2013 FORD F-150 — Complaint #1879273
Open-data reference.
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.
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.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.