Ford Flex Warning Lights

About the Flex

A full-size crossover SUV from the Ford Motor Company, the Flex spanned a decade from 2009 up until 2019. Although the Flex replaced the Taurus, the former was a much larger car and the result of the original concept car changing from an MPV to a 5-door wagon.

Manufactured by Ford Canada at the Oakville Assembly plant in Ontario, the Flex was built from the CDS Platform - with the new platform being called the D4 (also used under the Lincoln MKT).

Peter Horbury (an ex-employee of Volvo) designed the boxy aesthetic and tried to create the illusion of a slower slung roof. He achieved this by giving each model a white roof with blacked-out pillars. Two engine variants were available initially, two different 3.5-liter V6s coupled with a 6-speed automatic transmission, all of which had the option of upgrading to all-wheel drive.

Three trim levels were made available, the SE as the basic model and cheapest, the SEL for the mid-range and the top level vehicle with the most number of features was ‘Limited.’ The latter could seat 7 people with the additional second-row bench.

2013 saw an upgrade that was showcased at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the front and rear of the vehicle looked largely similar and the pillars and roof design held. The only real notable difference was the new grille. At this point, Ford added an extra trim option to the range, the ‘Titanium,’ a much sleeker-looking vehicle with blacked-out headlights and taillights, a 3-bar grille, no badge and a choice of red, silver, black or white interior.

2010 saw the Flex voted the third best affordable mid or full-sized SUV by US News (losing out only to the Buick Enclave and the Chevrolet Traverse). In addition, the Flex was statistically Ford's most reliable vehicle of the time but despite this, in total, only 300,000 units were sold. With the average annual sales totaling less than 30,000, Ford deemed this too low and so production ended in 2019