Other powertrain problem on the 2002 Ford F-150
2 crashes 1 injury 3 of the 25 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 powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Ford F-150 report other powertrain problem at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 16 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 109,579 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.
19% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35,121 miles | 44,794 miles | 68,500 miles | 102,303 miles | 144,700 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 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 $400–$4,500 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 30 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2009, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2025 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 956; the 2002 has 25. 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.
I was driving down sr 33 in polk city when it seemed as if my car was slowing down. I had the pedal depressed but the truck continued to slow down. I had to pull off to the side of the road. When the speedometer fell back down to zero I attempted to take off again. Once again, the truck would get to 50 and then not shift to the next gear. This was the first and only signs something was wrong. I assumed it was a problem with the transmission. I drove to work (15 miles) in second gear, called a tow truck and had it towed to lakeland ford. I was told the overdrive clutch burned up and the direct drive pak burned up. The ford dealership wanted $2,326.09 to fix a 2002 vehicle that is not even two years old and has 44,176 miles on it. Most of the miles on this vehicle were highway miles always driven with overdrive on and only was something towed. This vehicle has the towing package in it so this problem should not have happened. My warranty was 3 years/36,000 miles. Truck is now at aamco with transmission being rebuilt. *la
Electrical: at 306 miles the solenoids had to be replaced. Upon shutting the vehicle off; the dash board would still illuminate. Also, upon shutting the vehicle off it would continue to run. This has happened a total of four times. The transmission completely failed with no warning. The consumer took the vehicle to the dealer, and was told the windshield had a leak which corroded the electrical system. The electrical problems started at 44000 miles. The gasket had to be replaced, and the harness wiring had to be replaced also. Upon trying to start the vehicle again the battery would be completely dead. Please provide any further information. *jb
My 2002 ford f-150's tranny completely broke at 35,000 miles 27 days after the 3 year warranty was up. I don't haul or pull anything with this truck. We are having to put a factory rebuilt tranny in it as we speak. *nm
Also reported on the 2002 Ford F-150
Misfire or rough idle
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other engine problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other electrical problem
Cruise control failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 25 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 powertrain problem happen on the 2002 Ford F-150?
Across 16 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2002 Ford F-150?
25 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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