What would you do, if you're feeling uneasy regarding the realiability of your truck

[Snakebitten]

The Powerboost ain't for everyone, that's for sure.

But I'm the dead-on-bullseye-target customer. That's for sure too.

I know it's anecdotal evidence, but it's REAL to me......... 3 Powerboost trucks.

2021 XL at work. 4.5 years and it has never been to the dealership.

2021 Platinum Powerboost. Drove it 2 weeks shy of a year while I waited for my customer ordered 2022 KingRanch Powerboost to be delivered. That truck never saw the dealership.

2022 KingRanch Powerboost. I've owned it 3.5 years and have mostly used it as a tow vehicle (RV) and/or a travel/business/office luxury yacht. Have slept IN it numerous times crisscrossing the USA. I did shear an axle bolt so it has seen a dealership once. And at some point it will see a dealership again to get those new axles. But no hurry.

Admittedly I have seen the various codes, as well as addressing the notorious 12V shortcomings of the oem battery management algorithm. But thanks to the various gurus on this amazing forum, 99% of the early release bugs are long behind me.

Fantastic trucks. Simply amazing if you leverage them for the utility they offer too. I use them for all they are worth!

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[JCsTruck]

Consumer Reports slammed the PB early on and have not relented. Most of the other review sites have changed their opinion in the PB but not CR. Also I would not trust CR's opinions on anything. My wife sears by them and each time we have bought something based on CR's rating's it's been a pile of crap despite it being the best rated product by them. Besides none of the car brands on the market could be considered any more reliable than the others. None of them build cars or trucks to last most than 8-10 years without falling apart or are plagued with problems across multiple models. Ford, Chevy Toyota, Dodge Every single one has its share of issues. Bottom line is it's a crap-shoot on your getting a good one or not so may as well buy a truck that has the options and features you need/want. If you plan to keep it more than 5-6 years just get a good extended warranty on it.

CR rating is not based on “their opinion” but rather on empirical data from their objective tests and user surveys. If the others are opinion based then I would steer clear of those.

 

[Groovicles]

Ford’s reliability has not been great overall and the PB is among the least reliable of all the F-150 trucks offered due to the complexity of that powertrain. When it works, it is an awesome truck but when it doesn't work it can be frustrating for the owner. There are some that haven’t had any issues but for the most part they are in the minority statistically and are the lucky ones.

Consumer Reports has consistently ranked the F-150 PowerBoost among the least reliable vehicles in recent years. In their 2022 survey, the 2021 F-150 PowerBoost scored a dismal 4/100 for reliability, based on owner-reported issues across 17 problem areas like transmission, electrical systems, and hybrid battery. In 2023, it improved slightly to 19/100, landing as the third least reliable vehicle. For 2024, it scored 7/100, again the lowest, with issues noted in the transmission, electrical systems, and hybrid components. These scores come from surveys of over 300,000 vehicles.

As much as I don't want to admit it, CR reporting on the PB is accurate. One may say they only report on the negative feedback, but it looks like the overall experience of most people (and my lived experience) completely aligns with the negative feedback. These PB trucks are garbage. LOTS of promise, no doubt about that, and the PPOB is a great additional, but a completely failure in terms of execution.

 

[Snakebitten]

Heading to get Mexican Food for supper........

Son: "Dad, did you know that Consumer Reports says you drive the most unreliable truck sold in America?"

Dad: "Yeah, so I've heard. So if/when I ever get me another one, you don't want this one?"

Son looks over at me with a Sparkle in his eyes and a big hopeful grin.

 

[Davexxxx]

As much as I don't want to admit it, CR reporting on the PB is accurate. One may say they only report on the negative feedback, but it looks like the overall experience of most people (and my lived experience) completely aligns with the negative feedback. These PB trucks are garbage. LOTS of promise, no doubt about that, and the PPOB is a great additional, but a completely failure in terms of execution.

This is just not true.

Pick any of the reliability threads you want and the overwhelming majority will be positive.

 

[Snakebitten]

This is just not true.

Pick any of the reliability threads you want and the overwhelming majority will be positive.

It's human nature.
If you get drug through the misery mud enough by any lemon, it's only natural to project your experience beyond the actual boundaries that might actually apply.

Everyone has their own pain threshold, but a Lemon can be brutal.

 

[Davexxxx]

CR rating is not based on “their opinion” but rather on empirical data from their objective tests and user surveys. If the others are opinion based then I would steer clear of those.

IF I wanted to credit CR with unbiased reporting, I'd still be suspect of sampling bias.

The few surveys I was asked to participate in, were much too soon for me to give a complete answer but if I had a rotten truck, you can be sure I'd have filled them out.

If I were invited now, they would find a very happy owner.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

CR rating is not based on “their opinion” but rather on empirical data from their objective tests and user surveys. If the others are opinion based then I would steer clear of those.

Basically boiling it down to a "trust the science" statement and well we all know how that turned out.

In my opinion is Consumer Reports is nothing more than a for profit shill rag hiding behind a non-profit banner. I have never had any faith in their reviews as I have seen it be dead ass wrong more times than I care to remember. Like I said my wife swears by them and each and every time I agreed to the purchase of something she picked off there it was a huge waste of time and money.

