I was driving my 2015 F150 with the 5.0 liter engine and 6 speed transmission at approximately 60 mph in 6th gear when without warning the transmission downshifted into 1st gear causing a sudden deceleration causing my passengers and myself to be thrown forward being caught by our seatbelts. The transmission then worked its way back up the gears into 2nd and then 3rd and so on. I took the truck to a dealership (Cooper Ford of Edmond, Oklahoma) and started to tell the service manager what happened and before I even got to the downshift part he told me right away what had happened and that I will need a new main control and lead frame. It cost me $2,766.16 to have the vehicle repaired.
2015 Ford F-150 transmission complaints
Page 9 of 16: complaints 221 to 250 of 441, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Erratic shifting. Code p0717. Down shift from 5th to 1st.
Truck started to get shifting gremlins. 4 instances of spontaneous shift out of gear or into lower gear below 35mph. Transmission then shifted to 3rd gear at 60 mph on interstate without warning. Gear and shift indicator on dash blinking wildly. Vehicle behind me had to make evasive maneuver to avoid collision as I moved to emergency lane. Online research said it was a bad lead frame in transmission. Took to local repair shop and confirmed bad lead frame. Replaced for $1200 and truck now shifts correctly.
While traveling down the highway and merging onto the interstate, if you excelerate just the slightest bit, the truck will start to violently shake and not gain speed,almost stalls a bit,causing a dangerous situation if you're trying to merge into moving traffic.Through reading and my own research on various forums. This is called transmission stutter and is a common problem with Ford's 6 speed automatic transmissions, that is not specific to vehicle or trim level or year model.
When driving the transmission tends to constantly down shift and feels like a vibration/and grinding when doing so. Also the rear wheels sometimes lock up briefly when when accelerating. (the symptoms are very similar to the 2014 f150 transmission issues). This has been going on for appx 1 yr and tends to happen more frequently.
Having issues with lead frame. Truck is a 2015 F150 3.5 Ecoboost with the 6R80 transmission. Every so often the orange wrench appears and dash looses what gear and where it is in the column. Have taken pictures as well as pulled the codes that appear P0707, P0706, P1702. It will randomly happen from time to time. Currently buying all the parts to replace the issue part and seeing if there’s a recall for said part
Transmission randomly down shifts and then shifts back up a gear. Then speed control randomly drops and won’t respond
My vehicle has the 6r80 transmission and has random down shift and up shift associated with a lead frame going bad in the transmission
The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH, the transmission erroneously downshifted from 6th gear to 1st gear, causing the vehicle to abruptly decelerate. The contact stated that after the failure, the transmission failed to shift out of 1st gear. The vehicle was later towed to the residence. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was contacted, but no assistance was offered. The manufacturer was not yet contacted. The contact was made aware of the federal safety agency Action Number: PE25002 (POWER TRAIN). The contact stated that the vehicle had experienced the failure listed in the investigation. The failure mileage was 105,000. The VIN was not available.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving 25 MPH, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted to 3rd gear, and the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The message “Hill Start Assist Unavailable” was displayed, and the traction control warning light was illuminated. The message Automatic Cruise Active turned off was displayed. The contact stated that on another occasion, while driving at 20 MPH, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted. The contact stated that before the transmission downshifted, the accelerator pedal felt loose. The message “Hill Start Assist Unavailable” was displayed, and the traction control warning light was illuminated. The message Automatic Cruise Active turned off was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnosed due to the cost. Most recently, the contact stated that while driving at a slow speed, the transmission unexpectedly downshifted. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired after the most recent failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 124,950.
The transfer case is leaking, caused by galvanic corrosion. Ford used steel bolts on the aluminum transfer case housing which created the corrosion.
While driving at 60 mph my vehicle went from the 6th gear down to 1st gear on its own bringing the truck speed down very quickly the vehicle behind me almost hit me in the rear I pulled over speedometer stopped working and a imagine of a wrench was on the dashboard I cleared the wrench 🔧 image on the dashboard and tried to restart the truck turned the key and nothing happened tried again and truck started pulled out and started driving home 4 miles away and it happened again when I got home I googled it and found it is a known problem with the transmission in the 2015 ford f150 where the sensors in the transmission fail to read your speed and then reacts as if the vehicle is stopped so it then puts the transmission into 1st gear where it would be when you are stopped which creates a very dangerous situation especially if you are on a crowded road at higher speeds
Transmission down shifts while accelerating, slips when starting from a dead stop, and shifts extremely hard when shifting. It is a safety risk especially when pulling out at an intersection, as it stops (or will slip) in the middle of the intersection. It has not been confirmed by the manufacturer or dealer, only by the article from USA Today. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone, as it just started yesterday. There were no early indications or warning signs prior to it starting yesterday (08/06/2025).
