Home · 2024 Ford Ranger · Complaints

What 55 owners told NHTSA about the 2024 Ford Ranger

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 (55)Crash / fire / injury (2)Transmission & drivetrain (16)Electrical system (15)Brakes (7)Body & structure (6)Engine (5)Fuel system (5)Visibility & wipers (4)Airbags (3)Driver assistance (3)Steering (3)

16 of 55 complaints match · Transmission & drivetrain · clear filters

Jun 18, 2026Transmission & drivetrain

While driving, randomly and intermittently the vehicles drive mode will change on its own, usually requiring the driver to slow down to allow for a 4X4 shift, as called out by messages on the dash and an audible warning. This has happened multiple times and ford cannot replicate this issue. I was going to just replace the drive mode selection knob but as it turns out it's on national backorder.

NHTSA ODI 11745023

May 23, 2026Transmission & drivetrainElectrical system

Vehicle experienced unintended transmission gear change without driver input from the gear selector. While driving, the transmission shifted unexpectedly into 4H even though the selector was not touched. This created a safety hazard due to sudden change in vehicle behavior, including: loss of acceleration, lurching and unexpected movement. Issue occurred at approximately 30 mph. Concern is potential electronic transmission control or shift-by-wire malfunction causing unintended gear engagement.

NHTSA ODI 11739691

Apr 30, 2026Transmission & drivetrain

The vehicle has had hard down shift at slow speeds. Sometimes so hard that i thought I got rearended when stopping. Sometimes you can feel it but not horrible, other times it's bad! I've been trying 6 months to get Coggin Ford to look at it and they keep putting me off.

NHTSA ODI 11734739

Apr 14, 2026Transmission & drivetrainElectrical systemEngine

My 2024 Ford Ranger XLT 2W has been suddenly losing power or stumbling upon initial acceleration. This has been occurring intermittently. My truck now has approximately 20,000 miles. The problem has become increasingly frequent. It seems to occur most often when accelerating from a complete stop. The loss of power can last for several seconds, then normal power is regained. Several times, the truck has lost power while making a left turn. It simply will not accelerate, and I find that I am stuck, unable to complete my turn and clear the oncoming traffic. I have taken my truck to a local dealer who attempted to diagnose the problem and they didn’t offer a solution since they were unable to reproduce the problem during their road test. It has happened many times since then and I am scheduled to return the vehicle to the same dealership to attempt to diagnose and fix the problem again soon. The problem seems to occur, regardless of which drive mode the truck is in and also occurs with Electronic Stability Control both enabled and disabled. There are no warning lights or check engine codes shown.

NHTSA ODI 11731068

Mar 31, 2026Transmission & drivetrainEngineFuel system

My 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor has been suddenly losing power or stumbling upon initial acceleration. This has been occurring intermittently since it was nearly new. My truck now has approximately 10,500 miles. The problem has become increasingly frequent. It seems to occur most often when accelerating from a complete stop. The loss of power can last for several seconds, then afterwards, normal power is regained. It poses a safety risk since it has nearly caused collisions. Several times, the truck has lost power while making a left turn in front of oncoming traffic. It simply will not accelerate, and I find that I am stuck, unable to complete my turn and clear the oncoming traffic. Once when accelerating away from a stoplight, the truck lost power, and I was nearly struck by following vehicle. I have taken my truck to a local dealer who attempted to diagnose the problem and they didn’t offer a solution since they were unable to reproduce the problem during their road test. It has happened many times since then and I am scheduled to return the vehicle to the same dealership to attempt to diagnose and fix the problem again soon. The problem seems to occur, regardless of which drive mode the truck is in and also occurs with Electronic Stability Control both enabled and disabled. There are no warning lights or check engine codes shown.

NHTSA ODI 11728371

Jan 8, 2026Transmission & drivetrainElectrical systemSpeed control

I am the original owner of this vehicle and the engine and controls have not been modified in any way. Yesterday while driving at approximately 30 mph on a surface street with dry road conditions in the “2H” setting on the Drive Modes Selection Dial my truck spontaneously shifted into four-wheel drive high and then attempted to switch into four-wheel-drive low – “Rock Crawl Mode.” The rear differential locked, speed was suddenly reduced, and the steering became more difficult. Luckily, I was able to safely pull over. I captured a video at this time documenting the control settings and display image. It took multiple attempts, even in Park and Neutral, to get out of 4WD and back into the 2H setting. Once back in 2H, the truck drove normally. I have had similar experiences at least twice before in this truck with months between them. In those cases, I wondered if I had accidentally bumped the dial control. I am certain that this was not the case yesterday, so this was a spontaneous event initiated by the truck’s computer and/or mechanical controls. I consider this to be a very serious safety hazard, as it dramatically and unexpectedly affected the speed and handling of my truck. I did some online searching today and found that multiple other Ranger Raptor owners have experienced this issue, suggesting that this may be a serious design flaw affecting multiple vehicles. I plan to schedule a service appointment with Ford and notify them directly of this problem and hazard.

NHTSA ODI 11709682

Nov 27, 2025Transmission & drivetrain

Truck will shift into offroad modes unexpectedly. Will shift into these modes at highway speeds

NHTSA ODI 11701809

Oct 24, 2025Transmission & drivetrain

The contact owns a 2024 Ford Ranger. The contact stated that while reversing, the differential indicator independently moved, and there was an abnormal sound coming from the transmission. The abnormal sound could be heard for a short while, and then the sound dissipated. The contact stated the sound could be heard intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, no cause for the failure was found. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 4,200.

