Why It Could Cost You OVER $5K to Replace Modern Ford F-150 Taillights!
Here’s how broken F-150 taillights can not only take down your radio and HVAC controls but also make the truck (literally) impossible to drive.
Over the past several years, automotive technology has reached a level that was once reserved for sci-fi movies, with our vehicles doing many things for us – whether that be braking, maintaining a select speed, changing lanes, and executing voice commands. However, as is usually the case with most things in life, this type of convenience comes at a price – literally speaking. Stuffing sensors and cameras into everything obviously makes parts more expensive, and that’s something that YouTuber Brian Makuloco of the Ford Tech Makuloco channel recently discovered when replacing a customer’s Ford F-150 taillights.
The truck featured in this video is a top-trim 2018 Ford F-150 Limited, which is chock full of technology and a lofty price tag to boot. However, the owner recently began seeing rear-side obstacle detection warning messages and experiencing various other issues – including a trip to the store that ended with the truck being almost completely undriveable – which prompted him to take it to Makuloco’s shop for a closer inspection.
It didn’t take long for Makuloco to discover that water had leaked into the taillights, which isn’t a terribly uncommon issue with a lot of vehicles. In the old days, this simply meant that one might need to replace burned-out bulbs or perhaps the entire housing, which could cost somewhere around $50-$100. Problem is, this Ford F-150 is equipped with LED units and side obstacle detection radar, which means that they also contain more wiring, sensors, and other pricey parts.
When the water entered these taillights, it corroded all the connectors and the module itself, which is a huge problem since that module is part of the truck’s medium-speed CAN network. This is how a variety of modules and systems communicate with each other to make everything work in harmony.
However, the build-up of corrosion on the modules and a portion of the wiring harness caused a series of rather erratic electrical issues, including making the radio and HVAC controls freeze up and, eventually, for the whole truck to refuse to start, which left the owner stranded.
Thankfully, everything is a pretty easy fix — new housings, bulbs, modules, and rear wiring harnesses. Unfortunately, the cost is well north of $5,000.
As Makuloco points out, these taillights retail for around $1,200-$1,400 each, and that doesn’t include the modules or anything else, shockingly enough. Then one has to also purchase those – which cost another $450 each – and making matters worse, they’re on backorder and in short supply. Throw in the cost of connectors and all of the other necessary hardware to properly replace these taillights, and the customer is looking at a pretty steep bill of around $5,600 with labor and locate fees – a shocking sum, indeed. Even worse, as Makuloco notes, some shops take far longer to diagnose this issue, which can make it even more expensive to rectify – a true cautionary tale for anyone who owns a modern truck with this type of tech.
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