Model year report

2009 Ford F-250: what breaks, and at what mileage

What breaks on the 2009 Ford F-250

On the 2009 Ford F-250, the failure owners report most often is other steering problem, and the reports cluster around 80,000 miles. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 70,000 miles. Overall it scores 58 out of 100, elevated risk for a 2009.

Elevated risk for a 2009 — 291st riskiest of the 295 2009 vehicles we can rate. 92 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork.

The failures owners actually file about

Owners have reported 20 named failure modes on the 2009 Ford F-250, and the three most-reported carry 64% of everything filed, so the trouble here is concentrated rather than scattered.

Other steering problem leads with 26 reports, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles and with the middle half of reports between 52k to 100,000 miles.

Other suspension problem follows with 26 reports, usually reported between 60k to 125,000 miles.

Other wheel or tire problem follows with 7 reports, median 50,000 miles.

By system, the reports fall mostly into steering (30), suspension (29) and wheels (10).

When these failures get reported

76 of the reports on the 2009 Ford F-250 came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 70,000 miles.

Cumulatively, 30% by 50,000 miles, 68% by 100,000 miles and 84% by 150,000 miles of the dated reports had been filed, with 3 filed above the top of the chart.

The busiest stretch is between 60,000 and 70,000 miles, which alone holds 14% of the dated reports.

18% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles.

Median

Other steering problem

79k
Other suspension problem

88k
Other wheel or tire problem

48k
Other engine problem

98k
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure

40k
Fuel pump failure

128k
Audio or connectivity failure

156k
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure

22k
Tire blowout or tread separation
no odometer readings given
—
Other powertrain problem

58k
Other visibility problem

36k
Engine bay fire

27k

Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens

Showing the 12 most-reported failure modes of 20. The full list is in the table below.

How reports accumulate

Share of reports filed by each mileage

half by 69k

Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A further 3 reports came in above that, which is why the line stops short of the top. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.

Line share of reports filed by that mileage
Dashed the median reported mileage

Severity, and what it costs

Across the named modes, 1 a fire. Those are the words owners used in their own complaints, and NHTSA does not verify them, but they are the closest thing in this data to a measure of what a failure actually did.

The average severity weight across every report on this year is 3.43, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.

What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: other steering problem at $350–$2,400, other suspension problem at $350–$2,000, other wheel or tire problem at $200–$1,500 and other engine problem at $300–$4,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.

9% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.

Every reported failure mode

Mileage figures are percentiles of owner-reported readings. Click a column to sort.
Failure mode	System	Reports	With reading	25th	Median	75th	Per 1,000	Typical repair	Severity
Other steering problem	steering	26	23	52k	79k	101k	0.3	$350–$2,400	High
Other suspension problem	suspension	26	21	60k	88k	125k	0.3	$350–$2,000	Moderate
Other wheel or tire problem	wheels	7	5	—	48k	—	0.1	$200–$1,500	High
Other engine problem	engine	5	4	—	98k	—	0.1	$300–$4,000	High
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure	steering	3	3	—	40k	—	0.0	$700–$2,600	High
Fuel pump failure	fuel	2	2	—	128k	—	0.0	$600–$2,600	High
Audio or connectivity failure	infotainment	2	2	—	156k	—	0.0	$150–$900	Low
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure	suspension	2	2	—	22k	—	0.0	$400–$2,200	High
Tire blowout or tread separation	wheels	2	0	—	—	—	0.0	$200–$1,500	Critical
Other powertrain problem	transmission	2	2	—	58k	—	0.0	$400–$4,500	High
Other visibility problem	glass	2	2	—	36k	—	0.0	$150–$1,400	Moderate
Engine bay fire	engine	1	1	—	27k	—	0.0	$4,000–$20,000	Critical
Loss of power steering	steering	1	1	—	61k	—	0.0	$600–$2,800	Critical
Strut, shock or spring failure	suspension	1	1	—	60k	—	0.0	$500–$2,000	Moderate
Wheel, stud or lug nut failure	wheels	1	1	—	163k	—	0.0	$150–$1,500	Critical
Tail light, brake light or signal failure	lighting	1	1	—	67k	—	0.0	$100–$900	Moderate
Other electrical problem	electrical	1	1	—	220k	—	0.0	$250–$2,000	Moderate
Other fuel system problem	fuel	1	1	—	28k	—	0.0	$300–$2,200	High
Other driver assistance problem	adas	1	1	—	48k	—	0.0	$250–$1,800	High
Other speed control problem	adas	1	0	—	—	—	0.0	$250–$2,000	Critical
Unclassified problem	other	4	2	—	72k	—	0.0	—	Moderate

Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.

