Tail light, brake light or signal failure on the 2011 Ford Edge
When tail light, brake light or signal failure gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Ford Edge report tail light, brake light or signal failure at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 21 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 17th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 99,075 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
19% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28,925 miles | 51,000 miles | 56,000 miles | 106,000 miles | 128,000 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 $100–$900 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 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 80,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 66; the 2011 has 24. 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.
On three different occasions my ford edge lost power to acceleration and stalled out. The first time I was pulling out of a parking space. The car went limp and a wrench warning appeared. When I checked the information system it had the 'no key detected' warning. I restarted and car seemed fine. Two days later I was pulling onto a busy street and the same thing occurred only this time no warning lights appeared and there were no warnings in the information setting. On the same day, while traveling 60 MPH on the interstate the car did the same thing. This time it was in heavy traffic and there was not a shoulder available to pull over. I had to turn on hazard lights and hope the momentum of the car would allow me to get to a safe stopping place. Unfortunately it did not and I had to stop in the middle of the interstate, put the car in park and restart. I was lucky I wasn't rearended. It did restart but this time the service engine soon light came on and remained on. I called roadside assistance and had the car taken to a dealership. They have determined it to be the throttle body. Part is on back order and no idea when car will be…
While driving around 65mph, the vehicle suddenly went into "limp" mode with no ability to maintain speed. I was on a 3 lane bridge without a shoulder and it was difficult to navigate the vehicle safely through traffic from the far left lane, across the bridge, and onto the upcoming shoulder. The red "wrench" light came on along with the "AWD" light. Pressing the gas pedal had no impact to RPM's (which stayed around 700rpm). Brake screeching from another vehicle was heard as my vehicle coasted across the 2 lanes of traffic. After coming to a stop, I turned off vehicle and restarted without any warning lights and vehicle drove normally. Incident occurred again 1 week later in heavy traffic, aproximately 65mph. Red wrench light, AWD light. This time engine light also came on. I maintained my lane, put on my hazard lights, put car in neutral, turn off ignition while coasting, slightly tapped brake to restart the car. Vehicle started but warning lights did not reset and vehicle still in limp mode. Without the ability to maintain speed, I coasted to the shoulder and came to a complete stop. Turned off vehicle again. Restart and red…
While driving around 65mph, the vehicle suddenly went into "limp" mode with no ability to maintain speed. I was on a 3 lane bridge without a shoulder and it was difficult to navigate the vehicle safely through traffic from the far left lane, across the bridge, and onto the upcoming shoulder. The red "wrench" light came on along with the "AWD" light. Pressing the gas pedal had no impact to RPM's (which stayed around 700rpm). Brake screeching from another vehicle was heard as my vehicle coasted across the 2 lanes of traffic. After coming to a stop, I turned off vehicle and restarted without any warning lights and vehicle drove normally. Incident occurred again 1 week later in heavy traffic, aproximately 65mph. Red wrench light, AWD light. This time engine light also came on. I maintained my lane, put on my hazard lights, put car in neutral, turn off ignition while coasting, slightly tapped brake to restart the car. Vehicle started but warning lights did not reset and vehicle still in limp mode. Without the ability to maintain speed, I coasted to the shoulder and came to a complete stop. Turned off vehicle again. Restart and red…
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 24 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 tail light, brake light or signal failure happen on the 2011 Ford Edge?
Across 21 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 50,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is tail light, brake light or signal failure on the 2011 Ford Edge?
24 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 11 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