Other fuel system problem on the 2003 Ford F-150
2 fires 2 of the 12 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 fuel system problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Ford F-150 report other fuel system problem at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 180,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 15th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 200,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 170,422 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.
22% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30,178 miles | 41,050 miles | 44,000 miles | 180,000 miles | 200,600 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 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 $300–$2,200 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 2020, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 160,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 89; the 2003 has 12. 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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford f150. While the vehicle was parked, the contact smelled gasoline and noticed it dripping from the fuel line. He called the dealer and they provided some information about the failure, but did not mention the gasoline recall for that year, make, and model vehicle. The vehicle has not been inspected by the dealer. The current mileage was 22,875 and failure mileage was 22,850. The fuel line/hose was defective. Updated
Left dealership after lo-jack installation. Entered traffic lane and began lightly braking for approaching signal. I felt two forward surges and then increasingly rapid acceleration. I checked rear view mirror and then pressed on brakes with the sound of the racing turbo charged engine filling the cab. I then moved the gear out of drive and in my haste saw I had it between reverse and park. I brought it back to neutral and then the sound subsided. The entire acceleration incident lasted less than 10 seconds. The truck was immediately returned to dealership and then reported incident to the manufacturer.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford f-150. The contact stated while having routine maintenance performed by an independent mechanic he was informed that the gasoline tank was leaking. The dealer notified the contact of NHTSA recall campaign number: 11v385000 (fuel system, gasoline). The vehicle was taken to a dealer for repair but was informed that they would only repair the vehicle if the gasoline tank was replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 200,000.
Also reported on the 2003 Ford F-150
Misfire or rough idle
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 fuel system problem happen on the 2003 Ford F-150?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 40,000 miles and a quarter after 180,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other fuel system problem on the 2003 Ford F-150?
12 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