I got this vehicle from a family member in Jan. 06. Drove from OK to NC. Noticed the driver's door would not unlock at intermittent times. Also noticed that the key wouldn't turn the lock. Sometimes I would have to hit keyless entry and enter through passenger side door to unlock driver's door from inside by pulling handle. I figured out that if I quickly and repeatedly hit the "unlock" button on wireless key remote that the lock would eventually pop up and unlock. At this time, I noticed that when opening the door from inside, it was increasingly hard to pull handle and open door, basically felt like increased tension. After living with this for about a month, one night after arriving home from work, I pulled on the inner handle to open door, and felt a small "pop", and all tension (normal and otherwise) in the door handle dissipate. The door would not open from the inside any longer.

I took vehicle to Ford Dealer, and they said the "inner door latch" was broken and it was a common problem. They replaced inner door latch (parts inside of door panel), and the door lever on inside of vehicle. Parts and labor came to $350. A real pain in the you know what. I chalked it up to being an 8 year old vehicle with almost over 95,000 miles, and I knew the previous driver (relative of mine) was not the kindest to her vehicles. I was disappointed I had a repair bill after approx. 1 month of owning vehicle, and would have been even madder had I just put a down payment on this vehicle and was paying the bank a monthly payment.

As far a the locks not turning with the key. Mine work fine in mild weather. But, when it gets very cold out, I find that I had to push the key very firmly straight into the lock, wiggle to find the sweet spot, and it will turn. It is a factory key, not a replacement, so teeth on key are exact to specs. I've heard that a spray-type graphite applied to the locking mechanism will help free up the key lock.

The driver's lock won't pop up (either from the automatic lock buttons inside the vehicle, or from the keyless entry on the outside of the driver door). AND to make matters worse, neither the driver's or passenger's keyholes will let the key turn properly, so I can't even MANUALLY unlock the doors from the outside. So, basically, every time I want to get entry into my vehicle, I have to:

1. Use my key in the pushbutton/keyhole on the rear hatch/door/window in order to pop up the passenger side lock,

2. Open the passenger door, reach across to insert the key in the ignition switch and turn the electrical system on, so I can reach even farther across to open the driver's window, and

3. Go back around to the driver door to alternately go back and forth tapping the unlock button and flicking the door handle until the combination of procedures finally releases the driver's door lock!!!

I've had other vehicles that had OCCASIONAL lock issues, but they were due simply to moisture getting into the keyhole or something like that. I can say with confidence that this issue does goes much deeper -- I am convinced (since having my gripe corroborated with more than a couple of other Ford owners with the same issue) it stems from a defect in either design and/or workmanship of the entire lock linkage system.