Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure on the 1997 Ford F-150
3 fires 3 of the 206 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When fuel tank, filler or evap failure gets reported
Owners of the 1997 Ford F-150 report fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure at a median of 140,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 117,000 miles and a quarter after 171,000 miles, from 170 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 95,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 223,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 128,280 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 94,720 miles | 117,281 miles | 140,000 miles | 171,485 miles | 223,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 3 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 22 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2024 at 145,000 miles.
By volume the 1997 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
The consumer stated fuel leaked from the gas tank. The vehicle was serviced and the technician stated the filler tube was rusted at the tank 360 degrees around and 100% through.*ak *jb
After making a left turn left rear tire was punctured. This was due to the rear leaf spring popping out. Driver felt lucky that he was making a left turn instead of a right turn because leaf spring could have punctured the gas tank. *ak
On the night of jan. 19, 2006,1:30 am, we were awoken by an explosion. My husband and I jumped up and starting running toward the front door window and realized that our 1997 ford f150 was inflamed. My other vehicle was parked directly in front of the truck, meaning that the gas tank was about 1-2 feet away from the truck. The first thing I did was called 911 while running around trying to put clothes on. My husband was outside with a water hose trying to put a huge fire out. Which knowing in my mind that any moment we could all blow up. By this time I hurried and got my 5 month old baby, and my other 2 children and ran out of the house. While my husband is still trying to hold a huge fire down with a hose pipe, I am watching the top of my carport burn the fire dept. Arrives and takes control of everything. (great job mcfd you are greatly appreciated) after the fire was out. I thanked the lord for my family lives. The next day I realized the damages we had. First,we have no truck, our carport is damaged, and our other vehicle has some burned damages. Aprx 2 weeks later ford has got in touch with us and has denied our claim. They…
Also reported on the 1997 Ford F-150
Other wheel or tire problem
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
Other suspension problem
Other electrical problem
Cruise control failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 206 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does fuel tank, filler or evap failure happen on the 1997 Ford F-150?
Across 170 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 140,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 117,000 miles and a quarter after 171,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel tank, filler or evap failure on the 1997 Ford F-150?
206 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed