Model year report

2014 Ford F-350: what breaks, and at what mileage

What breaks on the 2014 Ford F-350

On the 2014 Ford F-350, the failure owners report most often is other steering problem, and the reports cluster around 75,000 miles. The earliest to appear is steering rack, gear or tie rod failure, reported by a median of 50,000 miles. Overall it scores 63 out of 100, high risk for a 2014.

High risk for a 2014 — 254th riskiest of the 270 2014 vehicles we can rate. 150 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model.

What owners report breaking

Owners have reported 24 named failure modes on the 2014 Ford F-350, and the three most-reported carry 56% of everything filed.

Other steering problem leads with 37 reports, about 1.4 per 1,000 vehicles and with the middle half of reports between 51k to 140,000 miles.

Other suspension problem follows with 31 reports, usually reported between 65k to 140,000 miles.

Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure follows with 16 reports, usually reported between 3 to 80,000 miles.

By system, the reports fall mostly into steering (53), suspension (36) and wheels (12).

The mileage the reports cluster at

67 of the reports on the 2014 Ford F-350 came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 65,000 miles.

Cumulatively, 31% by 50,000 miles, 64% by 100,000 miles and 81% by 150,000 miles of the dated reports had been filed, with 6 filed above the top of the chart.

The busiest stretch is between 50,000 and 60,000 miles, which alone holds 10% of the dated reports.

22% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles.

In the order they tend to show up: steering rack, gear or tie rod failure around 50k, other steering problem around 73k and other suspension problem around 98k.

Median

Other steering problem

73k
Other suspension problem

98k
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure

50k
Other wheel or tire problem

130k
Other engine problem

99k
Cruise control failure

200k
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure

36k
Other powertrain problem

66k
Other electrical problem

17k
Other fuel system problem

46k
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault

28k
Other brake problem

15k

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 24. The full list is in the table below.

How reports accumulate

Share of reports filed by each mileage

half by 66k

Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A further 6 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

How bad it is when it goes

Across the named modes, 8 mention a crash, 1 a fire and 4 an injury. 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 3.92, 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, steering rack, gear or tie rod failure at $700–$2,600 and other wheel or tire problem at $200–$1,500. 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	37	18	51k	73k	138k	1.4	$350–$2,400	High
Other suspension problem	suspension	31	13	65k	98k	140k	1.2	$350–$2,000	Moderate
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure	steering	16	8	3	50k	81k	0.6	$700–$2,600	High
Other wheel or tire problem	wheels	12	5	—	130k	—	0.5	$200–$1,500	High
Other engine problem	engine	6	4	—	99k	—	0.2	$300–$4,000	High
Cruise control failure	adas	5	2	—	200k	—	0.2	$200–$1,400	High
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure	suspension	5	1	—	36k	—	0.2	$400–$2,200	High
Other powertrain problem	transmission	5	1	—	66k	—	0.2	$400–$4,500	High
Other electrical problem	electrical	4	1	—	17k	—	0.2	$250–$2,000	Moderate
Other fuel system problem	fuel	4	3	—	46k	—	0.2	$300–$2,200	High
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault	airbag	2	1	—	28k	—	0.1	$300–$1,600	High
Other brake problem	brakes	2	1	—	15k	—	0.1	$300–$1,800	High
Other speed control problem	adas	2	1	—	15k	—	0.1	$250–$2,000	Critical
Stalling while driving	engine	1	0	—	—	—	0.0	$300–$2,500	Critical
CV axle or driveshaft failure	drivetrain	1	0	—	—	—	0.0	$450–$2,200	High
Differential or transfer case failure	drivetrain	1	1	—	40k	—	0.0	$900–$4,200	High
Fuel pump failure	fuel	1	1	—	41k	—	0.0	$600–$2,600	High
Loss of braking	brakes	1	1	—	3k	—	0.0	$400–$3,000	Critical
ABS module or sensor failure	brakes	1	0	—	—	—	0.0	$500–$2,400	High
Parking brake failure	brakes	1	1	—	25k	—	0.0	$250–$1,300	Moderate
Catalytic converter failure	emissions	1	1	—	90k	—	0.0	$900–$3,500	Moderate
DPF, EGR or DEF system failure	emissions	1	0	—	—	—	0.0	$800–$5,000	High
Other lighting problem	lighting	1	1	—	60k	—	0.0	$120–$1,200	Moderate
Other body or interior problem	body	1	1	—	10k	—	0.0	$200–$2,000	Moderate
Unclassified problem	other	8	1	—	107k	—	0.3	—	Moderate

This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. 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 2014 Ford F-350 draws about 5.6 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 85th percentile of complaint rates among 2014 vehicles we can rate.

That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.

The working figure is 26,666 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2014 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.

Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure

Tl* the contact owns a 2014 ford f-350. While driving 25 MPH, the front end of the vehicle shimmied. The vehicle had to be restarted to gain control. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to sheehy performance center (600 n frederick ave, gaithersburg, md 20877, (301) 548-9132) where it was diagnosed that the ball joints, tie rod, shocks, and the tires needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted and provided case number: 12943941. The failure mileage was 50,000.

50,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1495292 filed 2018-08-29

Tl* the contact owns a 2014 ford f-350. While driving 25 MPH, the front end of the vehicle shimmied. The vehicle had to be restarted to gain control. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to sheehy performance center (600 n frederick ave, gaithersburg, md 20877, (301) 548-9132) where it was diagnosed that the ball joints, tie rod, shocks, and the tires needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted and provided case number: 12943941. The failure mileage was 50,000.

50,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1495293 filed 2018-08-29

How it ranks in the 2014 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 2014 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

High risk for a 2014 — 254th riskiest of the 270 2014 vehicles we can rate. The comparison is always within the same model year, so an older car is never penalised for having had longer to break.

Across the 18 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 1998 comes out best at 56 and 2004 worst at 78, with 2014 itself at 63.

If the model year is negotiable, 1998, 2009 and 1997 score lower than 2014 by a margin worth acting on. Same body, same engines, different luck — usually a supplier change or a mid-cycle fix, which the complaint data can show but never explain.

Within the 2008–2014 generation specifically, 2009 is the strongest year at 57 and 2011 the weakest at 74.

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-350 scores best at 57 and 2011 Ford F-350 worst at 74.

What to look at before buying one

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: steering rack, gear or tie rod failure from about 3, other steering problem from about 51k and other suspension problem from about 65k.

On a 2014 Ford F-350 with more miles than that on it, the useful question to put to a seller or a mechanic is whether steering rack, gear or tie rod failure 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

150 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. 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 150 reports, 67 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 45% 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 2014 Ford F-350?

The most-reported failures are other steering problem (37 reports, median 75,000 miles), other suspension problem (31 reports, median 100,000 miles) and steering rack, gear or tie rod failure (16 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 2014 Ford F-350 problems start?

Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure is the earliest failure mode to show up, with a median reported mileage of 50,000 miles and a quarter of reports before 3 miles. Across all failure modes on this year, the median report sits at 65,000 miles.

Is the 2014 Ford F-350 reliable?

It scores 63 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 254th riskiest of the 270 2014 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2014 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-350 is best?

Within the 2008–2014 generation, 2009 scores best at 57 out of 100 and 2011 worst at 74. 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 30 August 2026 Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed