2013 FORD FLEX — Complaint #2137235
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:TURN SIGNAL:SWITCH filed October 7, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2137235 (ODI reference 11691920) concerns a 2013 FORD FLEX and was filed on October 7, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on September 27, 2025. The vehicle had 131,785 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:turn signal:switch, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD FLEX cohort independently describe similar exterior lighting:turn signal:switch failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2013 FORD FLEX shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Flex. The contact recently purchased the vehicle. When the vehicle was purchased, the dealer informed the contact that the vehicle had a failure with the steering wheel. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the steering wheel was difficult to maneuver. The message "Service Advancetrac" was displayed on the instrument panel, and an unknown message about the steering was displayed. In addition, while in reverse(R), the contact used force to turn the steering wheel. Most recently, the contact stated that when the turn signal lever was activated, the turn signal lever failed to stay down as intended. The contact had to hold the turn signal lever down to signal a right or left turn. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact stated that the dealer related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V340000 (STEERING). However, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2137235 |
| ODI Number | 11691920 |
| Date Filed | October 7, 2025 |
| Failure Date | September 27, 2025 |
| VIN | 2FMGK5C80DB |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.