This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Fuel gauge reading drops suddenly from 1/4 tank to empty in a matter of seconds, not allowing time to get out of traffic. Happened numerous times but so far only when the vehicle has been in a position to pull off the road (on single lane roadway, or in the right hand lane. Has beed at highway speeds, and on residential area.
The fuel gauge will read between 1/2 and 1/4 tank then immediately make a *ding* and the display reads 0 miles. The fuel gauge will drop to empty. If you drive anything further than a short distance (10 miles or so) the car will die. It is "out" of fuel. Refilling the tank you will find that the vehicle still has whatever fuel the gauge was showing before it dropped to zero. It is consistent, it does this every tank. Appears to be getting worse as time goes on.
As has been reported many time on here and in the Flex forums, the vehicle will suddenly stall at a 1/4 tank of gas for no reason. I was traveling down the interstate at high way speed when the fuel gauge dropped to E and the miles to empty read 0. this has happened three times. I called one of my local dealers who insisted they have never heard of this problem and nothing was done. There advice was to not let the car get to a 1/4 of a tank. They have no fix for this dangerous problem.
Driving on highway and had 1/4 tank of fuel left when low fuel warning beep sounded. Fuel gauge was suddenly at "E" and display said 0 miles until empty. Immediately pulled into a gas station. Gas pump shut off after filling only 14.5 gallons, although tank capacity is 18.6 gallons.
The car will cut off and think its out of gas. When my car has 1/8 it goes from 50 miles to 0. then runs out of gas. If I fill up it will say 322 tip empty but only getting 225 out of fill tank of gas. I been having the issue since I purchased car in 2011. The fuel pump sending unit has to be replaced with jet pump.
- Dallas, TX, USA
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Vehicle does not recognize last quarter tank of fuel. Once it reaches approximately a quarter tank left, the fuel gauge and miles to empty display drop suddenly to empty and the car shuts off. When refueling after it shows empty, it only accepts about 3/4 tank. The fuel is there, but inaccessible. This is a major safety issue as the car dies very suddenly when the system decides there's no fuel left. It has happened on the interstate, other highways, and on a rural road where finding enough fuel to get going again was a big problem. Dealership replaced fuel sensors, but said there was no code showing while the car was still under warranty. Now I'm stuck randomly replacing fuel system pieces in hopes of figuring out which piece is broken. Each time I spend hundreds of dollars to "fix" it, the problem repeats as soon as I get through most of the first tank of fuel. Position of vehicle doesn't matter. Uphill, downhill, etc, it always happens close to a quarter tank of fuel left.
Traveling at 70mph the fuel gauge indicated slightly over 1/4 of a tank left and the estimated miles to empty with the mileage-to-empty estimate indicating approximately 70 miles left. Then in under two minutes to when I checked the dash again, the gauge had dropped to zero with the estimator showing 0 as well. Within the next mile the engine ran out of fuel. To fill up the 18.6 gallon fuel tank it only took approximately 14 gallons at the pump. This indicates that approximately 4.6 gallons of fuel were still remaining in the tank. Since this model uses a fuel tank design with two sumps the fuel isn't transferring from the one side to the other where the fuel pump is located. This can cause dangerous driving conditions for someone expecting to have one quarter of their fuel tank left.
Traveling at 70mph. Urge fuel gauge indicated slightly over 1/4 of a tank left and the estimated miles to empty with the mileage-to-empty estimate indicating approximately 100 miles left. Then in under two minutes to when I checked the dash again, the gauge had dropped to zero with the estimator showing 0 as well. Within the next mile the engine ran out of fuel. To fill up the 18.6 gallon fuel tank only took 2.5 gallons from the jug and another 11.5 gallons at the pump for a total of 14 gallons. This indicates that approximately 4.6 gallons of fuel were still remaining in the tank. Since this model uses a fuel tank design with two sumps the fuel isn't transferring from the one side to the other where the fuel pump is located. This can cause dangerous driving conditions for someone expecting to have one quarter of their fuel tank left.
