2012 FORD F-150 — Complaint #1894407
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BRAKE LIGHTS filed May 12, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1894407 (ODI reference 11521685) concerns a 2012 FORD F-150 and was filed on May 12, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 1, 2023. The vehicle had 160,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to New Mexico based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:brake lights, 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 exterior lighting:brake lights 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 2012 FORD F-150 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2012 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds on several occasions, the transmission down shifted inadvertently, and the tires locked up and the vehicle skidded. The contact veered over to the side of the roadway and turned off and restarted the vehicle. Additionally, the contact stated that when the brake pedal was depressed, the brake lights failed to illuminate as designed. The wrench warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was turned off and restarted and the wrench light disappeared. The contact stated that after driving for a few miles, the transmission downshifted, and the wheels locked up. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed and it was determined that the transmission range sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000. The consumer stated the failure mileage is incorrect, it was 142,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1894407 |
| ODI Number | 11521685 |
| Date Filed | May 12, 2023 |
| Failure Date | March 1, 2023 |
| VIN | 1FTFW1EF9CK |
Similar EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BRAKE LIGHTS Complaints for 2012 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.