Other suspension problem on the 1998 Ford F-150
2 crashes 2 fires 1 injury 5 of the 100 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 other suspension problem gets reported
Owners of the 1998 Ford F-150 report other suspension problem at a median of 125,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles, from 19 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 100,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 50,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 100,931 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47,869 miles | 61,874 miles | 125,000 miles | 145,500 miles | 148,800 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, 2 a crash, 2 a fire and 1 an injury are 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 $350–$2,000 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 29 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2023, at a median of 200 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 1997 carries the most reports, with 152; the 1998 has 100. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
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.
Torsion bar snapped causing truck to lean to one side. I was told I was fortunate I wasnt driving it at the time they had many ( over 50) break some while driving. Dealer should replace at no cost to owner only had 21,552 , 1998 f-150 dealer wanted 500.00 at first then claimed part was defective and I would have to pay labor( jack demmers in wayne,mi.48185) please help this isnt fair.
Passenger side torsion bar broke while parked in parking garage. Don't know what would happen if occured at normal driving speeds. Scary drive home as truck was laying down on right front severly. Took to garage this morning. Five minutes later, woman comes in and says she has a broken torsion bar. You guessed it, another 1998 ford f150 4x4. Looked at hers, was on drivers side, similar shaped failure as mine, said hers was just parked in driveway when failed. I am afraid to let wife drive my truck now.
Driver side torsion bar broke driving 60 on freeway. Made truck veer hard to left almost hitting guard rail. Thank god my son didn't hit it. Brought the truck used and of course dealer said it wasn't under warranty that we had. Only the 60 days or 2500 miles from time of purchased. Only had in 25 days. *nlm
Also reported on the 1998 Ford F-150
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other wheel or tire problem
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Cruise control failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 100 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 other suspension problem happen on the 1998 Ford F-150?
Across 19 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 125,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other suspension problem on the 1998 Ford F-150?
100 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