2009 Ford Flex: multiple warning lights

Filed Dec 9, 2025 · Electrical · KS

You can be driving down the road, and all your gauges will stop working, and all the warning lights on the dash will light up. The first time this happened my wife got stuck at a gas station all the warning lights were on and the car would not start, people tried to jump it and it would not affected at all. I looked on the internet and found were someone said to beat on the passenger side floorboard, I called my wife and told her to try that, and when she did the car would start. It doesn't do it all the time, you never know when it's going to happen. We have to just stomp on the passenger floor to get everything to start working again. If I had not found this information from somebody else on the internet my wife would have been stuck about a hundred miles from home. I've taken it to the Ford house and they say they've never heard of anything like this but I know it's happened before two other people that's how I knew to stomp on the floorboard on the passenger side.

Filed Jul 2, 2019 · Electrical · MI

When driving down city highway or city roads the all of the lights on the dash board will cut off, (ie. Radio, blinkers, heat & A/C controls) will shut off and the drive control button will appear with the door ajar and brake lights. It is now starting to make a dinging sound while you drive as well as smell like something is on fire. The car is completely shut and sealed. There isn't a time or instant where this is happening. It will just go in and out! Ford you really need to fix this problem since families are using these vehicles. I've done some research and see that it is a common problem with the 09 flex.

Filed Aug 2, 2012 · Electrical, Engine · 3,611 miles · CA

Twice while driving my ford flex, I had spontaneous total shut downs of the engine. The first time, my car was only a few months old and I was idling in front of a friend's house when all the lights came on and it completely died. I started it right back up (and it subsequently performed perfectly) and I drove it to ford where they did some diagnostics checks and found no anomaly. It concerned me but thinking it may be a fuel injection issue while only idling, I went about my business. On july 20, 2012, at 38k mile, my ford flex died again! Total shutdown of the engine and all the lights came on while I was driving approximately 30 miles per hour with my daughter in the car! No power steering, no power brakes, no power anything! Because I was on a slight downhill, I was able to get the car over to the side of the road without catastrophe, thank god. The engine started up again as if nothing occurred. I drove direct to ford where they did 10 minutes of diagnostic testing and told me once again that there was no anomaly. I went a little crazy, informed them that I was leaving for a 10- day vacation the following morning and that they had the full 10 days to fix the car or that I wasn't going to be picking it up ever again. A ford tech drove my car with a computer plugged into the car, typed in the problem and after maneuvering the car to try and get a repeated response, the car did indeed shut down while he was driving it! Apparently, the throttle body was binding internally and needed to be replaced. After replacing part # 1 7t4z 9e926 fa, ford walnut creek ca is telling me it is fixed. Let's hope so. I pray that no one has been involved in a fatal or injury accident as a result of this part's failure. I am writing this as an alert and a heads up to anyone who has had the same scary experience.

Filed Dec 28, 2011 · Brakes, Electrical · 25,000 miles · DE

I purchased my flex new on oct 2009 and it has shut off while driving three times since I bought it. The first time it happened I was driving through my neighborhood (with my children in the car with me) at 20mph all the warning lights came on my engine shut off, loss of power steering, loss of brakes. Luckily I was able coast to the side of the street. I waited a few minutes and it wouldn't start. I tried to start it again and it started up. The second time I was driving on the highway(with my children in the car with me) at 55mph engine shut off, loss of power steering, loss of brakes and check engine light came on, I coasted to the shoulder, waited a few minutes and it started right up. I took it to the dealership; they told me they couldn't find any issues that would cause the vehicle to turn off while driving so they didn't attempt to fix it. The third time was last week while driving through my neighborhood(with my children in the car with me) at 20 MPH, engine shut off, loss of power steering, loss of brakes and check engine light came on. I took it to the dealership again and again they told me that they couldn't duplicate the issue so they didn't attempt to fix it. My children were in the car with me all three times. I've taken to the dealership 3 times for this issue and they cant duplicate the issue so they can't find the problem so they didn't even attempt to fix it. I just dropped it off this week for the fourth time. Its very frustrating to have this issue especially since im scared to drive the vehicle with my kids in the car. I feel its a huge safety issue. Its a total inconvenience to have to keep going back to the dealership and drop off my vehicle. I have three children and need a dependable vehicle. Luckily we weren't injured but im worried that the next time it happens an injury could occur. Why hasn't ford listed this issue in their tsb!

Filed May 25, 2011 · Brakes, Engine · 22,000 miles · GA

Tl*the contact owns a 2009 ford flex. The contact stated that the brakes were grinding. The contact had to replace the brake pads and the rotors four times. The contact also stated while driving in the rain all of the lights start flickering and a burning smell was emitted into the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who diagnosed that water overflowed into the engine because of the way the vehicle was designed causing the serpentine belt to come off, as a result the battery was over heating and the vehicle was loosing power. The battery had to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 22,000 and the current mileage was 44,000.

Filed Jul 10, 2009 · Electrical, Engine · 1,450 miles · TX

This is a 2009 flex dealer demo with 1450 miles. It has died twice while driving during a test drive. The first occurrence was while in drive, in a parking lot at about 5 MPH. The engine, A/C, radio/accessory power, and all lights suddenly died. It was as if the key had been turned to "off", except that the retained accessory power and all dash/warning lights went out as well. The car re-started easily once put into neutral. The second occurrence was in reverse, backing out of a driveway at about 3 MPH. This time the engine suddenly died, and A/C turned off, but the accessory power to the radio and dash /warning lights remained on, and the security light on the dash was blinking slowly. Again, the car re-started easily. Both times the power steering and braking went out and the car was much more difficult to control, and shifting gears, re-starting it, and shifting back to drive took several seconds. This could cause a serious collision if it happened while pulling into traffic. I have heard of at least 4 other similar incidents, and most of those were resolved at the dealership with a simple change to the computer control module in the engine. Hopefully ford will recall units already sold to make this change before someone is injured.