This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
My 2013 Ford Flex has door latch sensor issues. When I am driving anywhere (city, highway, interstate) my interior lights will randomly turn on and I get a 'door ajar' notification when the doors are clearly closed. It is alarming and has almost caused accidents. When I researched the problem online, it is an extremely common problem that has caused numerous accident and cost Flex owners thousands upon thousands of dollars, only to have the problem reoccur in 6 months to a year. I recently contacted my Ford dealership and they too are aware of the problem and stated that it is a very common problem in Flex's and I will probably have to replace the latch system every 2-3 years. At $350-500 a latch this is a very dangerous and costly problem to be so common. The solution most suggest is to ground the wire going to the latch, which will totally default the sensor all together and make the vehicle think that the doors are closed at all times, which is also very unsafe.
The rear passenger door closed electrical contact does not show door closed. Dome lights stay on and drain battery. Dealer wants $400 to repair it and when told to cut the wire he laughed. The car was in motion when this happened the first time. It does not shut off.
Driver door sensor failure. Have taken it to the dealer, door is closed and latching, but system doesn't think it is. Unable to lock doors, interior dome lights stay on causing visibility issues at night. Plus annoying dinging alerts in stop and go traffic
The door front driver side door sensor went bad and tells car that door is ajar. This was replaced under warranty last year. Now yesterday the same thing has happened to the front passenger side door sensor. This was quoted to me at $700. This is ridiculous for a bad door sensor that Ford has put bad and faulty sensors on. I feel that I should not be liable for.the Ford dealership in town said, "this is a problem with Ford Flex". this door ajar sensor keeps lights illuminated draining the battery, even though the door is shut. This keeps the lights on when driving, and at night makes it very very hard to see and drive. This will cause an accident due to faulty door sensors.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, all the vehicle doors failed to lock. The contact also stated that the dome light was constantly illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that passenger side door module failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the battery to the vehicle had to be replaced twice due to the failure. The local dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, they filed a complaint with the manufacturer. The failure mileage was approximately 55,000. The VIN was invalid.
- Idaho Falls, ID, USA
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Door ajar warning - passenger door electrical problem showing the door is open all of the time. Since the car thinks the door is open, the car will not lock while in motion. Putting all passengers in the car in danger. It also keeps the internal lamps on because the car thinks the door is open causing the battery life to decrease at a quicker rate.
Passanger door thinks its ajared. Door is secured its just think its openned. Won't allow me to lock automatically and will set off the alarm. Other than having the indication while driving, most of the problems are when it is parked and locked (if I could). I'm just dealing with the alarm issue now, dome lights always on, and soon to be dead battery.
The sensor for the right rear door being closed is coming on when the door is actually closed. This is also causing the car's door opening sensors to be activated, making the interior lights, head and tail lights, and keyless entry lights to turn on sporadically. Because the door open sensor light is on all of the time, it is impossible to detect when the door is actually open, creating a safety hazard. The company is aware of this defect per bulletin sb-10054930-1306 and has not issued a recall. The defect did not occur on my vehicle until it was well beyond its new vehicle warranty.
Front passenger door ajar sensor not working. Door reports being open when it's not. Interior lights stay on, draining battery, interfering with driving. Happens when 1st getting into car, but also during operation. Happening nearly all the time now.
2013 Ford Flex door ajar switch keeps door locks from locking. When manually locking doors they immediately pop back up. Also the dome light stays lite, making night time driving dangerous. This is a very common problem with this vehicle.
Constant door ajar warning when all doors are closed (or open) drains battery and continually sets off car alarm. Doors no longer lock when car is in motion. Doors cannot be locked once parked or alarm will sound within 10-15 minutes. Issue has drained multiple batteries and stranded owner. Dome lights come on unexpectedly while driving at night - issue occurs on streets and highways. Ford dealer recommends replacing all door latches at >$200 a piece with no guarantee of issue not recurring.
The driver's door latch does not read the door is shut, keeping the doors from being locked while the car is driven. Also makes lights stay on so it kills the battery.
The door ajar warning comes on even when the doors are closed. With this happening the overhead lights stay on an alarm sounds and tells you to shift to park when you stop the doors don't lock because it thinks the doors are open and the alarm goes off whenever the car senses the doors are ajar when shut off and the lights don't turn off all night long because it thinks the doors are open.
Door sensor indicates the door is open when it is closed. At times, the door is prevented from closing when a mechanism drops within the door panel. An item has to be placed in to push the mechanism up to allow the door to close. The door sensor mechanism, when it indicates the door is close although it is open, prevents the car doors from being locked.
The doors are always saying they are ajar and they are not. I have taken it to the dealership they took out one sensor on my door and then after that two others went off and now they continue to go off. My lights will stay on for about 10 minutes and they will finally shut off and sometimes they shut off turn back on and then my alarm goes off in the middle of the night most of the time. I'll shut it off lock it make sure all the doors are locked and then I will go back out and the alarms are going back off. Again all the doors are shut the car's been sitting there for probably about 3 to 4 hours and I'm pretty sure that the lights keep going on and off after a while the alarm starts going off. It is draining my battery my battery is going bad because of it I don't know what else to do. I need this fixed. I work at the hospital and we have to park our cars a couple miles away so if my cars going off I have no idea there has been several times that I have had to get my car boosted because my battery was dead.
On Thursday, April 6th 2017, I went out to my car (stationary) and it would not start. I had just driven it to the doctor's office approximately an hour earlier. There had been no warning lights or indications. Ford certified pre owned warranty covered the tow to the dealership. Dealership could not diagnose vehicle the same day and I had to rent a vehicle. On Friday, dealership diagnosed the problem as a faulty fuel pump module. They indicated to me that it was not covered under the certified pre owned powertrain warranty. I called my extended warranty company which covered only a portion of the repairs and they did not cover the rental car amount. The total amount for service was $856. I paid $537 of that plus and additional $40 for the rental car. On Monday, April 10th, I did some research and found that certain 2013 Ford flexes had a recall on fuel pump modules. Your website listed, "fuel pump malfunction may cause engine stall. A loss of power to the fuel pump will cause the engine to stall or prevent the vehicle from starting, increasing the risk of a crash. Ford's number for this recall is 16S31." I called Ford customer service and they checked my VIN number. They indicated that my vehicle was not covered under that recall. I was shocked as this is the same exact problem that other vehicles had. I believe that Ford should be responsible for the cost of repairs and should reimburse me. I was very fortunate to not have been driving or have my children with me when the module stopped working. I would appreciate NHTSA looking into this matter and following up.
I am having multiple problems with this vehicle! first and most important is door latches are not reading closed which disallows safety lock during operation of the vehicle. I also believe this might be the reason the alarm/panic randomly and quite often goes off. Secondly the third row seats no longer operate correctly from the panel in the rear cargo area. It clicks and try's to move but will always return to the normal position making it impossible to use them to allow extra storage space. Lastly the traction assist is very erratic when driving in snow which makes this vehicle less then desirable to drive in the snow, even with the control assist off it handles very poorly in icy/snowy conditions. Overall I hate this car if I wasn't upside down in it would be gone asap.
This 2013 Ford Flex has experienced several electrical, mechanical, and lighting issues. All 5 door latches, door sensors, car's alarm system, and battery has failed. The car's BCM has reported intermittent door ajar alarms. This effects the car's door locks as well as the car's dome light and car's alarm system. At no point will the car's doors lock while the car is in drive. So any child can open up a door while the car is in motion. The dome light comes on causing a vision glare at night. Twice my wife has almost pulled out in front of oncoming motoris at night, do to the light glare within the car. Because the car's dome light comes on intermittently, the car's battery drains down while parked. You cannot set the car's alarm without the door sensors setting the car's alarm system off. My local Ford dealership has replaced all 5 door latches and sensors, the car battery, and the BCM at a financial loss to me at $1700. At no point has Ford offered to help with these issues. Now...it's time for the NHTSA to act and help protect the consumers before a tragedy strikes. Luckily....I had the money to fix these issues to protect my family of six. Thank you!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Terre Haute, IN, USA