Gas gauge will read between 14 to 1/2 tank of fuel then without warning drops to E and car dies. Faulty fuel sensor or pump due to saddlebag tank design. Also no cutout in floorboard to access the secondary sensor or pump. There is still about 4 or 5 gallons of fuel in the tank but the car thinks it is empty.
Car said '15 miles to empty' and gauge needle was just below a quarter, then needle dropped to empty and computer estimate went down to '3 miles to empty' within a mile..then shut down and limped off road. Left me stranded on the side of a busy city freeway in a very dangerous location, until I could get someone to bring gas to refuel. Repeated this the next time the gas was down to a quarter tank. I watched it carefully and saw it recalculate from approx 15 to empty, to 0 in less than 4 miles. Got to a gas station in time before the car shut off. Now I fill it up at 50 miles until empty to avoid running into this issue. Just to illustrate, another owner made a video of the same situation happening to them: Https://www.youtube.com/watch?V=xwamobvhguq
Engine stumbled and then lost power. It re-started but idled at 750rpm. Car would not accelerate. Placing the car into neutral and depressing the accelerator did not increase the engine speed. This persisted about 3-4 minutes. Afterwards, the engine speed responded to the accelerator, and when placed in gear, accelerated normally. This has happened three times in the past year.
Our 2009 Ford Flex has shut off on 4 occasions while we were driving since Nov. 2013 (11/29/2013, 12/18/2013, 12/28/2013, 4/15/2014). On 3 of the 4 occasions we were on interstate highways (495 in MA, 95 in ct, 81 in pa) which was scary and could have been deadly. On 2 of the 4 shut downs the car would not restart so we had to be towed. We noticed that once the car was taken off the flatbed, it started right up. That tells me that the gas must have moved to where it was needed. On each occurrence the gas gauge read half a tank or just slightly below. The car just shut off which made it difficult to steer. Luckily we were able to coast to the breakdown lane and weren't in speeding, heavy traffic. On 12/21/13 the dealership replaced the throttle body. On 12/28/13 the car shut down again and was towed to the dealership. The fuel sender concern was verified, fuel level was inaccurate, the left hand fuel sender was erratic. They removed the fuel tank, replaced the left fuel sender. On 4/15/14 the car shut down again. The dealership found that the right side of the gas tank was empty while the left side was full. The fuel sender assemblies were removed and the right one was not reading properly. The fuel pump module was also replaced. We do not trust this car and are afraid for the next owner when we trade it in or sell it. Is this a design flaw?
The Ford panel near the driver and passenger window continues to come apart. As far as the vehicle's fuel. The first time I was at a gas station. I put gas in my car. I got back in the vehicle and my gauge was still on empty. So I got worried. Then I went to a different gas pump and put more gas in there. I started my car and it was still on empty. I drove around the parking lot to see what would happen and about 2 minutes later my gas gauge was 3/4 full. This was in November. Then about 5 times after that. I will be on the last mark before empty and not only does it go from 80-70 miles to E to complete 0 miles, but my gauge goes from that mark to pass the E. I was driving my vehicle and it went from that same mark ( the mark right before the E) and just ran out of gas. I have took it to the shop twice and that can't find a code. They said if it happens again then bring it back in. But the inconvenience I have to wait until I have time. It happened today Feb 10 2014 and I raced to a gas station. I don't want it to happen and I'm driving in traffic and have an accident because my gas gauge is wrong and I stop in the middle of traffic. I don't want to get stranded somewhere either because I have a kid. I have seen same complaints about this vehicle. So I'm very concerned.
Check engine light went on and when diagnosed it was one of the oxygen sensors. It had to be replaced in order for the rest of the safeties to operate properly. It was a defective part that cost over $400 to replace. Warranty was declined, however, the design life of the part must be in excess of 150000 miles. If this part were failing all the time, there would be a recall. My defective part was not replaced by Ford as it should have been. There are no moving parts, it should not wear out.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Clive, IA, USA