Owners have filed 1,742 complaints on the Ford Flex, covering 2009–2019. The system named most often is Steering (365 reports). Worst years by volume: 2013, 2014, 2019; cleanest: 2017, 2012, 2018. 57 reports describe a crash, 10 a fire, 1 a death. On average the car was 5.6 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Ford Flex
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 1,742 Flex complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Steering 365 Read
Power steering went out while driving at 70 mph on I-95 exit. Vehicle veered off into ditch. Luckily a nice person saw me go over the road and pulled the car out. Car was taken to ford who then charged me close to 3,000 to replace a computer module. Has happened another time since then
The power steering assist stopped working while I was driving. It caused me to get into an accident. If other cars were around me I could have killed someone. I was driving just fine and then “POWER STEERING ASSIST FAULT” showed up on my cluster and the steering wheel locked up. It now won’t work. This came without…
Steering locked up lower control arm snapped at the ball joint where it's connected to cv axel. Sent my car into the rails and nearly.killed me and my passenger
Electrical System 320 Read
This accident didn’t involve myself. It involved my father who borrowed my 2011 Ford Flex for the evening. This was a one vehicle accident. It is unknown what happened to cause him to Swerve and hit a hit. The air bags didn’t deploy in the Vehicle. My father was wearing his seatbelt. An electric fire started and the…
Rear camera malfunctioned screen showed “camera not available” didn’t alert any noise or warnings and a tree hovered slightly into parking spot and smashed in my rear window. Audio inside car malfunctioned as well (no musics, etc) and the touch pad tones stopped making sound when touched
Audio throughout the entire vehicle are malfunctioning as well as the reverse camera malfunction. This has caused a collision the 11th of October. The ACM is severely malfunctioning and causing a huge safety hazard. No audio like radio, etc and alerts make sound not touch panel tones. Camera unavailable alert showed…
Back Over Prevention 139 Read
See attached document for complaint
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Flex. The contact received notification of NTHSA Campaign Number: 24V951000 (Back Over Prevention); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the…
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while in reverse(R), the rearview camera displayed a distorted, blank, or upside-down image, and the camera had become inoperable. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact attempted to repair the rearview camera but was unsuccessful. The contact…
Structure 123 Read
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Flex. The contact stated that the rearview camera was inoperable or displayed an inverted image while reversing. The contact stated that while reversing, the rearview camera was inoperable, causing the vehicle to hit another parked unoccupied vehicle on one occasion, and the vehicle hit a…
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while driving the vehicle at unknown speeds, the passenger's side rear door panel detached from the vehicle. The contact stated that it was unknown if the panel crashed into another vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The vehicle was repaired,…
The contact owns a 2019 Ford Flex. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 25V695000 (Back Over Prevention) and 25V732000 (Structure); however, the parts for the recall repairs were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall…
Fuel/propulsion System 99 Read
My wife and I were preparing to pull into a parking space, outside of an applebee's restaurant. When she tapped on the gas paddle to pull into the parking space, the vehicle lunged forward extremely fast, causing the vehicle to jump the curb. Here immediate reaction was pressing the brake, but the vehicle did not stop…
Engine stopped while driving in walmart parking loot. Would not start. Towed to garage who traced the cause to. Fuel pump control module. There is an existing recal for this problem from 2013 to 2014 ford flex however my VIN shows as not covered. Whatever criteria to limit recall appears to be invalid
Vehicle suddenly shut down causing the vehicle to stall and now won't start. Seems like our vehicle has no power going to the fuel pump. This happened while driving down the road. Vehicle now will not start but does still have lights come on. Acts like its not getting fuel
Engine 94 Read
Driving the vehicle on the highway and heard a clunk and felt a slight loss of power and control. Pulled over to check vehicle and noticed flames coming underneath the engine compartment. Car soon became engulfed and was a total loss. The origin and cause expert hired by our insurance company suspects an injector line…
No, there wasn't a fire (yet). But your system wouldn't allow me to send this w/o picking one of the three incident options. Bad raw fuel smell after every engine shutoff. Car taken to ford dealer who told us there was a TSB# 14-0091 for this issue. No parts available, and they don't know when they will be available!…
The contact owns a 2010 ford flex. While driving at an unknown speed, the turbos failed and caused oil to burn through the motor. The failure created an excessive amount of smoke to come through the exhaust pipes. Hubler ford in shelbyville, indiana was made aware of the recall and stated that the parts were…
Suspension 88 Read
The cars rear toe link broke while driving. It cause the vehicle to go out of control and wreck I to the guard rail. Another motorist hit the car as it was wrecking. The local Ford dealership confirmed that the rear toe link failed and replaced them with redesigned ones that are safer. I had to pay for this repair,…
The contact owns a 2017 ford flex. The contact stated that while traveling at 45 mph, she depressed the brake pedal as she heard approaching police sirens. As the contact came to a complete stop, she was hit from behind by another vehicle and was thrust into the middle of an intersection. The air bags did not deploy…
I was driving down the road, heard a pop, fishtailed then rolled over 1.5 times into a ditch. A rear suspension part broke, indicated by groves made at the scene and camber of tire after accident. The rollover could have seriously injured myself or my passenger. The police report refers to a mechanical failure. No…
Power Train 85 Read
While the car was off and in park the car started to roll down drive and would not respond to hard braking
On the 4th of july my vehicle was stopped in my driveway with the transmission in park. I had exited the vehicle leaving the driver's door open while I walked up my driveway to clear an obstruction in the garage door safety eyes. When I got to the garage door I turned back and say my flex reversing up the driveway…
I was in park in my driveway, which is steep, and the flex rolled after being in park for 2 minutes. My three year old son was in the vehicle so I tried to jump into the vehicle and put my right hand on the brake pedal. The vehicle knocked me out and dragged me down, releasing me at the bottom of the driveway. I woke…
Flex years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Air Bags | 4 | — | |
| 2018 | Air Bags | 7 | — | |
| 2017 | Air Bags | 2 | — | |
| 2016 | Back Over Prevention | 4 | — | |
| 2015 | Back Over Prevention | — | 1 | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 10 | 2 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 9 | 1 | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 4 | 1 | |
| 2011 | Air Bags,structure | 4 | 1 | |
| 2010 | Air Bags | 7 | 2 | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 6 | 2 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 558 |
| Average complaints per series | 3.1 |
| Worst single series | 23 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.6 years |
A model average of 3.1 hides a worst series at 23. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Flex?
By complaint volume, 2013, 2014, 2019 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Flex years are the cleanest?
2017, 2012, 2018 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Ford Flex have?
1,742 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2009–2019. Of those, 57 describe a crash and 10 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.