general problems of the 2002 Ford Explorer - part 1

September 2, 2023 at about 6 pm I pulled over to grab a couple water bottles from the rear of my 2002 Ford Explorer sport cause my engine was overheating. I got out walked to the rear of my vehicle pushed my unlatch button on the tailgate and I lifted the glass part of the rear hatch. Both air hinges were not working correctly to keep it up so I gently rested the glass on my hair that was put up in a bun and just a little bit of the glass was resting on the very top of my head where my hair was slicked back for my bun so my hands were free to grab the bottles of water. (my hair was the softest of resting place's). As I reached in the back to grab the water bottles I heard the loudest bang and hundreds of little pieces of glass fell everywhere around me. I was in so much distrot that I actually thought someone had shot at me with a fire arm but missed me and hit the rear glass instead. The top of my head was stinging and it felt like I had just been smacked with a tree branch and the glass had went all over me causing a few minor cuts and scrapes as I fell to my knees in shock my heart racing faster than I had even imagined a heart could beat while histaraclly crying from the trauma that just occurred I fell to the ground and for a full 15 minutes I sat there surrounded by glass and tears in so much shock, dazed and confused before I stood up and looked around at everything that then I only realized I wasn't shot at because there was no bullet or bullet hole nor did a vehicle drive by nor was there any people closer than a mile to me when I realized that the glass had shattered for some unknown reason on its own that it scared me so bad it traumatized me. After that day I was pulled over multiple times by numerous police agency's (sheriff, medford pd, central point pd and state police) because I didn't have the money to fix it let alone have the knowledge that it had a recall so I could get it replaced. I have pictures but it will not allow me to upload them.

The radiator started going out on me. I had to fix it twice. The breakes I keep having the continued fixing them every 4 months. Recently October 25, 2019 it started smelling like burnt rubber came thru the air vents. Things with the electricity oe a shortage. With the tires they put wrong tire size. They told me to sign and go because they didn't have my actual tire size. Its always on the smalls streets and on freeway or. Highway it smells like burnt rubber. The owner didn't notify me or bother to tell me it was on recall already.

After jumping the vehicle due to dead battery gear shifter snapped when shifting car into drive. Vehicle stuck in reverse also need a new transmission. Form cars are worthless! don't buy a Ford!!.

Back glass shattered after closing the hatch.

Lift gate window fell off the hinges as explained in recall #04v442000.

When I turn my windshield wipers on they stay on low and will not go off unless I turn the truck off with the wipers in off position. My o/d off light started blinking when I was driving down the road when I turn the truck off for a few minutes it goes off, but comes on a little bit later while driving.

Takata recall . My od light keeps blinking , takes forever to shift I have to take my feet of the gas until I hear it shift then I can press the gas again and the car jerks when the gears shift. The car will shut off if I put the car in reverse or if I change the gear to drive . There seems to be a lot of issues but the od light seems to be common. I took it to more than one dealership and they told me that its a transmission problem. Why hasn't Ford taken responsibility and recall this issue if its happened to so many of us . I am a mother of four that needs her car and this is unfair because its a very expensive fix I was quoted between $2,500-$3,000.

I was pulling out of a parking space and I no more than pulled the gear shift lever back and it broke off. I could not shift at all. The keys got stuck in the ignition, too. I had to leave my car there over night until the following morning when the tow company came. I also could not lock my doors, and it was loaded with working equipment. ( I cannot even imagine if it broke after I had put it in reverse or drive, and been stuck in the middle of the road, or if this had happened in a remote place. ) as you can see by my picture it was actually the metal, possibly aluminum but not 100% sure . . Metals should not just break. . This is definitely a defect . I also noted on just one website over 151 complaints for this exact same thing on the exact same year and model vehicle.

I was driving along and the over drive light off started flashing and I started experiencing the vehicle starting to shift harder in 1 & 2 gears!.

Was driving on private parking lot at 10 mph when gas pedal slammed to the floor locked and accelerated vehicle to approx. 35 mph and careened through 6ft chain link fence onto RV dealership lot and crashed into a motorhome. Entire wheel and housing ripped from the car, personal injuries sustained.

