Selling a Ford that no longer runs

Two checks are worth a few minutes before any dead Ford leaves: whether an airbag recall says it should not be driven, and whether a Ford engine program covers that model year. Both come first below. After them: the programs that have run out, an old switch recall on 1990s trucks and vans, complaint counts for 43 Ford models, and the full model list.

Check 1: Takata airbags and the do-not-drive Fords

Five Ford models have Takata airbag inflator recalls that NHTSA's recall file marks "do not drive":

Ford's recall notice explains the risk. Heat and humidity break down the propellant inside the inflator, and in a crash it can burst and "send inflator parts toward vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death." For the 2006 Ranger, Ford's filing with NHTSA says it plainly: "Ford is requesting owners NOT TO DRIVE these vehicles until they have been repaired."

The repair costs the owner nothing. Ford's 2019 bulletin says the work "must be performed on all affected vehicles at no charge to the vehicle owner." Ford widened these recalls several times, and one January 2018 round alone added about 365,000 vehicles. Some rounds covered only cars first sold or ever registered in listed states, among them Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana and Mississippi. So don't guess from the model year. Enter the VIN at NHTSA's recall lookup.

If yours was never fixed, don't drive it to a buyer or a yard. Nobody has to drive it when you sell to us. It gets loaded onto a truck right where it is.

Check 2: Ford engine programs for 2020-2023 models

Two Ford dealer bulletins, dated June 2024 and August 2025, set out a free replacement engine long block for recent models. Both set a 10-year clock that starts on the vehicle's warranty start date. For scale, the powertrain warranty on a new Ford today is 5 years or 60,000 miles.

• Program 23N06, Escape and Maverick hybrids. It covers the 2020-2022 Escape and the 2022-2023 Maverick with the 2.5-liter hybrid or plug-in hybrid engine. The bulletin says the failure "could be due to a faulty connecting rod bearing that was detected by the Powertrain Control Module (PCM)." The limit is 10 years or 100,000 miles, and the coverage passes to the next owner on its own.
• Program 24N12, cracked valves. It covers 2021-2022 models built in set date windows at four plants: the Bronco in Michigan, the Edge in Oakville, the Explorer in Chicago and the F-150 in Dearborn. Only vehicles that went through the 24S55 recall inspection qualify. The limit is 10 years or 150,000 miles, for what the bulletin calls a "no-cost, one-time repair (if needed) for an engine long block replacement."

Each program also gave a catch-up window to vehicles already past its limits, and those windows are shut: 23N06's ended July 31, 2025, and 24N12's ended June 30, 2026. On the bulletins' own terms, no 2020-2023 model has reached its 10 years yet, so the main coverage should still apply under the mileage cap. Only a dealer can confirm that for one VIN. If a dead engine is why you're selling one of these, ask a Ford dealer to look it up before you accept an offer.

One more engine item is a safety recall, not a program. Recall 17S09 covers the 1.6-liter EcoBoost in the 2013-2014 Fusion, the 2014 Escape, the 2014-2015 Fiesta ST and the 2013-2015 Transit Connect. Ford says "localized overheating of the engine cylinder head may cause the cylinder head to crack," and the oil that leaks out under pressure can start a fire under the hood.

Programs that have run out

Ford also lengthened coverage on two automatic transmissions. Neither helps a seller in 2026, but between them they mark the Fords with documented transmission trouble.

The DPS6, sold as PowerShift, is a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Ford's 2016 bulletin tied its clutch shudder on light acceleration to a fault that "may be due to fluid contamination of the clutch caused by leaking input shaft seals." The 6R80 programs dealt with an output shaft speed sensor that could cut in and out and turn on the check-engine light. TFLcar reported that a federal court signed off on a class-action settlement for PowerShift owners in March 2020.