NHTSA ODI 11695500

Oct 16, 2025Transmission & drivetrainElectrical systemEngine

while driving between 5-10 MPH on a dry, smooth paved road, the transmission began cycling through 4WD modes and began shifting from normal mode to 4WD Sand mode, i was able to pull over and park, but the transmission continued shifting and fully transitioned to 4WD mode. This is the second time it has occurred, the first time the transmission fully switched 4WD and i was barely able to pull off the road to reset it. after first issue, dealership noted the following "3131 confirmed concern. pulled codes with FDRS and found P05D3 in ABS module. Referred to workshop manual and run pinpoint test AH for concern. AH1 yes. AH2 had me reconfigure ABS module with As-Built data rerun self test. No codes returned and system operating correctly at this time." There multiple online forums with owners having the same problem. https://www.ranger6g.com/forum/threads/24-rr-shifted-while-driving.18956/ Truck will be going to dealership for assessment again.

NHTSA ODI 11693898

Aug 25, 2025Transmission & drivetrain

Vehicle has multiple drive modes. Vehicle will attempt to change drive modes while moving without any input from the driver, i.e. using the drive mode control to change drive modes. Results in vehicle attempting to shift into four-wheel-drive or other drive modes while vehicle is in motion, even at highway speeds.

NHTSA ODI 11682807

Aug 25, 2025Transmission & drivetrainElectrical system

The Drive Mode Control has been malfunctioning and selecting different drive modes while the vehicle is in motion without any physical input from myself, the driver. While driving in the normal two-wheel drive high (2H) at various rates of speed the Drive Mode Control will start clicking and selecting different drive modes, such as going to four-wheel drive low (4L) or four-wheel drive high (4H) and a pop-up message in the instrument cluster display showing the change displaying Mud/Ruts, Sand, Slippery modes being selected. This has been continuously occurring randomly at both low and high rates of speed. There are never any objects or materials in contact with the Drive mode Control when this happens, it does it on it's own with an audible clicking noise. This is effectively putting myself, my family and other drivers safety at risk since the truck is making changes to the power train without any input from myself and I have to take my attention off the road to bring the truck back into normal two-wheel drive high (2H) mode. I have contacted both Ford Motor Company directly and my local Ford Dealer Service Center to try to have the vehicle inspected but have not been able to due their delay in being able to diagnose the vehicle. This has been going on for 4+ months and the date provided below is the last occurrence of the issue.

NHTSA ODI 11682811

Aug 10, 2025Transmission & drivetrain

When driving truck especially in rolling traffic truck has hard time downshifting and clunky and lunches as transmition tries to figure what gear to be in. It is an intermittently happening but now evolved to completely dropping out of gear goes into neutral were you can rev engine without truck moving foward. This has only happened twice both time as I was slowing down to make a turn and the trying to Accelerate after turn truck would go limp. Dealer could not replicate issues and could not find any issues advised to return is issue consistent

NHTSA ODI 11679678

May 14, 2025Transmission & drivetrain

Transmission on this brand new vehicle with less than 3500 miles is bad. Safety issue as well. Periodically you will go to press accelerator and nothing will happen. The truck will fall out of gear and will not accelerate randomly. I've had this incident occur when trying to get into the highway which is unsafe and I've had this happen on standard roadway as well. This is a big safety concern because of vehicle won't go into gear and accelerate then it could cause rear collision from other vehicles on the road. In addition to this if you drive the vehicle, turn it off, and then a few hours later go to drive the vehicle again the transmission slams into gear so hard that the entire truck jumps. This Ford Ranger has huge transmission issues and after looking online many owners of this same vehicle have this problem yet Ford won't do anything about it because the maintenance light doesn't pop up on the dash despite the obvious and dangerous issue happening.

NHTSA ODI 11660910

Apr 8, 2025Transmission & drivetrainElectrical system

1. The vehicle will sometimes randomly switch between drive modes with no influence from the driver. I believe it could be a faulty drive mode sensor and the vehicle is available to be inspected. 2. Having the vehicle switch drive modes at random could cause an increase in danger while driving. Going from Normal to Baja or other modes while at highway speeds is very concerning, considering it changes from 2-wheel to 4-wheel drive. 3. No. 4. No, the vehicle will be taken to a Ford dealership soon for the current window recall. 5. No prior warnings. The first couple of times, I thought I may have bumped it, but on multiple occasions I have realized it did it by itself with no influence from the operator. 6. For the additional details below: I put in the most recent incident, but it has occurred multiple times over the past year.

NHTSA ODI 11653397

Apr 4, 2025Transmission & drivetrain

The contact owns a 2024 Ford Ranger. The contact stated that while attempting to leave a parking lot while on an incline, the transmission was shifted into drive(D); however, the vehicle began to slowly reverse. The contact quickly proceeded to depress the brake pedal and shift back to park(P). There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that there was no failure found with the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact referenced NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V164000 (POWER TRAIN); as a possible cause for the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 2,000.

NHTSA ODI 11652847

Feb 24, 2025Transmission & drivetrain

When stopped or turning from a stop I will lose acceleration for 3-4 seconds at such time I will almost over accelerate when it does catch which I almost will lose control especially in icy weather. I have no codes have taken to dealership for repairs 4 times they can't find any issues. The issues appeared day 1 asked them to look at it they said it was fine.

NHTSA ODI 11644616

Working with the data? Download all 55 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 14, 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 2024 Ford Ranger verdict →