P20BA
4 owner reports and 27 manufacturer filings across 11 model years from Ford.
Where P20BA shows up
Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaints| Model year | Filed under | Bulletins | Owner reports |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Ford F-250 Super Duty | Electrical System | 3 | — |
| 2018 Ford F-250 Super Duty | Electrical System | 3 | — |
| 2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty | Electrical System | 3 | — |
| 2019 Ford F-350 Super Duty | Electrical System | 3 | — |
| 2018 Ford F-350 Super Duty | Electrical System | 3 | — |
| 2017 Ford F-350 Super Duty | Electrical System | 3 | — |
| 2019 Ford F-450 Super Duty | Electrical System | 3 | — |
| 2018 Ford F-450 Super Duty | Electrical System | 3 | — |
| 2017 Ford F-450 Super Duty | Electrical System | 3 | — |
| 2016 Ford F-250 Super Duty | Fuel/Propulsion System | — | 2 |
| 2016 Ford F-350 Super Duty | Engine | — | 2 |
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.
2016 truck with less than 27k miles on it has a engine code P20BA reductant heater a control circuit
Manufacturer filings that name it
Source: NHTSA manufacturer communicationsService bulletins and campaigns whose filed summary names P20BA. Quoting the document number at a service desk is often the fastest route to a diagnosis someone has already written down.
- TSB 23-21612023-05-23 · Electrical System
- Some 2018-2021 F-150 vehicles equipped with a 3.0L diesel engine, 2016-2022 F-650/F-750 vehicles equipped with a 6.7L engine, and 2017-2022 F-Super Duty vehicles equipped with a 6.7L engine and built on or before 08-Mar-2022 may exhibit an illuminated malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) with diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) P21DD, P20BA. P20B9, P204C, P208A, P208B, P208C, P203B, P205B, P21CD and/or U0
- TSB 22-21912022-05-17 · Electrical System
- Some 2018-2021 F-150 vehicles equipped with a 3.0L diesel engine, 2016-2022 F-650/F-750 vehicles equipped with a 6.7L engine, and 2017-2022 F-Super Duty vehicles equipped with a 6.7L engine and built on or before 08-Mar-2022 may exhibit an illuminated malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) with diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) P21DD, P20BA. P20B9, P204C, P208A, P208B, P208C, P203B, P205B, P21CD and/or U0
- TSB 21-23362021-09-28 · Power Train — Automatic Transmission — Control Module (Tcm/Pcm/Tecm)
- Some 2018-2020 F-150 vehicles built on or before 1-Apr-2020 equipped with a 3.0L diesel engine, 2017-2019 F-Super Duty vehicles built on or before 30-Oct-2019 equipped with a 6.7L engine and 2016-2019 F-650/F-750 vehicles built on or before 30-Oct-2019 equipped with a 6.7L engine may exhibit an illuminated malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) with diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) P21DD, P20BA. P20B9, P
What P20BA means
Source: SAE J2012 / OBD-IIP20BA 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 P20BA
Source: NHTSA files and the OBD-II standardCan I keep driving with P20BA 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.