AutoUtility currently tracks 62 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2018 Ford Flex. Body & Structure issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 18 complaints (29% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 7 filings cite a crash, 1 reports one or more injuries.
- • Total NHTSA Complaints: 62 reports
- • #1 Reported Problem Area: Body & Structure (18 reports • 29% of submitted complaints)
- • Secondary Problem Areas: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (15), Electrical System (11)
- • Crash-Citing Complaints: 7 filings
- • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
- • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Most Reported Problems for 2018 Ford Flex
Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records
Body & Structure
NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #25V732000 STRUCTURE:BODY
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech
NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #25V695000 BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA
Electrical System
Suspension
NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #20V072000 SUSPENSION:REAR
Brakes & Traction Control
Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2018 Ford Flex
Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
"The contact owns a 2018 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while attempting to reverse, the rearview camera became inoperable. The contact stated that the rearview camera image would appear blank and other times the camera not available warning message would display. The contact received..."
"Recall has not been remedied, and it has been over six months.I was told it would be remedied by june or ford would be held accountable for compensating for repairs on the.Recall. #25SA9/25v695 The recall addresses the camera for backing up witch is still not functioning in a safety risk."
"Wile driving 40 mph, the right rear tire locked up and I had to counter steer aggressively to avoid spinning out and hitting oncoming traffic. The car was flat bed delivered to Ford and they recommended the following repairs. "Control Arm- Rear: rear suspension lateral links. The rear upper and..."
"An antifreeze leak is very hard to locate because Ford’s design placed the water pump INside the engine rather than on the OUTside, which would be more the norm. If antifreeze leaks enough, it gets into the oil and the entire engine stands to be destroyed. Our heater quit blowing warm air recently..."
"The contact owns a 2018 Ford Flex. The contact received a notification of NHTSA Campaign: 25V732000 (Structure); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front driver-side B-pillar trim with the Security Key..."
Complaint History for Ford Flex
Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2019)
| Model Year | NHTSA Complaints | Crash Reports | Safety Recalls | Detailed Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Ford Flex | 105 | 0 | 4 | View 2015 Problems → |
| 2016 Ford Flex | 96 | 4 | 3 | View 2016 Problems → |
| 2017 Ford Flex | 42 | 2 | 4 | View 2017 Problems → |
| 2018 Ford Flex Current Page | 62 | 7 | 3 | Current |
| 2019 Ford Flex | 238 | 4 | 4 | View 2019 Problems → |
Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2018 Ford Flex
Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 23 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications
| Vehicle Component / System | Total Complaints | Crash Reports | Fire Reports | Reported Injury Entries | Reported Fatality Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| STRUCTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steering NHTSA category: STEERING | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,LANE DEPARTURE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lane Departure Warning NHTSA category: LANE DEPARTURE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SUSPENSION,SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (1)
Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)
B-Pillar Trim Detachment
On August 7, 2025, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened PE25007 to investigate instances of B-pillar trim detachment in model year (MY) 2019 Ford Flex vehicles manufactured by Ford Motor Company. During the investigation, MY 2011-2018 Ford Flex vehicles were analyzed as peer vehicles, and subsequently incorporated into the subject population because they use B-pillar trim pieces that are substantially similar to those used on the MY 2...
The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.
Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.