How often, against how many were built

Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2009 Ford F-250 draws about 0.9 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 77th percentile of complaint rates among 2009 vehicles we can rate.

That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound.

The working figure is 97,664 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2009 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.

Recalls on the 2009 model year

NHTSA has issued 1 recall campaign covering the 2009 Ford F-250, affecting an estimated 97,664 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.

The campaigns cover tires:tread/belt. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.

Recalls also distort complaint counts. Publicity about a campaign reminds owners that complaining is possible, so reports for a recalled component often spike after the recall rather than before it.

11T002000

TIRES:TREAD/BELT

390,657 vehicles 2011-03-15

Defect: Continental tire is recalling certain contitrac tr tires, size lt275/70r18 125/122s outline white letters and black sidewall, and contitrac, size lt275/70r18 125/122s, black sidewall, produced from may 6, 2007, through september 20, 2008, sold as aftermarket and installed as original equipment on some model year 2008 and 2009 ford f-250 and f-350 trucks. Some of these tires may experience uneven wear, vibration, or particularly under conditions of overloading or under inflation in high ambient temperature usage, separation between the belt edges.
Consequence: Separation of the belt edges could lead to tread belt separation, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Continental tire will notify owners and replace the affected tires free of charge. The safety recall began on april 14, 2011. Owners may contact continental customer service toll-free at 1-888-799-2168.

Recall work is free at a franchised dealer regardless of the car's age. Check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before assuming it was done.

How it ranks in the 2009 field

The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.

Risk score against the rest of the 2009 field

Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.

Left fewer and less serious reports
Right more, or worse
Marker this vehicle

Better and worse years of the same car

Elevated risk for a 2009 — 291st riskiest of the 295 2009 vehicles we can rate. Every score on this site is a rank inside its own model year, which is what makes a 2004 and a 2019 comparable at all.

Across the 19 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 1998 comes out best at 58 and 2004 worst at 80, with 2009 itself at 58.

No other year of this model scores meaningfully better than 2009, so if this generation is what you want, the year is not the lever.

Within the 2008–2014 generation specifically, 2009 is the strongest year at 58 and 2011 the weakest at 71.

Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.

Risk score by model year, out of 100

Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.

Within the 2008-2014 generation, 2009 Ford F-250 scores best at 58 and 2011 Ford F-250 worst at 71.

What the numbers say to check

The mileages below are where the first quarter of reports for each mode had already been filed, which makes them the point at which a fault is worth looking for rather than the point at which it happens: other steering problem from about 52k and other suspension problem from about 60k.

On a 2009 Ford F-250 with more miles than that on it, the useful question to put to a seller or a mechanic is whether other steering problem has been dealt with, and if so with what parts and at whose expense. A car that has already had the repair is in a different position from one that has not.

None of this is a diagnosis. It is a list of what other owners of the same model year reported, ordered by when they reported it, which is a good place to point an inspection and a poor place to stop.

What this page cannot tell you

92 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.

Of those 92 reports, 76 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 83% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".

Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.

And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.

Questions this page answers

What are the most common problems with the 2009 Ford F-250?

The most-reported failures are other steering problem (26 reports, median 80,000 miles), other suspension problem (26 reports, median 90,000 miles) and other wheel or tire problem (7 reports, median 50,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.

At what mileage do 2009 Ford F-250 problems start?

Other steering problem is the earliest failure mode to show up, with a median reported mileage of 80,000 miles and a quarter of reports before 50,000 miles. Across all failure modes on this year, the median report sits at 70,000 miles.

Is the 2009 Ford F-250 reliable?

It scores 58 out of 100 on our risk index, which is elevated — 291st riskiest of the 295 2009 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2009 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.

Which year of the Ford F-250 is best?

Within the 2008–2014 generation, 2009 scores best at 58 out of 100 and 2011 worst at 71. Same body, same engines, different luck.

Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.

What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car

Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt 20 August 2026 Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed