2016 FORD F-150 — Complaint #1879469
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:REAR WINDOW:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT filed March 11, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1879469 (ODI reference 11511362) concerns a 2016 FORD F-150 and was filed on March 11, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 11, 2023. The report was geocoded to Wisconsin 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 2016 FORD F-150 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
On 3/11/2023, I used my vehicles, 2016 Ford F-150 Platinum, remote start feature before leaving work. When I got in my truck to go home, I noticed that the rear window of my vehicle was shattered. After some further investigation, it appears the rear defroster heat element malfunctioned, and shattered the rear window. This caused glass particles to circulate within my truck, as there was nothing protection wind from coming in the rear window area. Upon further research, it appears that this has happened to numerous other vehicles of similar make/model/year. I have contacted Ford and am awaiting their response. This is a safety feature and a malfunction of their vehicle, therefore they should be responsible.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1879469 |
| ODI Number | 11511362 |
| Date Filed | March 11, 2023 |
| Failure Date | March 11, 2023 |
| VIN | 1FTFW1EG4GF |
Similar VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:REAR WINDOW:ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT Complaints for 2016 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.