2011 Ford Flex problems
Owners have filed 178 complaints with NHTSA about the 2011 Ford Flex. Steering is the most reported problem area, at 32% of complaints. Next are engine (18%) and drivetrain & axles (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 178 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Steering 32% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 8 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 17 and 3
- Typical mileage
- 82,000 miles 142 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 23 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 11 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 21 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 16 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 15 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 19 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 18 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 10 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 8 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 142 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 82,000 miles. For steering specifically, the median reported mileage is about 118,000 miles (44 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 8 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 17 injuries reported; 3 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2011 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 11 model years of the Ford Flex with enough data (81 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
On 2100 hrs 21 nov 2015, my daughter was involved in a deer strike accident on hwy 36 vicinity hamilton, missouri. She was traveling east on the highway 36 at 55-60 MPH when a deer ran into the path of the car. The impact was from center line of the car towards the drivers side. She applied the brakes upon seeing the deer but the strike and application of brakes were pretty much simultaneous.
We were driving around 25MPH and suddenly everything was unresponsive. Wheel couldn't be controlled and brakes had no effect. We spun out of control until 2 parked cars stopped us.
Was driving down the freeway-no rain or inclement weather. At 70MPH had total loss of power (no lights, no power steering, nothing) with no previous warning. Able to get to side of road without incident. Car restarted and had no further problems. I immediately called my ford dealer and had the car serviced after we returned home from vacation.
While driving up a highway on-ramp accelerating to highway speed, I experienced a sudden loss of power steering causing momentary loss of control. The power steering now comes and goes at random and is a serious safety issue making the vehicle inoperable.