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What 24 owners told NHTSA about the 2020 Ford F-450 Sd

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (24)Crash / fire / injury (4)Fuel System, Diesel (7)Transmission & drivetrain (5)Electrical system (3)Engine (2)Speed control (2)Body & structure (1)Driver assistance (1)Fuel system (1)Fuel System, Other (1)Latches & locks (1)

3 of 24 complaints match · Electrical system · clear filters

Dec 30, 2023Electrical systemSpeed control

My horn started going off continuously, I got messages on my digital dash system, saying that my lane assist had a fault, my adaptive speed control was faulty, and other system. Safety features were inactive. Ford has an issue, and they acknowledge the issue of the fuse box under the hood randomly coming off, which allows water to get into the fuse system, and start corroding wires which start sending mixed signals and failures to the system.

NHTSA ODI 11562735

Dec 30, 2023Electrical systemLatches & locks

My tailgate came open randomly while pulling a trailer. Ford knows about this issue, but is yet to make a recall and not sure they’re going to cover the damage done to my tailgate. The tailgate randomly came open when I had turned a corner, and when I straightened back out made my truck and trailer jumped all over the road because the tailgate contacted the trailer.

NHTSA ODI 11562737

Jul 11, 2021Electrical systemFire

Unknown. So, on May 30th, 2021 my passenger side main battery blew up for no reason. I took it to Autozone and we checked the system and everything seem fine and had the correct voltage. On July 3, 2021 my truck started smoking. I pulled over, put the truck in park and shut off the truck. I looked around trying to locate the cause of the smoke but couldn’t. I opened all the doors to air out the truck. Everything seemed to be fine at the time so I got back in and started driving. I got about 200 yards and then smoke started to come heavily out of the vents on the left and right side of the stereo. I pulled over again in a safe area away from cars and building, put the the truck in park and shut off the truck. I looked in the vents where the smoke was coming from and noticed flames. I grabbed my keys, ran to my trailer, grabbed a 7 gallon jug of water, ran back, called 911 and proceeded to try and put the fire out. While talking to 911 they asked where I was and address. I didn’t know but they kept insisting. I stopped located a number on a building and told them. Turned around after 30 seconds or so and the entire dash was engulfed in flames. I grabbed my computer, Xbox, and dogs. One dog got scared and ran into the trailer it took me about a min to get her out. I looked back at the truck and the whole truck at that time was engulfed in flames

NHTSA ODI 11424280

Working with the data? Download all 24 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 10, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2020 Ford F-450 Sd verdict →