Misfire or rough idle on the 2012 Ford F-150
When misfire or rough idle gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Ford F-150 report misfire or rough idle at a median of 22,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 52,500 miles, from 95 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 2,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 70,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 66,800 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.
65% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,200 miles | 6,201 miles | 22,548 miles | 53,600 miles | 70,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,600 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 26 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 17,500 miles, and latest on the 2019 at 155,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 214; the 2012 has 101. 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.
On two occasions I was cruising in high humidity or rainy conditions for close to 2 hours. Upon trying to pass the engine lost total power and the check engine light went on. After the first occasion I went to a dealer in canada because I was vacationing there, they performed tsb 12-6-4 and sent me on my way. Today on the return trip back to the usa the problem occured again in maine and the check engine light is on again. This problem can cause a sudden loss in power under certain conditions that could lead to a major accident since this event only shows it self at highway speeds when attempting to pass. Some have suggested that the problem is associated with the intercooler condensing water while cruising at speed and then ingesting the water upon acceleration causing the misfire and lost of power. *tr
After using cruise control for 1 hour on a 4 lane highway at 70 MPH during high humidity early in the morning I try to accelerate and the motor loses all power. I had tsb 12-6-4 applied to the vehicle friday, three days ago, and though it may reduce the likelihood of this situation, it does not overcome what appears to be a design flaw with the intercooler in this ecoboost motor. This flaw allows for condensated water to be sucked into the motor and causing the misfire during hard accelerations after long periods of using cruise control in high humidity situation. The impact of losing power will be a fatal accident for a customer at some point in time if it has not already occurred. *tr
After using cruise control for 1 hour on a 4 lane highway at 70 MPH during high humidity early in the morning I try to accelerate and the motor loses all power. I had tsb 12-6-4 applied to the vehicle friday, three days ago, and though it may reduce the likelihood of this situation, it does not overcome what appears to be a design flaw with the intercooler in this ecoboost motor. This flaw allows for condensated water to be sucked into the motor and causing the misfire during hard accelerations after long periods of using cruise control in high humidity situation. The impact of losing power will be a fatal accident for a customer at some point in time if it has not already occurred. *tr
Also reported on the 2012 Ford F-150
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
Other steering problem
Other visibility problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 101 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 misfire or rough idle happen on the 2012 Ford F-150?
Across 95 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 22,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 52,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is misfire or rough idle on the 2012 Ford F-150?
101 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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