2016 Ford Flex problems
Owners have filed 137 complaints with NHTSA about the 2016 Ford Flex. Backover prevention is the most reported problem area, at 23% of complaints. Next are electrical system (17%) and suspension (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 137 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Backover prevention 23% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 5 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 3 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 62,000 miles 66 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 | 7 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 14 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 9 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 11 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 5 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 5 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 1 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 2 |
| 200k+ miles | 3 |
What the data shows
Of the 66 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 62,000 miles. For backover prevention specifically, the median reported mileage is about 74,000 miles (16 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 5 complaints mention a crash; 3 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 85% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2016 ranks 9th most-complained-about out of 11 model years of the Ford Flex with enough data (40 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 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.
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 warning signs from the vehicle.
Purchased a new 2016 ford flex on july 29, 2016, drove it most of the day on saturday and smelled exhaust fumes mostly every time I exilirated. Wentto urgent care sick from exhaust fume poisoning, got worse as day went by and went to a regular hospital er. Brought vehicle back to dealer on monday and after them researching the problem, it was faulty vent in rear causing exhausting to enter into interior.
Drove my 2016 ford flex I tried to avoid animal on road and steering assist light came on couldnt steer and hit a pole. The dealership wouldnt look at cause I had it towed there told me I had to go where my inusrance would fix it I had no car for four months theres no recall on it cause its a new truck there were problems with this flex in 2010-2016 getting the brushoff from my dealer
Rear park assist camera does not activate when in reverse. Read passenger door lock pawl fracture-NHTSA recall. Ford refuses to repair the recall because they did not issue the recall. This door has a fractured pawl lock/latch on the rear passenger door. Car does not detect key. We paid additional for fob annual replacements, ford refuses to replace the fobs even when its faulty. I recorded this call...and every other call.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Flex. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 25V695000 (Back Over Prevention) and 25V829000 (Structure); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The contact stated that while shifted into reverse(R), the rear-view camera failed to display a clear image on the center display. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair.