Hatchback/liftgate Lock problems of the 2004 Ford Explorer

On Friday the 7th of March 2008 I went to open the tailgate of my 2004 Ford Explorer when the hinges broke and the gate fell off. I called the Ford dealer where I purchased my car and was initially told that the hinges were on a recall. The collision center of the dealer picked up my vehicle and took it in for repair. When I got to my place of employment I had a call from the dealer stating that my car was not on the recall. I called Ford motor and was told that my car was indeed not on the recall and that the recall had been on the 2002 and 2003 models. I felt that maybe the problem had not been fixed on the 04 models as they stated because it was obviously still happening. I took my car to another body shop that was quite reputable and had it repaired at a considerable lower rate per labor hour. Why would the hinges just break; supposed my grand child had gone to get something out of the back, he could have been hurt when that gate fell. I feel that Ford had not corrected the problem of the faulty tail gate hinges by the time they got to the 2004 models or at least not all were replaced with the updated ones. I was told that recalls are VIN specific, but I feel that if you have a parts problem on a grand scale some may have been put on other cars without being recognized on a specific VIN. I think this problem needs to be addressed as there maybe more trucks out there that this has happened to or can happen to.

Rear hatch window dropped off hinges.

Rear hatchback window panel cracked down the center. The window seemed hard to close, did not seem to align with the latch.

2004 Explorer had problems with brakes and windows. Three months after the vehicle was purchased thee was a recall on the transmission. The abs malfunctioned and the power windows would not go down. The rear hatch door would not open. The transmission began to slam into gear. The rotors vibrated in the rear. Consumer heard a howling noise at 40-55 mph. The dealer replaced the ring and pinion. Nm.