2015 Ford Flex
This year drew an ordinary 102 complaints for a Ford Flex — the model's median is 144. What they were about is the unusual part: 6.9% of them mention turned off, against 1.9% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 102 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 144 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- turned off — 6.9% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the model's other years (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: turned off, off engine.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
POWER STEERING SUDDENLY FAILED. SYSTEM WARNED OF VSC FAULT, THEN STEERING ASSIST FAULT, THEN THERE WAS NO POWER ASSIST, AT 50MPH. I WAS DRIVING STRAIGHT ON AN AIRPORT ACCESS ROAD. THE PROBLEM PERSISTED FOR A 2 MILES OR SO, WHEN I WAS ABLE TO GET IT OFF THE ROA…
I WAS DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 45 MPH UPHILL WHEN SUDDENLY, AND WITHOUT WARNING, THE FLEX [VIN] TO A COASTING SPEED. I WAS ABLE TO PULL INTO A TURN LANE BUT UNABLE TO ACCELERATE. THE WRENCH LIGHT CAME ON. I TURNED OFF THE CAR AND TURNED IT BACK ON. THE WRENCH LIG…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V621000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 15V464000 PARKING BRAKE Fixed free of charge.
- 20V072000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 25V695000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Flex was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2015 Ford Flex? What happened to yours?
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