2015–2020 · Platform code P552
The generation that put a military-grade aluminium-alloy body on an all-new high-strength steel frame, in Ford's own description of it. The line-up moved twice: a ten-speed automatic arrived for 2017 alongside a second-generation 3.5L EcoBoost, and for 2018 the base engine became a 3.3L Ti-VCT V6 while the ten-speed spread to the 2.7L EcoBoost, the 5.0L V8, the 3.5L EcoBoost and a 3.0L Turbo Diesel V6. A high-output 3.5L EcoBoost sits above all of them.
By engine and transmission
5 engines · 6-speed automatic · 10-speed automatic
4 engines · 6-speed automatic
4 engines · 6-speed automatic
4 engines · 6-speed automatic · 10-speed automatic
5 engines · 6-speed automatic · 10-speed automatic
5 engines · 6-speed automatic · 10-speed automatic
Complaint and recall counts from NHTSA, retrieved 2026-08-11. A complaint count is not a failure rate — it scales with how many were sold and how much attention a problem drew.
Community and source review
The alternator charges the battery while the engine runs and powers everything electrical. Both are consumable parts with a service life, and on a used car at least one of them has usually been replaced already — or is due.
The compressor is the pump in the air conditioning loop. When it seizes it can send metal debris through the whole system, which turns a component replacement into a system job.
Bushings, ball joints, link rods and strut mounts are rubber and grease components that wear continuously. They rarely fail suddenly; they get gradually noisier and vaguer, which is why a test drive on a rough road tells you more than one on smooth pavement.
A turbocharger runs at very high speed on an oil-fed bearing, driven by exhaust gas. Its condition is tied directly to the engine's oil history, which makes service records more informative here than on most components.
In a direct-injection engine the fuel is sprayed into the cylinder rather than at the intake valve. Nothing washes the back of that valve, so deposits from crankcase ventilation and exhaust gas recirculation accumulate there over time.
A grinding or rattling metallic noise from where the engine meets the transmission. It sounds like an expensive transmission problem and is not one: Ford traced it to the torque converter studs touching a spacer plate, and the fix is a redesigned plate. Worth knowing before a noise like this talks you out of an otherwise sound truck — or into paying for a gearbox.
Ford recalled 1,392,935 F-150s in April 2026 because the truck can drop into second gear on its own at speed. Owner letters went out on 24 July 2026, so this is live: if you are looking at a 2015, 2016 or 2017 F-150 right now, there is a good chance the repair has not been done yet. It is a free software update.
A rattle on a cold start, or a knock at warm idle. Ford ran two programmes for it in 2021 — a software reflash and, for trucks that took the reflash in time, replacement of all four cam phasers. Both have expired, so what is left for a buyer is the paperwork: whether this particular truck was reflashed, and whether the phasers were ever changed.
On F-150s with the 3.5L EcoBoost, the brake master cylinder can leak fluid into the brake booster. Ford recalled 292,311 trucks for it in 2020 and pays for a new master cylinder and, where needed, a new booster. Six years on, the useful question is simply whether this particular truck has had it done.
A door that looks shut and is not. Ford recalled 1,101,107 trucks in 2017 for two ways this can happen — a bent latch cable, or a latch that freezes after water gets into it. The repair is free and does not expire, so the only thing to establish is whether it was done.
A front seat belt pretensioner fires in a crash, as it is supposed to, and the sparks it throws can set light to the insulation inside the door pillar. Ford recalled 1,619,112 F-150s for it. The repair is free with no expiry, and the cab style tells you in seconds whether a particular truck is in scope.
A cold-weather option most owners never think about, recalled three times in three years — including once for damage caused by the previous recall repair. If the truck has a block heater, "recall completed" on a VIN check is not the end of the question here; what matters is whether the cable was replaced or only switched off.
Owners of F-150s with the ten-speed automatic report harsh, abrupt and unpredictable shifting. Ford's position has been that the behaviour is normal for the transmission and it has not been recalled; a consolidated federal class action disputing that survived a motion to dismiss in 2021 and the claims are on the record. This file describes what is reported and what is documented, not a failure rate.