C0020
42 owner reports and 48 manufacturer filings across 15 model years from Ford, Ram.
Where C0020 shows up
Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaints| Model year | Filed under | Bulletins | Owner reports |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 Ram 2500 | Service Brakes | — | 29 |
| 2021 Ford F-250 Super Duty | Electrical System | 6 | — |
| 2020 Ford F-250 Super Duty | Electrical System | 6 | — |
| 2021 Ford F-350 Super Duty | Electrical System | 6 | — |
| 2020 Ford F-350 Super Duty | Electrical System | 6 | — |
| 2022 Ford F-250 Super Duty | Electrical System | 5 | — |
| 2022 Ford F-350 Super Duty | Electrical System | 5 | — |
| 2021 Ford F-450 Super Duty | Electrical System | 5 | — |
| 2020 Ford F-450 Super Duty | Electrical System | 5 | — |
| 2017 Ram 2500 | Service Brakes | — | 5 |
| 2018 Ram 3500 | Service Brakes | — | 5 |
| 2022 Ford F-450 Super Duty | Electrical System | 4 | — |
| 2025 Ford Explorer | Service Brakes | — | 1 |
| 2016 Ram 2500 | Service Brakes | — | 1 |
| 2017 Ram 3500 | Service Brakes | — | 1 |
A model year appears here because the code is named in its record, not because every one of these vehicles sets it. Counts are mentions in the federal files, not failure rates — nobody publishes the denominator.
What it gets filed under
What owners said
Source: NHTSA complaint databaseOwners’ own words, one per nameplate, scrubbed of anything identifying. These are unverified reports filed with NHTSA — they are what was said, not a finding that it was true.
Recurring ABS and traction light warning lights, with trouble code C0020 for the ABS pump control motor
I was told by a mechanic that he scanned the system and pulled Code C0020
Manufacturer filings that name it
Source: NHTSA manufacturer communicationsService bulletins and campaigns whose filed summary names C0020. Quoting the document number at a service desk is often the fastest route to a diagnosis someone has already written down.
- TSB 22-24432022-11-18 · Equipment — Electrical
- This article supersedes TSB 22-2313 to update the Parts List, Service Procedure, and vehicle production fix dates. Some 2020-2022 F-Super Duty vehicles may exhibit a condition where the engine will not turn off and/or have various electrical symptoms including a dead battery, horn stays on and no crank/no start. The vehicle may also have an illuminated anti-lock braking system (ABS) indicator with
- TSB 22-23132022-08-05 · Electrical System
- This article supersedes TSB 22-2044 to update the Parts List. Some 2020-2022 F-Super Duty vehicles built on or before 18-Mar-2022 may exhibit a condition where the engine will not turn off and/or have various electrical symptoms including a dead battery, horn stays on and no crank/no start. The vehicle may also have an illuminated anti-lock braking system (ABS) indicator with diagnostic trouble co
- TSB 22-20442022-02-16 · Electrical System
- Some 2020-2022 F-Super Duty vehicles may exhibit a condition where the engine will not turn off and/or have various electrical symptoms including a dead battery, horn stays on and no crank/no start. The vehicle may also have an illuminated anti-lock braking system (ABS) indicator with diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) C0020 and U3003 in the ABS module. The vehicle may not shift out of park (P) and/o
- TSB 22-20042022-01-12 · Electrical System
- Some 2020-2022 F-Super Duty vehicles may exhibit a condition where the engine will not turn off and/or have various electrical symptoms including a dead battery, horn stays on and no crank/no start. The vehicle may also have an illuminated anti-lock braking system (ABS) Indicator with DTCs C0020 and U3003 in the ABS module. This may be a result of water/moisture intrusion into the battery junction
- TSB 21-21762021-08-16 · Electrical System
- Some 2020-2021 F-Super Duty vehicles may exhibit a condition where the engine will not turn off and/or have various electrical symptoms including a dead battery, horn stays on and no crank/no start. The vehicle may also have an illuminated anti-lock braking system (ABS) Indicator with DTCs C0020 and U3003 in the ABS module. This may be a result of water/moisture intrusion into the battery junction
What C0020 means
Source: SAE J2012 / OBD-IIC0020 sits in the generic range of the OBD-II standard, so it means the same thing on every vehicle sold in the United States — but WhichTrim does not carry a definition for it and will not invent one. What is on this page is the record: who named it and on what.
A stored code names the test that failed, never the part that caused it. It is the starting point of a diagnosis, not its conclusion — the same code has several possible causes and the cheap one is not always right.
Common questions about C0020
Source: NHTSA files and the OBD-II standardCan I keep driving with C0020 stored?
Nobody can answer that from the code alone, and a site that does is guessing. A steady light generally means the fault was logged and the vehicle is in a reduced-risk mode; a flashing light means stop soon, because a misfiring engine can destroy a catalytic converter in minutes. The safe read of this page is the mileage and the components, not permission.
Does a code mean the car is recalled?
No. Recalls are filed by campaign and matched by VIN, and none of them are triggered by a scan tool. If you want to know whether an open recall applies to one specific vehicle, check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls — that is the only source that settles it.
Why do the counts here differ from other sites?
Because these are not estimates. Every number on this page is a count of documents in NHTSA's own files: manufacturer communications that name the code in their filed summary, and owner complaints that name it in the narrative. We do not model, weight or extrapolate them.
Will clearing the code fix it?
Clearing turns the light off and erases the freeze-frame data a technician would have used to work out what happened. If the condition is still there the code returns, usually within a few drive cycles, and the diagnosis now starts from less information than before.