Brakes issues make up roughly 3% of all Ford owner complaints. The majority of the issues have been reported by F-150 owners.
The complaint we hear about most often is spongy brakes not stopping vehicle in the 2008 Fusion.
Ford switched to a single-seal-cup master cylinder design for the 2013 F-150 and it didn’t take long for owners to start complaining about spongy brake pedals and a sudden inability to stop their trucks.
Continue reading article "F-150's Single Cup Seal Master Cylinder is Leaking"
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Sometimes it helps just to tally up the complaints and see where the biggest stacks are. Use this information to learn about troublespots or to run for the hills.
44 complaints
38 complaints
30 complaints
27 complaints
25 complaints
24 complaints
19 complaints
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Brakes really thrive under pressure, it’s what pushes the pads against the rotors and keeps your brake pedal from falling to the floor. You know, little stuff like that. In a twist, it’s Ford that finds themselves under pressure from a California lawsuit looking for an expansion of a previous master cylinder recall.…
keep reading article "Lawsuit Says Ford Should Expand a Previous F-150 Master Cylinder Recall"There’s a lawsuit that says a change to the F-150’s master cylinder design is creating a dangerous braking situation.
All 2013-2018 Ford F-150s use master cylinders supplied by Hitachi, with the pistons fitted with just a single cup seal responsible for containing pressurized brake fluid. The lawsuit alleges this is unusual because pistons within master cylinders are usually fitted with two cup seals to ensure that fluid does not leak out of the master cylinders.
These single-seal master cylinders have already been recalled for the 2013 and 2014 model years. But instead of changing the design, Ford replaced the defective part with – I bet you can see where this is going – new defective parts.
keep reading article "The F-150's Single-Seal Master Cylinder Design is Doomed to Fail"Ford says the recalled 2015-16 Ford Edge SUVs were brought in for service repairs and were loaded with the wrong anti-lock braking system (ABS) software.
So how much harm could a little mistake like that do? Well, for starters it can disable the vehicle's electronic stability control, engine torque control, and traction control. Oh, also – also! – the electronic parking brake light and the ability to release the parking brake entirely.
It's like the Beach Boys said in that song, "and we'll have fun, fun, fun, until Ford gives me the wrong software and my car loses all control". Or something like that
(I'm not good with lyrics).
keep reading article "Ford Edge Has Wrong ABS Software"It also turns out some of them just can't stop thanks to widespread brake issues. Federal safety regulators are investigating 2015-2016 Ford F-150 trucks after reports of brake pedals going to the floorboards, a complete loss of brakes and dealerships diagnosing the problems as caused by faulty master cylinders.
We've all heard about putting the pedal to metal, you just never want that to happen with the pedal on the left.
If all this master cylinder / brake talk sounds familiar, it's because the 2013 and 2014 model years were recalled for the same issue earlier this year. I guess that's one box still unchecked on the Ford engineer's to-do list.
keep reading article "2015-2016 F-150 Brakes Under Investigation"Ford says the faulty control units can cause problems with electronic stability control, roll stability control, anti-lock braking, emergency brake assist, curve control, trailer sway control and traction control.
Well, doesn't that sound fun.
In the most Ford move ever, Ford announced it doesn't know when the recall will begin.
keep reading article "Faulty Control Units May Send 600 Transit Connect Vans Into a Tailspin"That stops the boosting and --- not surprisingly --- your ability to come to safely come to a stop.
Ford says the problem only affects the front wheels, so rear braking isn't affected. But that wasn't enough to stop 9 accidents, however, which have all been attributed to the sudden loss of stopping power.
The recalled trucks are from the 2013 and 2014 model years. They all have the 3.5-liter GTDI engine and were built between 08/01/13 and 08/22/14.
keep reading article "Leaking Master Cylinder Recall for Early 12th Generation F-150 Trucks"Ford opened customer satisfaction program 15N05 that **extends warranty coverage for the electric vacuum pumps in 2011-2012 Ford F-150 trucks equipped with 3.5L GTDI engines. The satisfaction program extends warranty coverage for up to 10 years of service or 150,000 miles from the warranty start date.
"All affected F-150 trucks are eligible for the program through July 30, 2016, regardless of mileage."
You say customer satisfaction program, I say recall. Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to I suppose.…
keep reading article "Investigation Closed Into Vacuum Pump Failure in F-150 Brakes"The problem is an empty master cylinder resevoir that's hard to detect because there's never any corresponding brake fluid leaks. It's like a magic trick that no-one finds amusing.
A new investigation hopes to pull back the curtain:
"The no-leak symptom is what makes NHTSA believe the fluid is moving from the master cylinder to the brake booster. In addition to that, some owners told NHTSA that Ford dealers have said the same thing."
The investigation covers 2013-2014 F-150 trucks equipped with 3.5-liter engines. If the problem is confirmed, it should prompt a recall.
keep reading article "Master Cylinder in F-150 Brakes Under Investigation"