Cruise control failure on the 2008 Ford F-250 SD
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When cruise control failure gets reported
There are 4 reports of cruise control failure on the 2008 Ford F-250 SD, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 72,000 miles. It is the 15th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 71,500 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 $200–$1,400 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 16 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 155,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 16; the 2008 has 4. 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 8/10/2010, after driving my 2008 f-250 on interstate 5 for about 6 hours continuously at approx. 70mph in cruise control mode, I overrode cruise control to accelerate and pass a vehicle. As I returned to the right side driving lane, the vehicle failed to reduce speed and continued to accelerate in an uncontrolled fashion. With heavy braking I was able control the vehicle and bring it to a stop on the highway shoulder where I shifted it into neutral and cut the ignition off. A restart of the vehicle resulted in an immediate run-up in RPM which could only be controlled by shutting down the engine. No engine or other warning lights were displayed. By opening the hood and manually resetting the air filter contamination sensor on the air intake duct, it was possible to restart the engine and have it operate normally. I did not again use cruise control. This is a repeat of the condition previously reported in id# 10279704. The common elements of all three instances of occurrence are that the engine has been operated at 65-70 MPH for approx. Six hours, cruise control is engaged, and the engine is either in or has just completed an…
After appox. One hour at 65 MPH on cruise control I disengaged the cruise control , coasting to a speed of about 25 MPH or less to make a upcoming left turn. As I started to turn I pressed on the brake and found it was without assist, and the same was true for the steering. I applied as much pressure as I could to both the brake pedal and the steering wheel and fortunately made the turn with out incident. I tapped the fuel pedal and both the brakes and steering assist returned to normal. I've had the problem before with loss of brakes but have always been going straight. I report this to the dealership but since the vehicle doesn't show a error code they can't fix it! At least if I die in a crash this will be my record. I will report the truck again to the dealer but they wont fix it. I have seen that others are experiencing also. I won't let my wife drive the truck it is not safe!!! This is a design flaw the system is drawing fluid for both the brakes and steering from the powersteering pump, also I believe from what I have read the fluid travels thru a screen(filter) which can plug starving the system of fluid needed to properly…
After appox. One hour at 65 MPH on cruise control I disengaged the cruise control , coasting to a speed of about 25 MPH or less to make a upcoming left turn. As I started to turn I pressed on the brake and found it was without assist, and the same was true for the steering. I applied as much pressure as I could to both the brake pedal and the steering wheel and fortunately made the turn with out incident. I tapped the fuel pedal and both the brakes and steering assist returned to normal. I've had the problem before with loss of brakes but have always been going straight. I report this to the dealership but since the vehicle doesn't show a error code they can't fix it! At least if I die in a crash this will be my record. I will report the truck again to the dealer but they wont fix it. I have seen that others are experiencing also. I won't let my wife drive the truck it is not safe!!! This is a design flaw the system is drawing fluid for both the brakes and steering from the powersteering pump, also I believe from what I have read the fluid travels thru a screen(filter) which can plug starving the system of fluid needed to properly…
Also reported on the 2008 Ford F-250 SD
Other steering problem
Other engine problem
Radiator or coolant leak
Other wheel or tire problem
Other brake problem
Fuel pump failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 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 cruise control failure happen on the 2008 Ford F-250 SD?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cruise control failure on the 2008 Ford F-250 SD?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 48 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