2011 Ford F-150: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Aug 19, 2026 · Transmission · 218,000 miles · KY

The contact owns a 2011 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted to a lower gear. The contact stated that there was smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The contact stated that smoke was covering the roadway. The vehicle was driven to the shoulder of the road. The contact stated that while inspecting the vehicle, there was oil leaking around the manifold. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact stated that the failure had occurred while driving to the dealer for a scheduled recall repair. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 16V248000 (Power Train). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 218,000.

Filed Mar 21, 2024 · PA · fire

The truck randomly caught fire. There is 100’s of not 1000’s of reports of the 3.5 eco boost trucks catching fire with no explanation. Now I’m being treated like a criminal and have lost my mint condition truck.

Filed Dec 11, 2018 · Electrical, Visibility · 111,200 miles · CA

At approximately 8 in the morning on 12/2/2018 I was at a stop getting ready to make a left turn, I had the window defroster/heat on, as well as the rear window defroster. Over the last year the rear window defroster light has illuminated intermittently but the defroster has always worked. As I started to move the vehicle, I heard a loud pop and thought someone had thrown something at my truck, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. When I got to my destination less than 5 minutes and about a mile later, I got out and looked at the roof for any sign of something hitting the roof, when I noticed a steady trail of smoke coming from the rear window area, noticed that the rubber had melted and the passenger side rear window had shattered completely. I believe this is due to an electrical short in the rear window defroster circuit, I have since removed the fuse for the rear window defroster which disables my mirror heaters. I request that the federal safety agency investigates this further as there have been thousands of cases of this issue and it is a known issue and ford is aware of it. It is a safety concern as it could harm a child or someone sitting in the backseat if the glass shatters and blows out of the frame as well as scaring someone causing them to react by braking, steering, etc. And possibly causing an accident. As far as I know, ford has not issued a recall and has denied responsibility. This should be addressed and fixed free of charge on ford's behalf based on the fact that it is a known manufacturer defect.

Filed Oct 9, 2018 · Visibility · 36,000 miles · MI

I was driving when I looked in the rearview mirror and saw smoke coming from the back window. Before I could pull off the side of the road the rear window shattered. The casing around the window had began melting and was dripping down the outside of the cab. Rear defroster was on and nothing impacted the window

Filed Dec 6, 2016 · Airbags · CA

Complaint our 2011 ford f150 had an involuntary airbag deploy on the passenger side of the vehicle. After further review from the ford dealer they maintain that they do not know what the cause is. Currently ford is reviewing however, will not respond to when the evaluation will take place or how long the evaluation will take and that ford council is "reviewing" however, they will not tell us when we can expect a response or remedy if at all. Additionally, the vehicle will not start and ford dealer and ford corporate are telling us, thought the vehicle does have a short in the electrical system and there are melted wires that could have caught fire had we not stopped the vehicle, they are not sure the premature airbag deployment and the short circuit of the wiring are related. Though the incident happened at the same time the ford dealer maintains that they are not convinced that it failures are related. We were driving down the highway out of state from where we live and the dealer was over hundred miles from the occurrence and it has now been 7 days at the dealer with no resolve offered not do we know when we might hear back. Currently the dealer refuses to work on the truck until they hear from ford and ford told us it is under review with legal and no actions will be done until "legal council" has reviewed. We have a customer service representative and we call daily and it appears that there have been other with the same problem. Can we obtain how this was resolved?

Filed Nov 30, 2015 · Seats · 38,000 miles · ND

My driver side seat heater would get really hot and eventually just quit working. I checked the obvious causes, (blown fuses & heating element connection) and found nothing wrong. I then decided to look online and noticed several individuals had experienced the same issue. The cause in many cases was the seat heating element (ford part number 9l3z14d696c) had burnt up causing damage the seat foam and in some cases burnt the seat cover. I removed my seat to see if this was the same issue I was having and discovered the same issue many others had experienced (see attached pictures.) I ordered the same part 9l3z14d696c for $30 from my local dealership and it's working again but for how long' I'm surprised that ford has not already addressed this issue. This definitely could have been a lot worse had the seat caught fire while I was driving, or while remote starting my truck (the seat heaters were set to come on when the truck was remote started.) this is definitely an issue that should be looked into before it becomes a bigger issue in the future.

Filed Nov 9, 2015 · Visibility · 81,000 miles · TX

Driving straight on highway with no other vehicles around, back glass spontaneously shattered with no warning and nothing touching it. Suspect an already faulty rear window defroster heating element on power sliding rear pick-up truck window is at partial fault. Smelled of burning electrical in cabin just prior to breakage. Poor window quality and heating element at further fault. Also feel like I had tiny glass particles all over me as well.

Filed Sep 23, 2015 · Engine · 60,000 miles · WI

Tl* the contact owns a 2011 ford f-150. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 60 MPH, there was black smoke coming from the exhaust. The check engine warning light illuminated and the vehicle started shaking. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the inter cooler needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of failure. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000.

Filed Feb 27, 2015 · Electrical, Visibility · 65,000 miles · IA

I turned the rear defrost on in my 2011 ford f-150 and smelt a burning smell and then heard a pop the back driver side window tile had shattered.

Filed Jan 24, 2015 · Electrical · 40,200 miles · WY · fire

While driving my normal commute to work on an average cold day the rear defroster shorted out, caught fire and blew out the rear window on the passenger side (three part sliding window) following this incident the passenger seat heater and rear defroster fail to operate. At this same time the auxiliary power plug blew fuses in two devices. I took the pickup to our local dealership and told them what happened along with the fact that I have an extended 75,000 mile warranty through ford motor co. The dealership told me "glass is not covered under warranty" and sent me on my way.

Filed Jan 7, 2015 · Visibility · 68,700 miles · FL · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2011 ford f-150. The contact stated that the rear window defogger overheated and caused the wires and rear seat rubber frame to burn. The contact noticed smoke coming from the rear door and once opened, causing the rear window to shatter. The fire department was called but a report was not filed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician diagnosed that the rear window defogger system needed to be replaced. No repairs were made to the vehicle and the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 68,700.

Filed Dec 30, 2014 · Electrical · 25,600 miles · DE

This repair was not covered by ford and in my opinion it should be. Here's my story: my husband owns a 2011 f150 with approximately 25,000 miles on it. On december 27, 2014 he turned on the rear defroster to clear the window. As he was driving less than a mile from home, the truck had been running about 3 minutes he smelled rubber burning, at which time there was thick white smoke coming from the outside of the passenger rear window and the glass behind my grandson's car sear shattered due to a short in the heating element of the rear defroster. Fortunately our 18 month old grandson was not in the truck as the shards of glass were falling out of the window into his seat. Ford will not cover glass under my warranty. I have pictures of the damage and I have included the link below where you will see that this appears to be a problem with ford f150 trucks ranging from 2010 to 2014. The truck is getting repaired today and there were no injuries. It's not about the money, more of a safety concern for rear seat passengers. Unfortunately it's very unsettling to not know if the problem will be resolved with this repair. Will it happen again?