My transmission down shifts while driving and locks up my rear wheels. It almost caused me to wreck on the highway today.
Erratic shifting of the transmission while driving. Dropped into lower gear causing me to skid on a wet surface. Luckily was only driving at 45 mph or it could have been worse or caused an accident.
Galvanic corrosion of transfer case.
I have 80,000 and my transmission went out driving up a mountain road No waring light no over heating it just stop going . My shop believes it was from the factory the trans pump went out.I see your looking into this year for trans problem.
Transmission slips into third at high rate of speed exceeding 45 mph. Transmission will stay in third causing slow acceleration on turns.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving on the highway at 65 MPH, the transmission downshifted to 1st gear from 6th gear, causing the rear wheels to lock up temporarily, and the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact pulled over and restarted the vehicle; however, while driving, the transmission only shifted from 3rd to 5th gear. The following day, the vehicle continued to drive normally through all the gears as designed. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where the vehicle was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the transmission was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 115,000.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at 45 MPH, the gear shifter independently shifted out of the intended position. The check engine warning light was illuminated. An independent mechanic was contacted. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed, and determined that the transmission range sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 24V444000 (POWER TRAIN); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 112,000.
Seems to be the same Lead Frame issues as previous years. Rough downshifts, flickering gear indicator on the screen, shuts off when in park (not safety related) for short term, fails to initially crank after previous unintended shut off.
i was driving my truck down the highway and all of a sudden my rears wheels locked up making me lose control of my truck take goodness i did'nt rollover no my transmission is shifting threw gears from 1st to 6th to 3rd this is my second f150 that i have had my old one had the same problem but my old one didnt lock up my tires my phone number is [XXX] [XXX] but please text because at work you cant use my phone my truck is parked in the garage im afraid to drive it need assistance in fixing it INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Began experiencing hard shifting unexpectedly. Took it into dealership and they advised my lead frame assembly needed replacement. In research, I found this is currently under investigation by the federal safety agency's office for my year and transmission model.
First time this incident happened (around April 2025) while driving on the highway. Going about 70 mph and the truck dropped down into second or first gear almost causing an accident. Had to pull over on the side of the road. Check engine light was on the dash. Turned off the truck And let it sit a little bit and restarted it and it seemed to be OK. This most recent incident happened on Saturday, July 5th 2025 , truck kept dropping down into first gear and then just would not go anywhere. Had it towed to Auto clinic and they diagnosed the truck with not recognizing the gear selection position. They stated that this truck should have fell under the recall status for 2015-2017 f150’s as it is doing the exact same thing that they have seen many trucks get fixed for because of the recall. The Auto clinic recommended I file a safety report and also contact Ford.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the transmission was slipping while downshifting from 5th to 4th gear while attempting to slow down, causing the rear tires to lock up momentarily. Additionally, the front differential made an abnormal sound. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where the vehicle was diagnosed, and the contact was advised that the forward clutch and the transmission were faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 128,350.
Transmission constantly shifts erratically. When this happens, the transmission gets stuck between 3rd and 5th gears and sometimes only stays in 5th gear, no matter how fast the truck is going or even if it is not moving. About half the time when this happens it causes a rough "jerk" and could cause loss of control. If you must stop at a stop sign or stop light when this happens then you're impeding traffic just trying to get back up to speed after your stop, which could lead to an accident. This also causes the check engine light to come on.
Today, [XXX] while driving at highway speed this vehicle experienced a unrequested transmission downshift, from 6th to 3rd, causing unexpected rapid vehicle deceleration. I was located in the center lane of an Interstate and travelling at 70 mph when this incident happen which force the traffic behind me to take rapid accident avoidance actions. I did not hear any audible or see any visual warnings that this incident was about to happen. This vehicle will be taken to Starling Ford located at 3000 Cheney Hwy, Titusville, Fl 32780 on June 16, 2025. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Transmission is downshifting at high speeds unexpectedly and without apparent cause. Ford has issued a recall already for the same year and model for the same issue, but my VIN is not associated with the recall.
At highway speeds, under moderate acceleration, the vehicle downshifts unexpectedly. It causes sudden loss of torque. Has happened when trying to overtake and caused sudden vehicle deceleration in the passing lane, which is dangerous.
The transmission jumps gears at any speed, I was researching the topic and saw the federal safety agency is probing some F150s for a similar problem. And I was wondering if my vehicle was in the affected line of production.
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