Help - The Ford F-150 I Purchased New Had 73 Miles On It When I Bought It From the Dealer, and the Truck Now Has a Major Engine Problem At 60,054 Miles - Is the Truck Still Under Warranty Or Not?

Warranties are very clear until they aren’t. A Ford F-150 owner has asked for help determining if the F-150 he purchased new is still covered under the five-year, 60,000-mile powertrain warranty. The consequences are dire because it needs major engine work. Here’s what the owner is asking specifically:

My truck had 73 miles on it when I purchased it new. The dealer is claiming that my power train warranty is no longer valid at 60,054 miles. From previous experience with other manufacturers, my warranty should be valid until I hit 60,073. Really trying not to come out of pocket for new turbos… what y'all think?

As you can see, there are two obvious positions on this. 
1) The warranty expires at precisely 60,000 miles. No ifs, ands, or buts. 
2) The warranty has a duration of 60,000 miles from the time you buy the vehicle new.

A lot of armchair warranty experts think they know the answer. Here’s a quick rundown on what they say:
JMJ - “Nope five years, sixty thousand miles.”
EE - “Unfortunately, it's 60,000 no matter what was on the OD when it was purchased.”
AJP - “5 years 60,000 mi period.”
We can keep going. There are endless folks with this opinion. However, many Ford owners and fans think the warranty is not simply 60,000 miles as displayed on the odometer, but rather 60,000 miles as the original new vehicle owner. As we all know, nearly every new vehicle has some mileage on it from being moved around.

Here is what some of those folks are saying in support of the argument that the 60K mileage is miles covered under ownership, not the number that is displayed on the odometer:
TB - “I was always told that on new vehicles, the clock starts at in-service time and mileage. If you bought with 3 miles, it should go to 60,003.”
JB - “In Canada, if the truck has 250 kms on it at purchase, they add those kms extra on your warranty.”

Not surprisingly, there is a third school of thought here. That is, when a vehicle needs warranty support and the mileage is super close to the warranty’s maximum, Ford, or any manufacturer may step forward to help out. I've had that happen to me with Subaru vehicles in the past. Here’s what they say:
ND - “Seeing that you are super close to the 60,000-mile mark, I would call Ford directly. They should be understanding.”
CMF - “I would reach out to Ford. It's possible they would goodwill this claim due to being just over.”

Rather than speculate, Torque News reached out to our Ford Public Relations contact and asked her if she could research the question and comment. We will update the story if she is able to help out.

In addition, we went to the Ford Warranty page and we found the following specific information that we think helps to answer the riddle. Here’s what the warranty page states:

Warranty Coverage Periods
The list below provides a summary of warranty coverage provided by Ford Motor Company. 

Warranty expiration is based on time or mileage, whichever occurs first. Coverage begins on your Warranty Start Date, also known as the in-service date.
Powertrain Warranty: 5 years/60,000 miles
Corrosion Warranty: 5 years regardless of mileage
Safety Restraint Warranty (safety belts and airbag supplemental restraint system): 5 years/60,000 miles
Emissions Warranty: Coverage varies by vehicle
Hybrid/Electric Unique Components: 8 years/100,000 miles
Note: This list does not include additional coverage offered by a Ford Protect Extended Service Plan. Your Ford Dealer is in the best position to determine if a repair is covered by a Ford warranty.

We also discovered that some diesel trucks have a 100,000-mile powertrain warranty.

We looked deeper into what “in-service date” actually means. Ford says:
"The Warranty Start Date, also known as the in-service date, is the date a new vehicle was purchased or when it was first put into service (e.g., a Ford Dealer demonstrator), whichever occurred first. To find your vehicle's warranty start date, contact your preferred Dealer. You can also inquire with the Ford Customer Relationship Center by using our Live Chat option or calling 1-800-392-3673. If you are the original owner of the vehicle, refer to the packet provided to you at the time of your new vehicle purchase."

Based on the information we could uncover, and before Ford’s PR team wrote us back, Torque News feels that the in-service date is a flexible date. It refers to when you take ownership of the vehicle. However, there is no “In-service mileage” allowance. Instead, 60,000 miles as displayed on your odometer is part of the warranty duration. As a Ford owner, I hope I’m wrong!

Our advice would be to reach out to Ford directly using the customer service contact info provided and ask for help. 

What say you, Ford owners and warranty experts? Which is it? Tell us in the comments section below. 

John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools.