2011 Ford Flex
This year drew an ordinary 144 complaints for a Ford Flex — the model's median is 139. What they were about is the unusual part: 22.9% of them mention wheel, against 7.8% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 144 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 139 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- wheel — 22.9% of this year's complaints, against 7.8% across the model's other years (2.9×).
- tire — 11.1% of this year's complaints, against 4.2% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: tire, tires, set, wear.
- ecoboost — 6.9% of this year's complaints, against 1.3% across the model's other years (5.2×). Owners wrote it as: ecoboost, serviced, ecoboost 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
BF GOODRICH ADVANTAGE T/A TIRES SIZE 23560R17. I HAD WEAR ON TIRES AFTER 18000 MILES. REPLACED TIRES WITH ANOTHER SET. AFTER ONLY 23000 MILES I HAVE WEAR ON TIRES AND THEY NEED REPLACING. THIS TIRE IS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD FOR OVER 36K MILES. THEY ARE [VIN] AND…
WHILE DRIVING, THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE POWER STEERING ASSIST FAILED. THE CONTACT HAD TO EXERT EXCESSIVE FORCE TO TURN THE STEERING WHEEL. THE STEERING WHEEL FAILED TO FUNCTION PROPERLY FOR THE ENTIRE RIDE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO WILLOW BROOK FORD (7301 K…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V340000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V247000 AIR BAGS 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 2011 Ford Flex? What happened to yours?
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