The 1990s switch fires: F-Series, Expedition, Explorer, Windstar

For about ten years Ford kept recalling one small part, the speed control deactivation switch. NBC News reported that it "could corrode over time, overheat and ignite." The main rounds:

• January 2005: about 792,000 vehicles, among them F-150 pickups and Expeditions from the 2000 model year with the switch.
• September 2005: 3.8 million pickups and SUVs built for 1994 through 2002, the F-150 included.
• August 2006: 1.2 million more. Super Duty F-250 and F-350 trucks from 1994 through 2002, Excursions from 2000 through 2002, Econoline vans from 1994 through 1996, E-450 vans from 1996 through 2002, and the 1998 Explorer.
• Later still: 4.5 million, including 1.1 million Windstar minivans from 1995 through 2003, plus Excursions, Explorers and Rangers as old as 1992. Automotive Fleet counted it as Ford's eighth recall involving that switch in a decade.

NBC's August 2006 report said dealers "installed a fused wiring harness to the cruise control deactivation switch to prevent the risk of fire if the switch leaked."

The complaint file points at the same years. The F-150 has 2,107 complaints flagged as involving a fire, and 1,406 of them are on 1994-2002 trucks. The Expedition has 710, and 587 are on 1997-2002 models. The flag records that a fire happened, not what started it. If an old Ford truck, SUV or van has been parked for years beside a house or in a garage, run its VIN for an open recall. Our guide to selling a car that has sat for years covers the rest.

Ford complaints, model by model

NHTSA's complaint file holds 288,101 complaints across the 43 Ford models in our list, counted by model and model year, from the file as downloaded October 10, 2026. The five busiest models, the F-150, Explorer, Escape, Fusion and Focus, account for 150,462 of them, or 52%. These are raw totals, not adjusted for how many of each model are on the road, so treat them as a map of where to look, not a ranking of bad cars.

The single model years tell more than the totals:

• The 2010 Fusion tops every Ford model year in our data, with 5,639 complaints. Steering is listed on 1,594 of them.
• The 2012 Focus has 3,802, and 1,177 list the power train. That is also the first Focus model year covered by the PowerShift program 14M01.
• The 1995 Windstar, its first year in the list, has 3,326. Engine and engine cooling appear on 1,430.
• The 2013 Escape lists the engine on 1,074 of its 2,755.
• The 2002 Explorer lists the power train on 1,409 of its 3,428.

Recalls run just as deep. 1,266 separate recall campaigns name at least one of these 43 models, and 22 of them carry a do-not-drive warning. Two more, for 2020 and 2021 Expeditions, tell owners to park outside because the engine can catch fire.

Ford's cars: the 2018 cut

Ford was incorporated on June 16, 1903, and brought out the mass-produced Model T in 1908. More than a century later it began dropping most of its cars in North America. In April 2018, as Ford released its first-quarter results, CEO Jim Hackett laid out a plan to drop every car Ford sold in North America within four years, with two exceptions: the Mustang and a small crossover carrying the Focus name. The plan named the Fusion, Taurus, C-Max and Fiesta, and Hackett put the decision down to declining demand and profitability.

Our list shows how it played out. The C-MAX and the Focus end with the 2018 model year, the Fiesta and the Taurus with 2019, and the Fusion with 2020. Of the 13 Fords still on sale in the list, the Mustang is the only car.

Selling a dead Ford, start to finish

Leave it in one piece. Nothing has to come off first, not even the battery or the converter, because the whole vehicle is what you're selling.

1. Note the year, the model and the rough mileage. The trim helps if you know it.
2. Describe its state plainly: does it start, does it roll, is anything missing, burned or flooded?
3. Find the title if you have it. If it's lost, the rules differ by state; selling a junk car with no title explains the usual routes.
4. Tell us its spot, whether that's a driveway, a curb, a back lot or a repair shop.

The truck comes to that spot, and pickup is free anywhere in the US. If the engine or the gearbox is the problem, our guides to a blown engine and a bad transmission go through the fix-or-sell math. Once it's gone, the plates, insurance and state notice are the last loose ends.

Would you rather talk to a person? Call (877) 421-6008.

All 43 Ford models in our list

Years are model years. Most come from the EPA's fuel economy list. The EPA does not rate the heaviest trucks and vans, so other sources fill in the F-350, the Excursion, the F-250 Super Duty years after 1999, the larger E-Series vans and most Transits. A gap in the years means the list has no models for that stretch. The Explorer and Expedition already show 2027 models, while the Edge stops at 2024 and the F-150 Lightning at 2025. The last column is NHTSA's complaint total for each model.