Possible brake issue

[Claudess]

You'll find that when they Collision Prevention system is noticing you are approaching another vehicle (but not yet alerting you with the flashing red light) if you press the brakes they will be really firm and just a small press will apply serious braking pressure!

This over aggressive braking happens a lot for me. Even when no possible collision is about to occur. On mine the complaint would be that the brakes are often too intense. Never mushy ever.

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[Ric]

Hi,
Try bedding your brake pads. I found it helped.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Company Retired

I tried this and it definitely improved the braking. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Travis Hoffman]

The braking could definitely be more consistent, mine has felt a bit mushy at times as well. The good news is that after 7300 miles the brakes feel better and I hardly notice them anymore. Hopefully it is not just because I have adapted my driving to bad brakes!

One thing I have noticed is that as the transmission is downshifting through the gears the truck "lurches" forward a bit, making it feel like inconsistent braking. I have yet to have the rough shift TSB performed and hope that fixes this issue.

I have a similar feeling with the trans shifting. If I feather it all the way down to a stop it does fine but if I don’t feather it there will be what feels like the very slight clunk (not sure if that is the best word to describe it) when releasing the brake as if it is still downshifting. I’m not sure if that is just the way the 10 speed is or what.

 

[SICKQK]

When my new Ranger XLT was delivered the first thing I noticed when driving it off the lat was that there doesn't seem to be much brake pedal. I thought it might just be a minor adjustment. You can press on the pedal 2 or 3 times and "pump it up". To me it seems like the brakes need to be bled.

It's been a while but I've done brake jobs and bled brakes and to me it feels like air in the brake lines. The dealer disagrees.

Is anyone else noticing anything similar to this?

This exactly.

Just got my truck 2 weeks ago and the brakes are the only thing really annoying me.

I felt it on my first stop out of the dealership and almost every time I stop since.

As the brakes are applied (like approaching a red light) the pedal will go almost to the floor....but if you release the brake and reapply it, it will engage higher and if you release once more and engage it will apply even sooner/higher.

Pumping the brakes in rapid succession will accomplish the same thing.

I was going to bring in it in for service and recommend that the brakes be bled, but this appears to be a common problem/design issue which is unfortunate.

None of my other Ford's act/acted this way including 3 late model F-150's.

 

[t4thfavor]

This exactly.

Just got my truck 2 weeks ago and the brakes are the only thing really annoying me.

I felt it on my first stop out of the dealership and almost every time I stop since.

As the brakes are applied (like approaching a red light) the pedal will go almost to the floor....but if you release the brake and reapply it, it will engage higher and if you release once more and engage it will apply even sooner/higher.

Pumping the brakes in rapid succession will accomplish the same thing.

I was going to bring in it in for service and recommend that the brakes be bled, but this appears to be a common problem/design issue which is unfortunate.

None of my other Ford's act/acted this way including 3 late model F-150's.

That's air in the master or brake lines. It's criminal to send out a vehicle like that, and even more criminal for them to not immediately bleed the brakes when you come in, and more criminal yet if it's more than one truck that has this problem.

 

[RCMUSTANG]

That's air in the master or brake lines. It's criminal to send out a vehicle like that, and even more criminal for them to not immediately bleed the brakes when you come in, and more criminal yet if it's more than one truck that has this problem.

Has this been verified that there's actually air in the system?

 

[t4thfavor]

Has this been verified that there's actually air in the system?

Hydraulics are not magic. Unless there is a baloon on the system, or a pretty massive leak, they will maintain pressure.

I suppose it could be found that the calipers are being pulled away from the rotor and you need to push them back down, but I'd think that would be a pretty significant defect.

 

[Cape Cruiser]

Hydraulics are not magic. Unless there is a baloon on the system, or a pretty massive leak, they will maintain pressure.

I suppose it could be found that the calipers are being pulled away from the rotor and you need to push them back down, but I'd think that would be a pretty significant defect.

Rotor run out can and will push piston back causing low or inconsistent pedal feel travel. I have done lots of brake research for street rods and it dont take much run out or caliper to rotor alignment to cause issues. For example a manual system with about 6:1 pedal ratio and a 1 inch master bore only moves the caliper piston .005-.006 of an inch per 1 inch of pedal travel, this can vary as to the ratio between the bore of master to the bore of the calipers. Im not saying run out is the issue here but it may contribute.Mine seems more of inconsistent nature of vacuum boost. I could take off from a traffic light and car stops short in front of me and I hit brakes it will almost through you through the windshield (high engine vacuum) and other times pedal has to be pushed very far down. I almost wonder the difference between engine vacuum and vacuum pump vacuum as the inconsistent pedal travel feeling? My brakes are strong and at no time do they feel that they wont stop,just the inconsistent pedal travel for me. One of these days I will check out the pedal ratio as too high a ratio will add to longer mushy pedal travel. A good pedal ratio for power brakes is around 4:1. Chance , good luck with finding your new truck. Hopefully Ford will take care of you. Bret

