2020 FORD F-250 — Complaint #2170370
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about FIRERELATED filed January 27, 2026
NHTSA complaint #2170370 (ODI reference 11713646) concerns a 2020 FORD F-250 and was filed on January 27, 2026. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 23, 2026. The vehicle had 98,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Mississippi based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as firerelated, 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: yes, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. 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-250 cohort independently describe similar firerelated 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 2020 FORD F-250 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owned a 2020 Ford F-250. The contact stated that while driving at 75 MPH, he smelled a burning odor, but assumed it was coming from outside. Two minutes later, smoke filled the cabin. No warning light was illuminated. The contact heard flames coming from the dashboard. The contact pulled over and safely exited the vehicle. The contact saw that the engine compartment had caught on fire before the vehicle was completely engulfed in flames. A police officer was driving behind the vehicle and witnessed the fire. A police report was filed. Firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire. The contact was unsure whether a fire department report had been filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard, where it was deemed totaled by the insurance company. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 98,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2170370 |
| ODI Number | 11713646 |
| Date Filed | January 27, 2026 |
| Failure Date | January 23, 2026 |
| VIN | 1FT7W2BTXLE |
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.