Backing into parking space and gearshift handle on column fell off in my hand. I could not shift out of gear. Had to shut off engine on a hill with car stuck in reverse. Could not get key out and car started to roll downhill. I had to call a friend to block tires rather trust emergency brake on a hill.

My truck began to shake when I stop at stop signs and lights. The service engine soon light came on and would not go out. I got a code reading, there were many fuel ejection issues. I got a diagnostic test today, and was told it could be the fuel pump. When I put gas in, the gas pump gets stuck inside sometimes. Does not come out smoothly. What is going on?.

Gear shifter broke off while attempting to shift the vehicle in reverse. I am thankful that I was at home in my own driveway and that it did not go into gear. It is stuck in park, but my keys are stuck in the ignition. This seems like it could be a safety hazard if the car were to go into gear, or get stuck in reverse.

My Ford Explorer started making a sound like there was something rolling around in back gate. First mechanic couldn't find problem. I worked on this for three months. Looks as if it is the bushings are worn and body is touching frame. I also understand that several others have had this problem.

The consumer stated the home fire hazard created by faulty design of non ul approved personal snow plow use for SUV manufactured by western products. Snow plow electric motor was unfused and overheated not responding to the comman controller shorting out and causing a serious expensive fire.

Bought an Explorer we thought was a private owner on craiglist in chicago, and found out he was a dealer from indiana. He signed the title as first auto inc. 2620 165th in hammond in 46323. The name of seller is jose perez. The dmv file a complaint on our behalf and stated what he did was illegal. We did not know he was a dealer til when we tried to transfer our plates the next day. We took the truck in for service and my mechanic stated that carfax has the miles almost 80,000 more than what is on the odometer. The odometer listed 110,000 and carfax was far past that amount. The dealer rolled back the miles of Explorer.

Overdrive light came on. Check transmission light came on. The truck suddenly started screeching loudly, nearly caused an accident while going to the airport on an expressway.

There was a recall for faulty hinges years back, Ford replaced. I noticed faulty hinge when waxing vehicle, hinge is askew. Called Ford customer service, verified it would need replacing or glass window could fall off, informed I would have to pay for repair. Since the faulty hinge is their product, I think they are responsible, and it is a safety hazard. I have had this car serviced every 3 months since I bought it. It is well maintained, I have spent a fortune replacing faulty Ford parts. The glass hinge is a Ford hazard that I believe Ford is responsible for.

Parked in parking lot on level surface. Started engine went to put in reverse and shifting lever fell off. Contacted Ford instead of selling broken part wanted to sell complete steering coloum.

Went to put vehicle in reserve and gear shift on the column fell in my hand, completely snapped.

Was driving on the highway and felt a sharp jerk/pull to the right. At first thought it was a flat tire so got off on next exit. Wasn't a flat tire but could smell something awful. Made grinding sound and still had bad smell, knew we had to drive it back to the place we are staying at. Had hazard lights on and only drove 10-15 mph because of the sound and because of how scary it was. Knew something bad was happening to our car. Brakes at this point practically went out. Would not have to press brakes to stop vehicle at a red light, the car would just stop. Steering wheel was not even, but more or less 90 degrees to the right. Pulled into the neighborhood and into the driveway and a car leaving the street saw that our vehicle at this point was on fire! extinguish fire (since it was a gas fire) and looked at the damage. Looks like the front driver side wasn't even connected to anything. Do not know how or when fire started but the flames when we noticed were about 1 foot tall and wide by the internal driver side wheel.

Pulled into a parking space (flat surface) and attempted to put the car into park and the gearshift lever broke off into my hand. The same thing happen about a year ago, and our mechanic replaced the defective parts.

Shifter lever broke off.

I got my Explorer not too long ago. It was running great then out of no where the o/d light keeps flashing and my transmission starts to slip. A lot of people are having this problem and I think Ford needs to step up and take care of this because I have kids and this is my only car and I am on a fixed income. If Ford does not want to fix these problems or recall them then never will I buy a Ford again.