 

[OKRaptor]

I find it typical in today's vehicles with ABS, they are computer controlled and there a lot of things the computer controls i.e. line pressure to the each wheel based on vehicle dynamics when applying the brakes.
I have a 2019 Acura RDX and the brakes just felt wrong and required too much pedal pressure with little to know brake feel. Brought into the dealership and they were able to upload a fix based on a TSB and the brakes now work as they should and as expected.
Point is, Ford can change the brake feel through programming. if they get enough people bringing in their trucks for a squishy brake pedal they will issue a TSB and provide and updated program. I hope this is the case because the brakes on the Ranger are exactly as the OP described.

 

[ParkRanger90]

During both of my test drives of 2020’s I immediately noticed how soft the Brakes were. Like stepping in a bowl of mashed potatoes is exactly right

 

[quangdog]

Huh. My brakes seem perfectly fine. The pedal maintains a consistent feel, and stopping force/power/aggressiveness is predictable.

 

[Steven D Tipton]

Mine will be going in for service soon, for this same brake issue. Up front, let me say this. We own two rangers. Both 2019. Mine is mushy feel, girlfriends is not. Solid as a rock, but after driving mine during the week. I amount lock hers up driving hers until I relearn. Lol I do car repair for a living but I'm not fixing something, that's under warranty. My thoughts, run-out is pushing caliper piston out. Why. If you have the problem. Find a slight hill, hold brake pedal and release. Let it roll slow about 10 feet and hit pedal. You'll see it's up now as it should be. Repeat a few times and now go drive. As more distance travel, you'll notice longer stoke on pedal is needed. This is my thoughts, guess will see. I'll let tech drive both. If I'm wrong there has to be a air issue but you would think Ford would not screw the bleeding process up in that or even a improper bleed master cylinder. My money is on run out.

 

[t4thfavor]

Mine will be going in for service soon, for this same brake issue. Up front, let me say this. We own two rangers. Both 2019. Mine is mushy feel, girlfriends is not. Solid as a rock, but after driving mine during the week. I amount lock hers up driving hers until I relearn. Lol I do car repair for a living but I'm not fixing something, that's under warranty. My thoughts, run-out is pushing caliper piston out. Why. If you have the problem. Find a slight hill, hold brake pedal and release. Let it roll slow about 10 feet and hit pedal. You'll see it's up now as it should be. Repeat a few times and now go drive. As more distance travel, you'll notice longer stoke on pedal is needed. This is my thoughts, guess will see. I'll let tech drive both. If I'm wrong there has to be a air issue but you would think Ford would not screw the bleeding process up in that or even a improper bleed master cylinder. My money is on run out.

Every time mine has gone in it has been "disc runout" .005, .010, .008, etc. every time they turn the rotors (which is bullshit), and it comes back faster. The time before last I convinced them to replace the rotors entirely, and it still came back to the tune of .008 of runout which they promptly turned off on the brake lathe. The motto is "turn the rotors until the customer dies in a crash due to lack of brakes" -Ford.

I've gone too long this time because it's summer, and I shouldn't have to take my still very new truck to the dealer every 2nd week and lose out on camping trips and time with my kids...

 

[Steven D Tipton]

Every time mine has gone in it has been "disc runout" .005, .010, .008, etc. every time they turn the rotors (which is bullshit), and it comes back faster. The time before last I convinced them to replace the rotors entirely, and it still came back to the tune of .008 of runout which they promptly turned off on the brake lathe. The motto is "turn the rotors until the customer dies in a crash due to lack of brakes" -Ford.

I've gone too long this time because it's summer, and I shouldn't have to take my still very new truck to the dealer every 2nd week and lose out on camping trips and time with my kids...

What rotors did they replace. Rears only or all four. I wonder if the rotors are junk. Sounds like something in Mount, if run out is returning that fast. My girlfriend truck has almost the same milage on it. I love my ranger other then brake issue. Paid it off in May. Thanks for additional information

 

[Steven D Tipton]

I dropped mine off at 1 today and had it back in a few hours. Listed below is what they did. They said they compared it to the same vehicle which I did not see another ranger on the lot. I took the other ranger up so they could check it against it. I took mine for a test drive and didn't need for them to test drive the other one. Both rangers are equal braking now. I will say it's a huge difference I'm glad to have normal brakes now. I'll attached the SSM they did.this is what come up under mine then yours may be different and list ssm for rotor run-out on rear.

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