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2013 FORD F-150 — Complaint #1879273

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NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:REAR WINDOW:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT filed March 10, 2023

NHTSA complaint #1879273 (ODI reference 11511239) concerns a 2013 FORD F-150 and was filed on March 10, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 10, 2023. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:rear window:electrical heating element, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD F-150 cohort independently describe similar visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:rear window:electrical heating element failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2013 FORD F-150 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2013 FORD F-150
Component
VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:REAR WINDOW:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT
State
Michigan

Complaint Description

On my way to work I turned on the rear defrost and heard a loud bang after 15 minutes. I pulled over to see what had happened and the read driver side windshield pain had shattered. it remained in the laminate but I got a replacement quote and its almost $1000 dollars. After doing research this is a major problem with the defrost mechanism on these trucks with no known fix. I'm glad it stayed in take but the glass is continuously cracking as I drive and i cannot get the repair done until Thursday and the dealer said they can do nothing except replace the glass and hope it doesn't happen again.

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 1879273
ODI Number 11511239
Date Filed March 10, 2023
Failure Date March 10, 2023
VIN 1FTFW1ET9DF

Similar VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:REAR WINDOW:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT Complaints for 2013 FORD F-150

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.