From refrigerators, washing machines, to coffee makers. Every major appliance she wanted that CR rated as the best turned out to be a new ulcer just waiting to happen for me...

 

[Davexxxx]

Basically boiling it down to a "trust the science" statement and well we all know how that turned out.

In my opinion is Consumer Reports is nothing more than a for profit shill rag hiding behind a non-profit banner. I have never had any faith in their reviews as I have seen it be dead ass wrong more times than I care to remember. Like I said my wife swears by them and each and every time I agreed to the purchase of something she picked off there it was a huge waste of time and money.

The market place doesn't seem to pay attention to them anymore.

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/thr...-second-quarter-since-2019.39719/#post-678902

 

[JCsTruck]

Just to be clear, I believe the powerboost to be a good truck just like the rest of the Ford F-150 lineup but one that is advanced with a complicated powertrain and with new for Ford Motor Company technology. Even though CR rates it near the bottom in their reliability ratings; somewhere between 60% to 80% of the trucks from that survey did not have any issues and it is probably closer to 80%. It’s all perspective really because vehicles for the most part are way more reliable then they used to be, yet they are more complicated and offer more technology than ever before. Ford introduced the PB in 2021 and we were also coming out of the pandemic (COVID era) which was not a good time for any manufacturer in terms of reliability. I’ll give Ford credit here for being the leader and the first one (right behind Toyota) for being the first one to offer a hybrid full size pickup truck.

Maybe someday I may jump on the full size pickup hybrid bandwagon but I needed something affordable and known for its simplicity and reliability and that is why I chose the 5.0. I also like to do my own maintenance whenever I can and I am very familiar with the old school naturally aspirated engine so I chose this route. I would love to experience the thrill of that 570 lb ft of torque though. I am bringing in my truck for service and getting a loaner vehicle on September 11th because my evaporator coil likes to occasionally freeze up which requires a software update. Maybe they will loan me a PB.

 

[JCsTruck]

Basically boiling it down to a "trust the science" statement and well we all know how that turned out.

In my opinion is Consumer Reports is nothing more than a for profit shill rag hiding behind a non-profit banner. I have never had any faith in their reviews as I have seen it be dead ass wrong more times than I care to remember. Like I said my wife swears by them and each and every time I agreed to the purchase of something she picked off there it was a huge waste of time and money.

From refrigerators, washing machines, to coffee makers. Every major appliance she wanted that CR rated as the best turned out to be a new ulcer just waiting to happen for me...

Consumer Reports does now participate in affiliate programs, which one could ague is a conflict of interest but Consumer Reports claims to maintain strict policies to preserve their unbiased reputation, and they claim they don’t accept advertising pay for all tested products, and they also claim they prohibit retailers from influencing their ratings or reviews.

My own experience with CR mostly aligns with their reliability ratings spanning over 35 years of purchases so I believe them to have useful information. In the end I think there is no one source that you can put all your faith in and the consumer really needs to do their due diligence and research every possible source available. This forum is a good place to get information for example but like anything else it is also filled with lots of emotionally driven opinions not based in fact.

 

[Snakebitten]

But it's hard to ignore the fact that there are forum members with a first year released 2021 F150 Powerboost with 100,000 miles and the only issue they had was replacing the 12V AGM under the hood.

Regardless of perspective, if you owned that truck you would naturally find scepticism with the validity of Consumer Reports claims.

While I'm not one of those 100,000 miles guys (yet), I'm another kind of Powerboost example: The fleet owner, you could say. Combined 9 years collective Powerboost ownership.

The Consumer Reports claims draw the same eyeroll from me as the 100,000 mile guy.

Still, I'm more than willing to accept that the unfortunate fella with the lemon would absolutely embrace the Consumer Reports angle.

 

[PatchManager]

I don't think you should necessarily assume that if you had problems early on that will will have more problems in the future. Of course, if you keep your truck for a very long time, things are going to break. My hope is that I am working out some of the early issues anticipating that years 3, 4, 5, etc. will be good. The 12 volt battery is one example. The 12 volt battery in '21 and '22 was generally not good and you will find many posts of people on this forum replacing them like I did. Since then, I've not had a battery issue, so my hope is that problem is behind me, but something I periodically check.

 

[Groovicles]

This is just not true.

Pick any of the reliability threads you want and the overwhelming majority will be positive.

Threads are one thing, empirical statistic are a very different thing. Additionally, overwhelming majority not the way I think most folks would describe them. Going to have to disagree with you on this one man

 

[JCsTruck]

But it's hard to ignore the fact that there are forum members with a first year released 2021 F150 Powerboost with 100,000 miles and the only issue they had was replacing the 12V AGM under the hood.

Regardless of perspective, if you owned that truck you would naturally find scepticism with the validity of Consumer Reports claims.

While I'm not one of those 100,000 miles guys (yet), I'm another kind of Powerboost example: The fleet owner, you could say. Combined 9 years collective Powerboost ownership.

The Consumer Reports claims draw the same eyeroll from me as the 100,000 mile guy.

Still, I'm more than willing to accept that the unfortunate fella with the lemon would absolutely embrace the Consumer Reports angle.

@Snakebitten you are one of the 80% in CR who have not had any issues with the PB so you fit into the majority. The 20% that has issues is just the most vocal as is always the case.

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