Ford F 150 Regular Cab
Problems & Worst Years

Across five model years, the regular-cab Ford F-150's complaint file peaks hard at 2018. That year's 925 total occurrences dwarf its neighbors, and two safety-severity problems drive nearly all of it: transmission jerking with unintended shifts to neutral (401 occurrences) and engine cam phaser failure (373). The transmission theme brackets that peak — hard shifting and delayed engagement lead the 2019 at 135 safety-severity occurrences, with another 86 reports of hard shifting and stalling, and jerking and hard shifting continue on the 2020 at 42 and 35 occurrences, both safety-severity, in a year where six of twelve reported problems carry that rating.

Cam phaser trouble is the persistent engine thread: 57 and 56 occurrences on the 2017 under two phrasings, alongside 56 reports of engine rattling and knocking; 373 on the 2018; and 32 on the 2019, where engine rattling with a check engine light adds 93 safety-severity reports of its own. The 2020 introduces a new leader — 62 safety-severity occurrences of excessive oil consumption. The 2017 also carries the cold-weather door latch problem seen elsewhere in this era's F-150 data; at 185 safety-severity occurrences it is that year's single biggest entry.

Then the 2021 changes the subject entirely. Its 457 occurrences include zero safety-severity problems, and the top complaints are steering and lane departure issues (113), axle bolt failure (91), and daytime running light failures (88) — a different truck, statistically speaking, though not a quiet one.

Buying guidance follows the pattern. On 2017–2020 trucks, the test drive is about shift quality from cold start to highway, and the engine is about listening for rattle and knock and asking about oil consumption; on a 2021, steering behavior, axle hardware, and lighting move up the list. As always, these totals are owner-filed NHTSA complaints rather than measured failure rates, the newest year has had the least time to accumulate reports, and a documented service history — especially any transmission or engine work on 2018–2020 trucks — plus a thorough pre-purchase inspection outweigh the year on the door jamb.