2021 Ford F-150: Sell It Now While You Still Can

The setup

You bought a 2021 Ford F-150 thinking you were getting America's best-selling truck. Five years in, you are now the custodian of a vehicle with 29 safety recalls, eight of which remain open as of today. You are deciding whether to sell it now or keep driving it, and the answer depends on how much risk you are willing to absorb in exchange for delaying a purchase decision.

The 2021 F-150 is not old. It should be in its prime years. Instead, it is the subject of 1006 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, complaints that describe powertrain failures, hard downshifts, sudden power loss, and steering gear problems serious enough that Ford told owners not to drive their trucks until repairs were complete. This is not a question of whether you like the truck. This is a question of whether the truck will strand you, or worse.

What NHTSA data actually shows

NHTSA has 1006 complaints on file for the 2021 F-150 Super Cab configuration. Of those, 13 involved a crash, 4 involved a fire, and 8 reported injuries. There are 29 safety recalls attached to this model year, and eight recall campaigns are still open right now.

The most-complained-about system is the powertrain, with 312 complaints. That is more than double the second-place finisher, the electrical system at 128 complaints. Exterior lighting drew 109 complaints, the engine 82, and visibility issues 78. Another 56 complaints targeted the wiper system specifically.

Here is what owners actually reported to NHTSA:

"I am reporting a severe safety defect where Ford Motor Company's sequential safety recall software updates are actively corrupting powertrain modules and inducing physical mechanical failures while the vehicle is in operation.Following the completion of the..."

"I'm concerned about the 1080R transmission CDF drum issues that ford had on these year models.Mine is downshifting hard at times not every gear but more between 5-8 gears, or especially coming to a stop light it will down shift hard from 3rd to 1st. Shiftin..."

"When I begin the accelerate from a stopped position I apply the accelerator to begin driving and after a couple seconds after entering the roadway, the vehicle looses power and appears to stall, after a couple more seconds or less the vehicle revs and accel..."

Those are not complaints about squeaks or infotainment glitches. Those are descriptions of a truck that loses power in traffic, downshifts violently, and may have software updates that corrupt the modules they are meant to fix.

Now look at the open recalls. Campaign 21V407000 covers the steering gear box, and the consequence is loss of steering control. Ford's remedy notice told owners not to drive their vehicles until the repair was complete, and dealers would tow them in. Campaign 21V533000 addresses the electronic brake booster, with reduced braking performance as the stated risk. Campaign 21V805000 involves side impact sensors for the airbags, which may not deploy properly in a crash.

Two separate recall campaigns, 21V986000 and 21V381000, address driveshaft problems. The consequences include loss of drive power, loss of vehicle control if the driveshaft contacts the ground, and unintended movement while parked if the parking brake is not engaged. Campaign 21V090000 covers windshield fasteners that may allow the windshield to separate in a crash. Campaign 21V653000 involves misrouted front seatbelts that may not restrain an occupant properly. Campaign 22V142000 targets inoperative windshield wipers.

You have a truck where steering, braking, airbags, driveshafts, windshields, seatbelts, and wipers are all under active recall. NHTSA crash test results gave this vehicle an overall 5 out of 5 stars, with frontal and side ratings of 5 and a rollover rating of 4. Rollover probability is 19.1 percent. Those test results measure how the structure performs in a controlled crash. They do not measure whether your steering will work when you need it or whether your brakes will stop you in time.

If you own this truck and you have not completed all eight open recalls, you are driving a vehicle with known, documented defects that Ford itself has acknowledged. If you have completed them, you are still the owner of a truck that required 29 separate recall actions in five years, and the powertrain complaint data suggests the fixes have not solved the underlying problems. A bluetooth obd2 scanner can help you catch a stored powertrain code before it becomes a full transmission failure, but that is a band-aid on a compound fracture.

The math

Assume you owe $28,000 on this truck and private-party value today is around $32,000. You sell it, pay off the loan, and walk away with $4,000. You now need another vehicle.

If you buy a three-year-old truck for $35,000 and put that $4,000 down, you finance $31,000. At 7 percent over 60 months, your payment is about $614. Over five years you will pay roughly $5,800 in interest, but you will own a vehicle with fewer miles, fewer recall campaigns, and fewer years of deferred maintenance.

If you keep the 2021 F-150, your payment stays the same assuming you have two years left on the loan, but your maintenance and repair costs will climb. Transmissions, brake boosters, steering gears, and driveshafts are not cheap outside of recall coverage, and powertrain repairs on a modern truck can easily run $4,000 to $7,000 if something fails after the recall window closes. Sea foam motor treatment might help if you have carbon buildup or minor sensor drift, but it will not fix a driveshaft or a corrupted control module.

The math only favors keeping the truck if you assume nothing will go wrong. The NHTSA data says that assumption is not supported.

What we recommend

Sell this truck now. Complete the eight open recalls first so you are not selling a vehicle with known defects, then list it private-party or take it to a dealer. Use the equity to reduce your next loan or, if you can, to buy a vehicle outright that is older and simpler and does not have 29 recalls attached to it.

This is not about whether Ford will eventually fix all of these problems. This is about the fact that they have not fixed them yet, and the complaint data shows owners are still experiencing powertrain failures and sudden power loss even after recall repairs. You are not obligated to be Ford's beta tester. Our sell or keep guide covers the process in detail, and if you need to refinance before you sell to improve your equity position, see our refinance verdict.

If you need a truck for work and cannot afford to be without one, line up your replacement first, then sell. Do not assume you can keep nursing this one along. The steering recall alone should tell you this is not a vehicle you want to be driving when something fails at highway speed.

What would change our mind

If Ford issued a comprehensive fix for the powertrain problems that actually stopped the complaints, if all eight open recalls were completed on your specific truck with documented proof, and if you had a written extended warranty that covered every system currently under recall for the next 100,000 miles with no deductible, we would consider telling you to keep it. Even then, we would be skeptical.

The other scenario is if you own this truck outright, have already completed every recall, have a trusted independent mechanic who knows these trucks inside and out, and you have $5,000 set aside in a repair fund that you are willing to lose. In that case, you could keep driving it as a secondary vehicle and accept the risk. But if this is your primary vehicle, if you owe money on it, or if you cannot afford an unexpected $4,000 repair bill, the answer is still sell.

Bottom line

The 2021 Ford F-150 has 29 safety recalls, 1006 owner complaints, and eight open recall campaigns covering steering, brakes, airbags, driveshafts, windshields, seatbelts, and wipers. The powertrain system alone has generated 312 complaints, many of them describing sudden power loss and violent downshifts. This is not a truck in its prime. This is a liability.

Sell it now while it still has equity and before the next major system fails outside of recall coverage. The used truck market is deep enough that you can find a replacement without taking on dramatically more risk, and every month you delay is another month you are exposed to a steering failure or a driveshaft separation. The data does not support keeping this vehicle. Move on.

Safety figures on this page come from the NHTSA public complaint and recall database for the 2021 Ford F-150, retrieved 2026-09-16. Complaint counts reflect reports filed by owners and are not verified defect findings.