Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2011 Ford Edge
When ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Ford Edge report ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles, from 17 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 21st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 75,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 35,720 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
12% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36,800 miles | 43,461 miles | 46,680 miles | 52,000 miles | 72,520 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 6 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 10 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 45,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 19; the 2011 has 18. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
The car is sporadically not detecting the driver's side door being closed. This engages the "door ajar" indicator which is linked with the latching mechanism which is linked to the locking features. This happens daily and the door needs to be frequently opened and closed to attempt to get the sensor to recognize that the door is actually closed (which it is). Periodically, the indicator will not clear which makes the vehicle unlockable while driving as it has the automatic lock feature at 10-12 MPH. Even when manually locking the doors while driving with this "door ajar" indicator activated, the doors will unlock themselves because it believes the door is open. When parked and when this happens, you can only manually (fingers or key fob) lock the vehicle but the factory alarm system will not activate as it thinks the door is open. This is an unsafe condition and needs to be recalled. *tr
At the above mileage the driver door sensor started to act up, it would not let me open the door by touching the handle so had to use the key fob to open it. Then when I closed the door it side the door was open so I opened it and shut it again, still the light didn't go out. This was a intermittent problem but has since never closed with the light going out. Told by my dealer that the sensor might need to be cleaned and it would cost me $190.00. *tr
The drivers door ajar warning message displays when the door is fully closed due to a faulty door latch assembly. Doors will not auto lock while driving and cannot be locked using the lock switch on the door panel or with the key pad on the outside of the door. In order to lock the doors they must be either manually locked or locked using the key fob. Issue was intermittent at 34000 miles and at 37500 miles the door latch assembly fully failed. Ford informed me that they will only covers the repair if within 3 years or 36000 miles of purchasing the vehicle and will not offer any assistance with the repair. The dealer informed me that this is a common problem, but without a recall cannot offer any compensation for this issue. I'm not aware of any publicized safety issues associated with this problem, but hope that an investigation is performed to ensure that there are not any. *tr
Also reported on the 2011 Ford Edge
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Door latch or handle failure
Other lighting problem
Other engine problem
Master cylinder or brake booster failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure happen on the 2011 Ford Edge?
Across 17 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure on the 2011 Ford Edge?
18 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 8.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed