Total Complaints
3 filings
FORD F150 · model year
3 NHTSA complaints for this specific cohort.
NHTSA overall rating
Not crash-tested
New Car Assessment Program
The 1980FORDF150 carries 3 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 0 crashes, 0 fires, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. No NCAP 5-star crash-test rating is available for this model year in the federal database.
Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 1980 F150 is exterior lighting:headlights with 1 filings, followed by wheels:lugs/nuts/bolts/studs (1) and suspension:front:control arm:upper ball joint (1). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability.
NHTSA currently has 2 investigation files overlapping the 1980 F150. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.
Total Complaints
3 filings
Crashes Reported
0 reports
Source
NHTSA ODI
Federal complaints database
At or below the fleet median complaint volume.
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTS | 1 |
| WHEELS:LUGS/NUTS/BOLTS/STUDS | 1 |
| SUSPENSION:FRONT:CONTROL ARM:UPPER BALL JOINT | 1 |
MULTIPLE FAILURES, DRIVE LINK, BUSHINGS, BEARINGS. COSTLY TO REPAIR. *BF *TC
LUG NUTS WERE TOO LOOSE CAUSING THEM TO BREAK OFF, ESULTING IN WHEEL FALLING OFF. (OHIO STATE POLICE REPORT)
SOMETIMES WHEN DRIVING AT NIGHT THE HEADLIGHTS GO OFF AND SOMETIMES GO ON SOMTIME TOOK TRUCK TO REPAIR SHOP CAN'T FIND PROBLEM . *AK
Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.