NHTSA Complaint #11421225 — 2012 FORD EDGE

This is my 20 year old daughter's car. She attends college in another state. Recently, the door ajar light comes on and will not go off. This prevents her from locking her doors, all of them! Not while driving, and not when parked. The closes all doors and tries to lock the car, and the passenger side "door ajar" light remains on, even though the door is closed and shut tight. The repair to this issue is replacing the entire door latch mechanism and costs over $500 at the dealer. I would do it myself, but the Ford door assembly is very complicated and must be done in a precise manner. Right now, the car is parked as my daughter is on a summer trip. The interior lights are always on, so the battery has been drained and is now dead. It will not take a charge. So, I need a new battery before I can even work on the door. I believe this is a safety issue because the doors cannot be locked. The security alarm cannot be activated, and most importantly, my daughter cannot lock herself safely inside if she was being pursued by an attacker. Criminals could also ransack her belongings from the unlocked vehicle and homeless vagrants could sneak inside as well. Ford needs to recall all these Ford Edge's with this problem. I'm told it's the 3rd most popular complaint on the forums.