Ford preliminary evaluation PE24030
Rear-view Camera Failure. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the camera on 1 model year (2019). Opened Oct 11, 2024, closed Feb 2, 2026 after 16 months. It led to safety recall 24V951000, 25V695000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedOn October 11, 2024, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE24030) to assess alleged failures of the rear-view camera in Model Year (MY) 2019 Ford Flex vehicles. Complaints submitted to NHTSA through Vehicle Online Questionnaires (VOQs), reviewed by ODI, report blank, distorted, or inverted rear-view camera images when in reverse. An inverted or upside-down image can provide false information to the driver increasing the risk of a crash. To date, ODI has received 85 VOQ complaints and additional EWR Field Reports with these allegations for MY 2019 Ford Flex vehicles. During the investigation, ODI found that the MY 2019 Ford Flex vehicle and certain peer vehicles including MY 2015-2018 Flex, MY 2019 Fiesta, Taurus, and Lincoln MKT vehicles are equipped with Magna analog rear-view-only cameras. On December 20, 2024, Ford filed Recall 24V-951 covering 30,715 MY 2019 Ford Flex, Ford Fiesta, and Lincoln MKT vehicles in which the rear-view camera may intermittently display a blank or distorted image. The dealers will replace the rear-view camera for vehicles in the recall population. Per the recall chronology, teardown of three cameras identified fractured solder joints between the microcontroller and the printed circuit board. Ford indicated that other causal factors are being investigated and asserted that the defect is contained within the camera. ODI found that certain peer vehicles excluded from Recall 24V-951 showed a high rate of VOQ complaints. Also, ODI identified reports produced by Ford that indicate the peer vehicles have the same issue as the subject vehicles. To address ODI’s concern, Ford analyzed some field-returned cameras, as well as Ford’s field data and ODI’s VOQ data. Ford stated it did not identify a specific root cause in the Magna supplied cameras. However, on October 13, 2025, Ford filed Recall 25V-695 covering 1,448,655 vehicles of various Ford/Lincoln models equipped with Magna supplied cameras. The cameras demonstrate the same blank or distorted images that prompted Recall 24V-951. It should be noted that Ford is conducting a recall of those vehicles by model/model year that exhibit VOQ complaint rates greater than 10 per 100,000 vehicles. For the remaining vehicles (rates less than 10/100K), Ford is providing a warranty extension (15 years/unlimited miles). Ford has stated that the differences in the rates (field performance) are likely due to the differences in the camera related hardware, such as the wiring harness type that are specific by vehicle model/model year. In view of Ford filing Recall 24V-951 and Recall 25V-695 addressing the subject of this investigation, ODI is closing this Preliminary Evaluation. NHTSA reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. To review the ODI reports cited in the Closing Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.
The paperwork NHTSA filed
Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov- Opening resume — ODI’s own summary of why it opened this — the subject, what prompted it, and the vehicles in scope.
- Closing resume — ODI’s own summary of why it closed this, and what it concluded.
| Document | Code | Filed | At NHTSA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening resume | INOA | 2024 | |
| Closing resume | INCLA | 2024 | |
| Information request to the manufacturer | INIM | 2024 | 2 files 12 |
| Manufacturer's response — data | INRD | 2024 | 36 files 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536 |
40 of 1217 documents shown; the rest are under this number at nhtsa.gov.
These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.
What owners had already reported
Source: complaints on file the day it openedWhen NHTSA opened this on Oct 11, 2024, owners had filed 56 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 24 named the back over prevention NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal: ODI screens them, and a Preliminary Evaluation is usually where a pattern in them ends up.
This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one became a recall. The campaign page carries the manufacturer’s filed defect, risk and remedy, the build window and every model year covered; whether one specific vehicle is included is settled by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themA vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs PE24030 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 24V951000, 25V695000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is PE24030 still open?
No. It closed on Feb 2, 2026 and led to recall 24V951000, 25V695000.
Which vehicles does PE24030 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2019 Ford Flex. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.