

NHTSA ODI 11596847

2015 f150 the transmission downshifted at highway speeds on numerous occasions one time I was towing a trailer with my family in the truck and it downshifted from sixth gear to first gear without any warning at all I had to pull over on the left side of the highway after the truck locked up the rear wheels I had the transmissions lead frame replaced at the cost of $1200 through a ford dealer

NHTSA ODI 11596857

The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 60 MPH, the vehicle abruptly downshifted with the transmission warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle shuddered and hesitated while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was taken to a dealer on several occasions; however, the dealer was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The dealer was finally able to diagnose the vehicle with a defective wheel speed sensor on the lead frame. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ODI 11596861

The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 70-75 MPH, the transmission abruptly downshifted from 7th gear to 4th or 3rd gear. The transmission also downshifted from 4th gear to 1st gear. The failure occurred several times while driving until the contact shifted the transmission in neutral. The failure was intermittent. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 174,000.

NHTSA ODI 11596809

The contact's husband owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving 60 MPH, the vehicle independently downshifted and the RPM surged to 6,000 RPM. The failure persisted while depressing the accelerator pedal and the vehicle failed to accelerate and shift out of first gear. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. After restarting the vehicle several times, the contact drove the vehicle to a dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective powertrain control module (PCM). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact recently discovered that the 2014 model year Ford F-150 was recalled under NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V444000 (Power Train) and the contact linked the failure to the recall. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.

NHTSA ODI 11596818

TRUCK WILL DOWN SHIFT AUTOMATICALLY TO 1ST GEAR AT TIMES EXSPECIALLY WHEN PULLING A TRAILER OF ANY KIND WHEN SLOWING DOWN, (EXAMPLE) GETTING OFF A HIGHWAY RAMP SLOWING DOWN TO THE INTERSECTION. I JUST READ THEY ARE RECALLING 2014 WITH THAT ISSUE, 2015 ALSO HAS THE SAME ISSUE, ATLEAST MINE DOES. HAS PROBABLY DONE IT 6 TIMES, ALL WITH A TRAILER ON THE TRUCK.

NHTSA ODI 11596359

The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated that on several occasions while driving at various speeds, the vehicle unintendedly downshifted to a lower gear. The contact observed a vibration coming from underneath the middle of the vehicle. On other occasions, while driving at slow speeds, the vehicle began jerking slightly to moderately. The vehicle was taken to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

NHTSA ODI 11596380

The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated while attempting to drive from a complete stop, the RPMs were significantly high, but the vehicle hesitated to respond while depressing the accelerator pedal. Additionally, the contact stated while driving at high speeds, the vehicle experienced unexpected downshifts to first gear. The power train warning light and the check engine warning light were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where the transmission was replaced; however, the failure persisted. The dealer was contacted and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in a recall; therefore, he would be charged a fee for the diagnostic test and repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 82,000.

NHTSA ODI 11596408

Vehicle geared down without warning, several occasions it would stay geared down on an interstate. I would have to pull over to get it to perform properly. Took it in to the local Ford dealership for repair and it cost me $7000 to replace transmission, immediately afterwards it continued gearing down which happened to be an issue with the power control module. I know the 2014 have been recalled with the same issues, and feel the 2015 should probably also be included in the recall.

NHTSA ODI 11596362

6r80 transmission eractic shifts,will not change gears. Skips gears. Code po0715 , Concerned for safety. Shouldn't have these problems at 66000 miles

NHTSA ODI 11590504

My latest issue is with the 2.7 ecoboost engine. I had a total failure of this engine last year and am still awaiting a replacement that I am paying for. This is unacceptable as I had this vehicle serviced according to maintenance schedule. I also have had systems report failure such as the hillside assist and the electronic parking brake. Additionally, the automatic transmission has locked up in third gear quite a few times. There are other issues such as a leaky oil pan and such.

NHTSA ODI 11583079

The contact's father owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while his father was driving approximately 40 MPH, the vehicle downshifted inadvertently. The vehicle was steered into a parking lot where the driver observed that the engine was revving without depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was turned off and was not able to be restarted. The vehicle was towed to the residence where a handheld diagnostic machine retrieved DTC code: P0707. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the leadframe needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 52,000.

NHTSA ODI 11574641

I was driving a couple of days ago and all of a sudden I got this wrench icon on my dashboard and my 2015 Ford F150 went to limp mode from 70 mph to 35 mph for no apparent reason. I've noticed the PRNDM21 is grayed out. Luckily after about 10 seconds, it went back to normal. Today Feb 23, 2024, I went to pick up my girls from school and this wrench icon shows up again, this time it felt like my truck was not responding to acceleration, it's like it had a mind of its own. I was pressing the brake but it felt like it was not responding so I almost rear-ended another vehicle. Luckily, there was room on the right lane so I swerved immediately not even thinking if there was any car so fortunately, after about a minute, the car went back to normal. I was so scared driving the truck after I picked up my girls to school, I was hoping it wouldn't happen again as there were a lot of kids crossing the school. When I got home, I used my code reader and it came up with P0707 and P0706 (Transmission Sensor a Circuit Range Performance and Transmission Range Sensor A Circuit Low) issues. I contacted a mobile mechanic and scheduled for a repair this Sunday. Hope they can get this fix asap!

NHTSA ODI 11573704

Throttle body failure while driving resulting in immediate need to pull off the road as vehicle lost power and a lot of warnings lights going off. Very dangerous at Haigh speeds in traffic.

