general problems of the 2013 Ford Flex

On Sunday, February 22, 2026, I was driving my 2013 Ford Flex with the driver’s seat heater activated. After a period of use, I began to notice an unusual electrical burning smell inside the vehicle. There were no dashboard warning lights or system alerts. I turned the seat heater off immediately once I detected the smell. I did not initially notice an injury at that time. The following day, I experienced significant pain and discovered burns on my buttocks in the area consistent with seat contact. I sought medical evaluation three days later and was diagnosed with second- to third-degree burns. Prescription treatment was provided. The vehicle has not yet been inspected for the cause of the overheating or odor. Based on the location and pattern of injury, and the timing of the electrical smell while the heated seat was activated, the burn appears to have resulted from a malfunction of the seat heating element.

Front seat tracks wear prematurely due to poorly designed teeth. As a result the seat becomes 'wobbly' causing it to rock forwards and back which could cause serious injury in an accident where the seat should remain firmly in place. Many people are experiencing this issue across a wide range of Ford products vs specifically with one particular vehicle.

2nd row seat belts not working or broken. Driver side is not latching or retracting, so none can use that seat. Passenger side the buckle cover wont stay on, and it has some small sharp objects that can cut someone or my kids.

I am having multiple problems with this vehicle! first and most important is door latches are not reading closed which disallows safety lock during operation of the vehicle. I also believe this might be the reason the alarm/panic randomly and quite often goes off. Secondly the third row seats no longer operate correctly from the panel in the rear cargo area. It clicks and try's to move but will always return to the normal position making it impossible to use them to allow extra storage space. Lastly the traction assist is very erratic when driving in snow which makes this vehicle less then desirable to drive in the snow, even with the control assist off it handles very poorly in icy/snowy conditions. Overall I hate this car if I wasn't upside down in it would be gone ASAP.

The 2nd row seat that collapses at the push of a button is a death seat. If this seat is occupied when the button is accidentally pushed eg when grabbing for the seat belt the force of the seat collapsing could crush the occupant. I don't know you are aware of this.