NHTSA Complaint #11661935 — 2019 FORD FLEX

The black glossy plastic applique on the Driver's Door Window Frame (also containing the Keyless Entry Keypad) blew off on the Expressway at approximately 70 MPH. While the wire harness retained the lower portion of the applique, the applique cracked from the force of the separation, for which the bottom third of the applique hung from the harness whereby the upper two-thirds of the applique became a projectile and flew onto the expressway. After sharing this with a friend (also owning a 2019 Ford Flex), he said his came off last year. Upon further studying this matter, it appears that in Ford's wisdom they only used small strips of double-sided tape to retain this; for which there are many reports of this same failure mode: [XXX] In their infinite wisdom, Ford now only sell the Applique Panel with the Keypad (Ford Part Number BA8Z7420555AC ), rendering it at a MSRP of $228.83 just for the replacement part. The Ford Parts Counter Person said they sell a lot of these, due to the poor design and retention. As this is a hazard to others on the road (e.g. potentially becoming a projectile) Ford should be forced to Recall this defect. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)