After driving into a parking spot I tried to put the car into park and the gearshift fell. After it fell again I tried once more and it broke completely off. We had to take it to the dealership whom just turned it off and later informed us that they would have to replace the entire steering column which would cost $1700 just because one piece was poorly constructed and made of soft metal. It has been almost a month and now we're being told the part is on back-order so we still have no car. We've read where this has happened to others but yet nothing has been done about this problem by the Ford company.

The hinges on the back hatch are breaking. I have contacted Ford on several occasions and they state this was already fixed once under recall. Therefore, I will have to pay to have it fixed again. If the safety recall was completed properly, I do not think it should be failing again; therefore, I believe they did not fix it properly the first time and since it was a recall, I feel they should have to fix it again. This will be a serious issue if the window completely breaks off. Please advise.

My vehicle was parked in a driveway. I started the vehicle, depressed the brake, and attempted to put the gearshift lever into reverse. The gearshift lever would not move. Again, I depressed the brake and attempted to move the gearshift lever into reverse. The lever broke off at the joint where it comes out of the steering column. I had to hire a tow truck. The driver had to disengage the transmission to load it onto the bed of the tow truck. This has been a massive inconvenience both financially and strategically. I expected this issue to be in the recall mode as there are many incidents noted on this site. I feel the Ford motor company should be held liable for all my costs as this is obviously a flawed metal joint that should not fail with normal use. We reside in a mountainous state and use the gearshift lever to down shift on the same roads. This occurrence would have been disaster on floyd hill outside of denver. I guess I was lucky!.

Car reck.

Transmission took a crap, it seems to be a know problem with the 2002 & 2003 Explorers. Guess we should have looked into the Explorer better.

I had to replace transmission and solenoid, costing over $2500.

My gear shift broke as I was putting into gear and it just fell into my hands it broke into two half a piece that should not broke and as I was going somewhere the truck just starting going crazy the lights was flashing on and off the alarms was going of the lights flashin,ssometimes in the middle of the night the alarm just goes off on it on we see all this happen and no one is by the truck no cats dogs nothing.

Today I drove my 2002 Ford Explorer out and upon returning home I could not shift it into park. I switched it off thinking that if I crank it up and turn the wheels it would go into park but I couldn't even crank it up because I was not in the park gear. I played with it for 20 minutes and it finally went into park. I let it sit for a couple hours and went back out and cranked it, it went into gear. I drove it around the block came back and parked. Cranked it up about 10 minutes later to go out and it would not come out of park gear. I have no ides what the problem but if it's something serious the dealer can have it back. Something should be done to make Ford repair their malfunctions, we are talking some serious money on these repairs and a lot of people like myself is looking for work now. People we need to start protesting out side these dealerships. They are getting rich and we are suffering at their mishaps.

When putting car into park or reverse, car would sometime still be in drive for seconds after putting car in gear. Several times now, occasionally car will simply shut off. Recently, the car would not go into park and shifter separated from steering column.

2002 front wheel bearings failed at 80,000 miles.

I was traveling to mt. Washington, ky. From lorain, ohio, ( approx. 330 miles). We stopped at the rest are at the halfway mark, between washington ch, OH. & jeffersonvlle, OH. When we came back out, started the car, & it wouldn't go into reverse. Pushed it out of the parking spot & it wouldn't go in drive either. About 30 miles before, it made some clunking noises & it felt like we had a flat tire. I took it out of cruise control & it drove normally until the rest area. I had to have it towed to washington courthouse & then back home on Monday, Nov. , 29th, (at my own expense). Approximate cost of repair to date was $2969. I had my daughter & 6 yr. Old great granddaughter with me & I feel this could have possibly ended with disastrous results. Ford has known about these faulty transmissions probably from day 1. I'm not trying to just blast Ford, happen to be an employee. I feel they need to man up & take care of this problem before it leads to serious consequences.