15 problems related to seats have been reported for the 1998 Ford Explorer. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Speed control gets hot to touch. All top facing has melted off from heat. I was on highway and my steering wheel became extremely hot. My seat was repaired after recall years ago. It continues to drop low to floor.
Upon getting into my car the seat suddenly fell backwards , thank goodness I was not driving down the street I could have been injured or killed. The post that holds the drivers seat in the upright position broke. After checking on line for recalls I found that there is a problem with this and a recall had been issued but my VIN is not in the dealers data base so they will not make the repairs. I did not receive a recall letter and do not know what to do next.
About 3 years ago I started to notice the driver’s side seat reclining and I couldn't reset it to the upright position. Through the years the recline got worst and I contacted Ford and advised them that this may be related to their recall # 03v281000. Ford responded by telling me that I already got serviced for this recall and that my vehicle has no outstanding recalls. I purchased another seat and recently had it installed. Upon inspection of the original seat my mechanic and I noticed a stress crack on the reclining bracket of the seat. My argument is that Ford’s recall remedy didn't solve the problem because it is a defective reclining bracket that is causing this problem not the upper bolt they replaced. I have worked as an aircraft mechanic and know a stress crack when I see it. This is definitely a factory defect and should be investigated immediately. I had roughly a ⼠inch left before the back of the seat would snap and recline totally. Depending on the speed and terrain you are driving on this could be tragic. I have contacted Ford numerous times and in their last letter they indicated that they will not communicate with me anymore. I kept the original seat and can send you photos if you need them.
On December 17,2003 the drivers side seat release on my 1998 Ford Explorer broke while I was trying to adjust the seat back. The steel that attaches the positioning lever to the mechanical part of the seat shirred off in a clean break and came off in my hand. My seat became stuck in a forward position while I was in the seat forcing me into a forward position. I had to drive in this position to the dealer where they used a large vice grip type wrench to release the seat back into a position so I could drive the car. At this time the seat is jammed in a static position while the remaining part of the steel is still in the reclining gear.
On two separate occasions driver's seat has collapsed backwards while parking in reverse. Dealer notified. Feel free to provide any further information.
Vehicle was rear ended. Upon impact, driver's seat collapsed, resulting in minor injuries to passenger sitting in seat. Dealer has been notified.
This was second time that seat has reclined back while consumer has been driving. First time being at 26,400 miles. This time consumer was traveling at 55mph, and seat reclined straight back, and wouldn't go back into postion. Consumer called dealer, and they couldn't give any information without seeing vehicle.
A 'bolt' failed in the driver seat, allowing the seat to fully recline without any method of stopping the recline. Fortunately, I was stopped when this happened. Since the part failed at two years and 48000 miles, this seems like a part that may fail on other vehicles. If the seat had reclined 3 minutes earlier or later, the outcome could have been tragic. The dealer charged $100 labor to change the $2 bolt.
These defects happens just months after warranty was out live far from dealership but I tried to get it there as soon as I could being that it was my only source of transportation. I felt that capital Ford should of still honored these defects and try to at least offer to help me in anyway they could I feel that they didn"t care about it all they had to say to me that the warranty is out and it's going to cost a lot to have these defects fix they wouldn't even give a price all they said is it's going to be a couple of hundred of dollars. I was very dissapointed in their service and the way they handled this situation. If something isn't done, then I plan to return my SUV at the end of it's lease and go elsewhere to buy my next usv. I hope that you can resolve this problem I purchase several Ford in the past years and have never had any problems with them so I hope you will honor these defects . I look forward to hearing from this request thank you time. No safety defect (s) listed in summary.
Center armrest failed. Yh.
Passenger side seat bladder failed. Yh.
The driver's seat mechanism cannot move back more than 10 inches which put the consumer in danger of the airbag if it was to deploy. Mfr cannot solve the problem. Please provide further information.
No summary.
Brother was checking underneath vehicle & noticed the under carriage was rusty. Contacted dealer & manufacturer & was informed it's normal due to heavy road salt that was used. Also, seat & anchor attachments were rusty. Vehicle sold as new due to low mileage, according to dealer.
Design of the arm rest assembly is weak which resulted in collapsing under weight of consumer. Mjs.