2018 Ford Flex problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Structure (11) · Suspension (9) · Structure:body (5)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Ford Flex model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
🛣️ Complaints by mileage
31 NHTSA complaints that reported an odometer reading.
Safety recalls (3)
Structure:body 2025-10-24 · campaign 25V732000 · 92,347 vehicles
Defect: Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2017-2019 Flex vehicles. The driver and front passenger B-Pillar door trim may detach while driving.
Risk: Door trim that detaches while driving can create a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will repair or replace the B-pillar trim as necessary, free of charge. Interim letters, notifying owners of the safety risk, were mailed December 17, 2025. Additional letters will be sent once the remedy is available, anticipated March 2027. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 25SB8. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on October 28, 2025.
Back Over Prevention: Sensing System: Camera 2025-10-13 · campaign 25V695000 · 1,448,655 vehicles
Defect: Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2015-2019 Flex, 2015 Explorer, Lincoln MKT, Lincoln MKZ, 2015-2016 C-Max, Escape, Taurus, 2016 Fusion, 2018-2019 Taurus, 2019 Lincoln MKT, Fiesta, and 2020 Mustang vehicles. The rearview camera may display a distorted, intermittent, or blank image when the vehicle is in reverse.
Risk: A rearview camera that fails to properly display an image can reduce the driver’s view behind the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will inspect and replace the rearview camera as necessary, free of charge. This will be a phased campaign, with the remedy becoming available in different phases based on model and model years. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk were mailed on October 25, 2025. Additional letters will be mailed once the final remedy is available on each phase. Mustang owner notification letters were mailed January 2, 2026. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford'
Suspension:rear 2020-02-10 · campaign 20V072000 · 211,207 vehicles
Defect: Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2013-2018 Lincoln MKT and Ford Flex and Taurus vehicles with the Police Interceptor or SHO Performance Pack. The rear suspension toe links may fracture due to stress on the rear suspension.
Risk: A fractured rear toe link will cause a sudden change in vehicle handling and increase the risk of a crash.
Fix: Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the rear suspension toe links, free of charge. Remedy parts are not currently available. Owners were notified about the recall on March 3, 2020. A second notice will be mailed when remedy parts become available, which is currently expected to be the end of September 2020. The recall began October 28, 2020. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332 or Lincoln customer service at 1-800-521-4140. Ford's number for this recall i
Service bulletins (64)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Unknown Or Other 2026-09-30 · 25E10-S1 · Other
25e10-s1 owner letter
Unknown Or Other 2026-07-02 · 25E10-S1 · Emissions
new vehicle delivery hold - emissions recall 25e10 - supplement #1 certain 2018-2020 model year f-150 vehicles with 3.3l engines and 2016-2019 model year explorer, taurus, and flex vehicles with 3.5l engines powertrain control module (pcm) reprogramming
Unknown Or Other 2026-02-24 · SSM 54601 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
ford and lincoln vehicles equipped with wired keyless entry keypad systems and accessory wireless keyless entry keypad systems may or may not come with a wallet card containing the master code. unlike the integrated wired keypad, the accessory wireless keypad master code cannot be retrieved from the
Electrical System 2025-11-26 · TSB 25-2570 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this article supersedes tsb 24-2165 to update the tsb service procedure. some vehicles listed in the model statement above may exhibit various sync performance related concerns including but not limited to: display operation concerns navigation inoperative voice recognition concerns phone co
Power Train 2025-11-12 · SSM 54366 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
some 2015-2021 ford and lincoln vehicles may exhibit an illuminated mil with diagnostic trouble codes (dtcs) p0011, p0012, p0014, p0015, p0016, p0017, p0018, p0019, p0021, p0022, p0024 and/or p0025. pinpoint test hk in the powertrain control and emissions diagnosis (pc/ed) or in section 303-14 of th
Unknown Or Other 2024-10-10 · SSM 53040 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
while performing a transmission repair on some 2012-2024 ford and lincoln vehicles, a transmission seal kit may be on backorder due to supply chain interruptions.
Showing the 6 most recent of 64 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2026-10-21 · Structure · 70,000 mi“the contact owns a 2018 ford flex. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 25v829000 (structure); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. the local dealer was contacted and had replaced the part on three separate occasions. the contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time…”
2026-10-11 · Unknown Or Other“the radio/navigation system is having issues. randomly the radio/nagvation system has a loud static crackling noise during use. it will make those sounds and then stops producing any kind of sounds of the speakers. no sound will come from the radio(fm, am, bluetooth, aux, hands free calling or navigation). at the times even the sounds from pushing …”
2026-09-24 · Unknown Or Other“the driver side c pillar trim broke off while driving on the highway causing the debris to interrupt traffic.…”
2026-09-18 · Unknown Or Other“i own a 2018 ford flex, vin 2fmgk5d8xjba07166, with two open safety recalls ford cannot repair: 25sa9 (rear view camera, nhtsa 25v695) and 25sb8 (b-pillar trim, nhtsa 25v829). my rear view camera has been completely inoperative for two years — it has not worked at all since mid-2024. on 7/12/2024 a ford dealer verified the failure (repair order 568…”
2026-09-04 · Unknown Or Other“there's been a recall for the rear backup camera since october of last year. although there hasn't been any particular incidents, there's been some close calls because the fix is still not available. any help would be appreciated…”
2026-09-04 · Back Over Prevention · 103,000 mi“the contact owns a 2018 ford flex. the contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 26v695000 (back over prevention); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. the contact stated that while reversing, the rear-view camera displayed a black image. the vehicle was taken to two dealers, but the vehicle was not repaire…”
2026-09-01 · Unknown Or Other“rear passenger door fails to latch properly. the door falls open on left turn.warnings are unclear or non-existant …”
2026-08-27 · Structure · 150,000 mi“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 notification of nhtsa campaign numbers: 25v829000 (structure)…”
2026-05-31 · Unknown Or Other“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.…”
2026-05-28 · Suspension“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 lower control arms not only provide suspension trav…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.