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FORD FLEX
2009 Ford Flex

FORD FLEX


The 2009 full-size crossover moves people.

The 2009 Ford Flex is made for people. Seating up to seven passengers, it features a bold design, a roomy interior, and a quiet, powerful ride. Picking up some friends and their gear? Ford Flex offers a functional mix of interior seating and storage configurations.

On road trips, the journey is as important as the destination. The Flex full-size crossover takes you anywhere in maximum comfort, safety and style – whether it’s to the local arena, or across the country.

EasyFuel Capless Fuel-Filler System

Ford makes filling up easier

2009 Ford F-150 FX4

The EasyFuel™ Capless Fuel-Filler System eliminates the gas tank screw cap for more simple fuel fill ups. No more gas odor on hands or gloves, or the unwanted amber dash light because the gas cap wasn’t screwed on tightly enough.
In addition to eliminating these hassles, EasyFuel helps reduce evaporative emissions that create smog and contribute to global warming. Spring-loaded tabs pull back a flap in the filler neck when the pump nozzle is inserted. When fueling is complete, and the nozzle is removed, the system automatically seals shut.

EasyFuel™ was introduced on the 2008 Ford Explorer. It will be standard equipment on the new Ford F-150, Flex and Lincoln MKS in 2009. The system will be offered on the entire Ford, Lincoln and Mercury product line by 2010.

Released 2008-05-05

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SIRIUS TRAVEL LINK

Customers get up-to-the-minute information and entertainment content at their fingertips.

SIRIUS technology

SIRIUS Travel Link™ technology provides customers with a valuable tool that can be used daily to get just-in-time details about traffic, current weather conditions, gasoline prices, movie theater details and sports updates. The system will be available on several 2009 models including Ford Flex, F-150, and Lincoln MKS.

Specifically, Travel Link delivers:

Fuel Prices – Customers can pinpoint and organize fuel options from over 120,000 gas stations alphabetically, by distance or by price.

Movies - With Travel Link, Ford owners can access film times, theater locations, ratings and run length details from over 4,500 movie theaters.

Sports - NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, NCAAF, NCAAB, and golf scores and schedules are now at customers’ fingertips. Drivers and passengers can customize Travel Link to provide info from selected teams.

Traffic Data – Now drivers can avoid traffic jams with SIRIUS Travel Link’s instant access to real-time traffic speed and flow data with accident and incident updates.

Weather - SIRIUS Travel Link allows Ford customers to stay on top of invaluable weather information including current conditions, five-day forecasts, coast-to-coast weather data and detailed storm cell information, hurricane and tropical storm tracking, local wind speeds, and even ski resort conditions.

Released 2008-05-05

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NEW F-FAMILY SEATS DEBUT IN FORD FLEX

In-house seat design ensures comfort and quality.

2009 Ford Flex - Detail

Instead of outsourcing seat design, the automotive industry norm, Ford created a dedicated seat engineering team within its Body Engineering division. Three Ford engineers – Qin Pan, Joanna Rakowska and Michael Medoro – spent months working with sophisticated virtual technology to design in-house vehicle seating that maximized both comfort and quality.

For the Ford Flex, the objective was to reflect the quiet luxury of the interior by reducing seat vibration. Using real-world road surface data, the Ford engineers could design mass dampers to counter a variety of road surfaces far earlier than ever before in the development stage.

While the new in-house seating technology has immediate benefits for Flex customers, soon the acquired learning building the F-Family Seats will be applied to a range of Ford vehicles from the Ford Focus to the new Ford F-150.

Released 2008-04-15

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FLEX’S “COOL” INNOVATION

Flex’s new integrated fridge cools 40 percent faster than home refrigerator.

2009 Flex console

When designing the Ford Flex’s new in-vehicle refrigerator, Ford engineering created a cooling and freezing unit that not only performed as well as a standard home refrigerator, but was 40 percent faster. In freeze mode the refrigerator unit can chill two half-liter bottles of water from a room temperature of 77 degrees F (25 degrees C) to 41 degrees F (5 degrees C) in just two and a half hours.

While compact, the cooling unit holds seven 12-ounce cans, four half-liter bottles, two 20-ounce bottles or various fruits and vegetables. Hermetically sealed and well insulated, the refrigeration compartment keeps beverages or food cold, allowing no more than an 18 degree F (10 degree C) temperature rise over 175 minutes, just a few minutes short of three hours.

The Ford Flex’s new compressor-driven cooler offers customers the option of cooling or freezing, and eliminates the need for bulky post-purchase add-on refrigeration units. By maintaining the same outward console appearance with or without the fridge option, the Ford team designed a back seat console with no compromise to interior design integrity.

Released 2008-04-08

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URBAN ROOF ART

Flex roofs as creative canvas to create “Cool Lids” by NY artist Tristan Eaton

Tristan Eaton

Visitors to the New York International Auto Show were witness to a live art performance by street artist and commercial illustrator Tristan Eaton. Throughout the opening weekend Tristan Eaton, founder of the creative agency ThunderDog Studios, used the Flex’s White Suede roof option to create colorful urban art pieces.

Show-goers watched the 29-year-old transform three full-size, sheet metal stampings of the Flex roof. The resulting one-of-a-kind “Cool Lid” art pieces will be on display in Ford’s Flex Studio Gallery from March 21st to 30th, 2008, joining three other previous creations.

The Tristan Eaton event was designed to build on the concept that the Ford Flex is a highly adaptable crossover vehicle that can be customized through a range of factory options including nine paint colors, two-tone roof, all-wheel drive, a multi-panel Vista roof and many other personalized choices.

Released 2008-03-27

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PHOTO UPDATE

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2009 Ford Flex - Detail
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Mark Fields with 2009 Ford Flex Crossover in New York

VIDEO UPDATE

QUOTATIONS

“Tristan Eaton’s art is as fresh and provocative as the new Flex. Flex is like nothing else on the road. It stands out, just like Tristan. You never know where his style will turn up next, but it’s going to turn heads and change minds, just like Flex.”
Usha Raghavachari, Ford CUV Marketing Communications Manager

“Look at how a person picks out a suit or a piece of furniture, reflects their personalities. If a person has a certain style about them, they don’t check it at their car door, it carries from their office to their wardrobe to their briefcase to their cell phone or PDA. The boundaries between automotive design, fashion, and industrial design are blurred.”
Anthony Prozzi, Ford Flex Interior Designer

“The third row is roomy enough for any passenger. Nobody travels coach-class in this vehicle.”
Peter Horbury, Executive Director of Design, Ford

“Imbuing a seven-passenger vehicle with some emotion is a tall order… [but] the Ford Flex is a stunner.”
J Mays, Ford’s Group Vice-President and Chief Creative Officer

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