NHTSA Complaint #11708303 — 2018 FORD F-150

At 50k miles the transmission started to have a hard time finding a gear at low speeds, often “in neutral” - between gears for 1-2 seconds and on occasion up you 5-7 seconds. During this “neutral”, the engine could still rev freely and often built revs too high for the next gear, causing a hard ‘jerking’ motion when the next gear is engaged. This proved to be moderately dangerous when merging into traffic with propulsion being cut. At 52000 miles, 10th gear would have trouble holding at highway speeds and would disengage for that same 5-7 second gap, only to eventually resort to 9th gear. Being left powerless on the highway can be extremely dangerous if you are caught traveling up a steep grade or passing another vehicle. At 53000 miles, the above mentioned 10th gear symptom arose at a steady 70 mph, and when 9th gear was engaged the dashboard illuminated a wrench icon with a message that said “maintenance required”. I could tell that the truck was operating at reduced power at this point. After researching the issue, I discovered the problem to be the CDF drum failed - an internal component that requires a full transmission rebuild. This problem appears to be an issue that plagues not some, BUT ALL 2017-2023 10r80 at some point in their life cycle. An extremely costly fix at that.