Front Seat Recliner problems of the 1996 Ford Explorer

Noticed that the recliner handle was bent on the drivers side. The next time I went to recline the seat the handle broke off at the rivet point. Common problem according to the dealer. The part can only be bought from Ford and the cost is $100. There was a service bulletin for this problem for a later year Explorer. Dealer said the new part is more heavy duty and made to replace the stock version that was light duty. No recall was issued and they have stopped making the part.

The contact owns a 1996 Ford Explorer. While sitting in the driver's seat of the vehicle, the seat spontaneously collapsed backwards. The contact called a dealer and a technician stated that he would have to replace either the recliner bolts or the seat assembly at his expense. The manufacturer stated that there was a recall for the recliner bolts, but his vehicle was not included because it was manufactured at a different plant. The vehicle has not been repaired because it was a recall for the same model. The recall number was unknown. The failure mileage was 130,000.

A bolt that holds the driver's seat back upright broke, causing the seat to fully recline backwards immediately. This is the second time this seat bolt has failed. The original failure was in July, 1999 (NHTSA report #708738).

Went to drive car and the driver seat flew back as a result of a broken bolt.

I have a 1996 Ford Explorer that just had it's front seat assembly fail and had to be replaced at a cost of over $300. I notice that Ford has issued a recall notice but it was not for 1996 but 1998 - 01 year Explorers. I spoke to the dealer that made the repair and them stated that there is not much difference between the 1996 and 1998 versions of this vehicle. They pointed me back to Ford. I believe that Ford is limiting this recall to save money. They should have included the 1996 model as well as other year models as evident by the problem my vehicle just experienced. The recall notice is below for reference. Thank you. . Make : Ford model : Explorer year : 1998 NHTSA campaign id number : 03v281000 recall date : Aug 04, 2003 component: seats:front assembly:recliner potential number of units affected : 1552880.

Seatback in my 1996 Ford Explorer (1fmdu34x1tub39240) broke without warning while driving on the interstate. Cause is a fractured bolt in the reclining seatback latch.

While driving seatback fell backwards, and consumer ran off the road before stopping. Has contacted dealer ,and the dealer was not willing to do anything.

A bolt that holds the driver's seat upright snapped, seatback collapsed.

When the seatback recline mechanism broke, I fell backwards and nearly lost control of the vehicle. I am only reporting this now because of a comment made by a service writer at the dealership where I had it fixed. He told me they had seen other failures like this and in fact had another customer coming in the follwing week to have the recline mechanism replaced.

The back support part of the seat collapsed while driving due to a crack in the adjustment lever. Dealer has been contacted.

Both driver's and passenger's side seats collapsed backwards during a rearend collision. Driver sustained injuries.

Recall 03v281000. The driver side seat bolt broke . The seat laid all the way to the back seat with the bolt broke.