After the 100,000-Mile Hybrid Warranty Expired, a 2022 Ford F-150 PowerBoost Owner Says His Battery Was Found “Compromised” With Visible Burn Marks at 103,000 Miles and Quoted $5,200 to Replace It

A warning label does not usually arrive in the form of burn marks. 

Yet that is exactly how one 2022 Ford F-150 PowerBoost Platinum owner says he discovered a serious problem with his truck’s hybrid system, after the vehicle spent weeks in the shop and the dealer ultimately recommended replacing the hybrid battery at a quoted cost of $5,200. 

With the odometer showing just over 103,000 miles, the timing could not have been worse.

The owner’s post in the Ford F-150 PowerBoost Owners group is understated, almost cautious. He is not accusing Ford of negligence or claiming catastrophic failure. He is simply asking if anyone else has seen this before. According to the dealer, the hybrid battery had been “compromised,” with visible burn marks on wiring and protective covers. That phrasing alone is enough to make any owner uneasy, particularly when it involves a high-voltage system designed to sit quietly in the background.

“Good morning, everyone. I was wondering if anyone else has run into this.

I have a 2022 PowerBoost Platinum that has been in the shop for the past few weeks. The shop is saying they recommend that the hybrid battery be replaced because it has been compromised, and you can see some burn marks on the wires/cover. The dealer quoted $5200 to replace. 

Any help is much appreciated.

Thank you.

Edit: truck is at 103k miles.”

What makes the situation immediately contentious is mileage. At 103,000 miles, the truck sits just outside Ford’s federally mandated hybrid component warranty, which covers hybrid batteries for eight years or 100,000 miles. Had this failure appeared a few thousand miles earlier, the conversation would likely be very different. Instead, the F-150 owner is staring at a four-figure repair estimate and wondering whether this is bad luck, a known issue, or something that should never happen at all.

Ford F-150 PowerBoost: Best-selling Pickup Truck

• The Ford F-150 has been the best-selling pickup truck in the United States for decades, largely due to its wide range of configurations and price points.
• Buyers can choose from multiple cab styles, bed lengths, and engine options, allowing the truck to serve work, family, or recreational roles.
• Aluminum body panels help reduce weight compared with older steel trucks, improving payload capacity and fuel economy.
• The F-150 is commonly used for towing trailers, boats, and campers, with capability depending heavily on engine choice and axle configuration.

Commenters quickly zeroed in on possible causes. One of the first questions asked was whether the truck had been run through car washes regularly, hinting at water intrusion or moisture-related damage. The owner responded that the truck was hardly ever washed, ruling out the most obvious environmental explanation. That response only deepened the mystery. Hybrid battery systems are sealed and engineered to survive years of exposure, vibration, and temperature swings. Burn marks suggest heat, resistance, or electrical arcing, not neglect.

Another commenter pointed out the warranty reality bluntly. The hybrid system is covered to 100,000 miles, and this F-150 is past that threshold. From a contractual standpoint, the dealer’s position is straightforward. From an ownership standpoint, it feels far less reasonable. Hybrid batteries are not wear items in the traditional sense. Owners do not expect them to show visible heat damage barely past six figures, especially in a truck marketed around durability and long-term reliability.

This is where the PowerBoost’s complexity becomes relevant. Unlike a conventional F-150, the hybrid adds high-voltage cabling, cooling circuits, power electronics, and a battery pack that lives in close proximity to road spray, heat cycles, and heavy loads. When something goes wrong, diagnosis is rarely simple, and replacement often becomes the default recommendation. At $5,200, this quote is lower than full pack replacements seen in some hybrids, but it is still a sobering number for a truck that otherwise may be running fine.

The lack of clarity is what frustrates owners most in situations like this. “Compromised” is not a failure mode. Burn marks are not a root cause. Without a clear explanation of why the damage occurred, it is hard to know whether replacing the battery solves the problem permanently or merely resets the clock. Was there a manufacturing defect? A wiring issue upstream? A cooling failure? Those questions matter when the repair is coming out of pocket.

Another person went to the Facebook post to comment about it: 

“Just got a call from the dealer, and my hybrid battery needs to be replaced as well.

My lesson is that I won’t buy another hybrid vehicle. In the last month, I’ve seen three of my neighbors' cars get towed to the dealer, and the vehicles were all hybrids from Jeep, Hyundai, and Toyota.

I've enjoyed my PB Platinum, but with the number of times it’s been in the shop, it’s not worth the headache. Plus, I have a long car fax history of service visits, which prob won’t help the resale.”

This post also lands in the shadow of other recent PowerBoost stories involving drivetrain and hybrid component failures just outside warranty coverage. Individually, each case can be dismissed as anecdotal. Taken together, they raise a quieter concern about what long-term ownership looks like once the hybrid warranty expires. The PowerBoost delivers impressive performance and efficiency, but it also introduces failure modes that traditional truck owners are still learning to navigate.

For now, the owner is doing what many do in this position: asking the community before writing the check. Sometimes that leads to goodwill repairs, partial coverage, or alternative diagnoses. Sometimes it simply confirms that you are unlucky. Either way, the post serves as a reminder that mileage cutoffs are unforgiving, and hybrid systems, while largely invisible when they work, become very real when they do not.

If nothing else, this case underscores a growing reality for hybrid truck owners. As these vehicles age out of warranty, the difference between routine maintenance and high-voltage repair becomes stark. A few thousand miles can separate “covered” from “out of pocket,” and the symptoms may arrive without warning, etched not into a dashboard message, but into scorched insulation where no owner ever expects to look.

Image Sources: Ford Media Center

Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.