NHTSA ODI 11559170

Driving 68mph with cruise control engaged, truck violently jerked. Gear indicator went to 1st and started flashing. There was no gas pedal response. The truck was just coasting. About 10 seconds later, the gear indicator went back to 6th and resumed normal operations. This seems to be the same lead frame issue earlier f150s had with this transmission but no recall has been made for the 2015’s. This is a serious safety issue and needs to be addressed by Ford

NHTSA ODI 11554999

My 2015 F-150 3.5L ecoboost experienced a sudden loss of power during highway speeds and shut off. I was in rush hour traffic and almost caused a few accidents as my truck seemed like it went into "limp mode". While my steering wheel was tight I managed to get off the road safely with no power whatsoever. My idiot lights were flashing like crazy and stated "Advance Trac Service" and "Hill Start assist not available". I let the truck sit for a bit and restarted it. It ran solid another 15 miles. Today I'm getting Advance Trac message: "Advance Trac Service" and "Hill Start assist not available", all while the engine check light remains on. I have read multiple issues similar to mine but there does not seem to be a recall for this. This is a VERY unsafe ordeal and very scary. Had my daughter been driving, this may have been an accident for sure. I see Ford "extended" the warranty to cover any issues. But I do not drive my truck that often and I find it hard to believe nothing is being done about the "throttle body" issue (from my reading). This is even happening to Ford trucks overseas. I get they do not have any say in the US, bu it does show this is a MAJOR issue.

NHTSA ODI 11553013

While driving normally down the freeway the transmission on my 2015 Ford F-150 King Ranch(4x2) jumped into neutral, the "D" which was lite up orange started flashing orange to white then when white, the "wrench" light can on check engine light came on, the truck had power but when you pushed on the gas it only revved up like it was in neutral. Thankfully we were able to pull to the side of the road without getting hit, and I turn the truck off, that seemed to "reset" the trucks computer and the truck was able to go into gear, we drove it home immediately without another incident. This was the second time it happened, I thought the first time maybe I did something wrong, but it is obviously a software problem with the transmission. My son and I could have been killed, this is a serious problem that needs a recall, I have done some basic research in the past 24 hours and there are similar problems all over the Country.

NHTSA ODI 11552173

The transmission lead frame failed while traveling down the road under normal driving conditions. We came to a stop and the truck revved very high on its own. My husband shut the truck off and put it in park. Afterwards it refused to start it would not even crank. We had a mechanic hook his computer to it and received 3 codes for the transmission range sensor which tells the vehicle what gear it's in. I have had several shops and a dealer tell me there's been many instances of this part failing. It's about a $2000 repair. Luckily for us this happened on a less busy road but it was still dangerous to be in the middle of an intersection unable to move. I can only imagine how bad this would have been in a busy town. I have not had the repair done at this time but will be soon.

NHTSA ODI 11550310

My 2015 3.5l ecoboost had the Exhaust manifolds replaced back in 2018 when my truck had 51,909 miles on it and now at 90,000 miles the new manifolds warped and snapped off a stud bolt to which the American Fork Utah Ford Dealership said that since it was over a year ago even though it was a known issue that was covered under warranty I will have to pay out of pocket over $2,000 per manifold... this is a known issue with the manifold warping and causing exhaust leaks when the stud bolts snap off. Ford needs to recall this design flaw and pay for the fix.

NHTSA ODI 11530489

the truck has been acting up for several months now. it has been throwing out strange codes when attempting to start {parking brake malfunction, oil light, power train system default, ect} and often times it WILL NOT CRANK unless we hook it up to a battery charger for just a bit of time. The truck has a new battery that was installed by autozone, where it was bought {6 months ago}. Since we were in town, we stopped by autozone to get them to attach the code reader. {power train system and ABS malfunction} while driving, later in the day, the trucks auto start/stop system turns itself on and stops the truck dead in its spot.(danger: we were pulling onto the road {fm 2100} during rush hour traffic, when the trucks system went haywire and stopped us dead in our tracks in the center of both turn lanes and two of the main lanes.) there was no restarting, nor were we able to get the gear to change into neutral in order for us to be able to move it out of the main roadway. when we were finally able to move it, we hooked a fully charged jump box {one rated for up to semi truck sized vehicles} to it to get it started, and it simply would not crank for quite a while. at this time, we took the opportunity to recheck the oil level, which was set at full. After several minutes of begging "the truck" to just start so we could just take her home, it finally cranked up and home is where we took her. the truck has 19771 original miles on it. it was drove off of the show room floor, back in 2015, with 6 miles on it, and has had absolute regular maintenance and has only had one owner.

NHTSA ODI 11525067

Vehicle shifts into 6 gear on takeoff causing vehicle not to accelerate and causing vehicle to creep when I needed acceleration almost causing accident with oncoming traffic. While driving 60 miles an hour the vehicle shifts down to 2 gear. I dropped the vehicle off at the ford dealer, They diagnosed it to be the connected molded lead frame input shaft speed sensor these are not readily available with no estimate when they will receive this part. I did a search and found that there was a recall on this up to 2013. this part almost got me killed and now they can't even tell me when this will be available my vehicle has been at the dealer for almost 3 weeks waiting for this part. they are telling when they receive this part it will cost approx. $900.00 for the repair I feel this should be included in this safety recall this is a very dangerous defect that almost took my life.

NHTSA ODI 11523390

F150 starts to lose power and shudder/vibrate about 60% of the time when driving. Picking up speed, truck lost half power and engine light starting flashing. When it caught gear and speed, the light stopped flashing but the truck continues to shudder and vibrate like crazy.

NHTSA ODI 11522512