Body problems of the 2005 Ford Explorer - part 1

Rear wheel well shock tower mount is rusted out. There is no reason this should be happening. This is a major safety issue.

We have a 2005 Ford Explorer and the back lift gate panel was cracked right by the Ford symbol. When we went to open the back lift gate and the panel where it was cracked broke in half and shattered the whole back window and injured us. Ford wants to charge me $140. 00 to just look at it. Come on Ford do what's right! beware if you have a cracked panel on your Ford! it can break in half and the glass can shatter.

The back lift gate panel cracked on the back of our Ford Explorer and when we went to shut the lift gate the whole back window shattered. Ford won't replace it because they say its not a safety issue and our year of our Ford was not apart of the recall of these panels being cracked. Please be aware that if you have one of these cracks that the back window can shatter when closing the lift gate.

2005 Ford Explorer. Frame is rotting along the welds. Not up and down. Length wise running with the frame. Obviously a factory weld issue and a big issue at that as the issue could have the frame fail and entire hub/axle/wheel assembly rip right off the vehicle. This is also a very common issue with Ford's in general from 02-2005. As you already know I'm sure. This vehicle was well maintained and taken care of and the frame issue has made an otherwise great running low mileage vehicle worthless. Not to mention had the issue not been found very dangerous! please get these death traps off the road!! have pictures but the files are to large to send. Thanks.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that there was fracture in the rear hatch above the rear windshield wiper and all the way down to the bottom of the hatch. The failure allowed moisture to enter the door. The contact was concerned that the fracture would cause the rear windshield to shatter, causing serious injuries or worse. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be inspected. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 138,000.

Cracked applique on rear lift gate.

While parked in the driveway, we found that the back window of the hatch was completely broken and the body in the back was lifted off the car. It looks as if the hydraulic arm malfunctioned overnight.

Crack in rear hatch plate by Ford emblem.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer. While opening the rear door, the contact noticed a large crack on the rear panel that extended from the rear window vertically all the way down to the end of the panel where the Ford emblem was located. The vehicle was inspected by the insurance adjustor. The vehicle was not diagnosed by an independent mechanic nor the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 160,000.

Walked out to my garage and noticed a cracked had showed up overnight. It goes from the back eindow, by the right edge of the Ford logo, to the bottom of the lift gate. It is almost perfectly vertical, I have seen a ton of these on xlts. I thought I was lucky, I was wrong.

Crack on back panel from window down around Ford emblem literally just appeared one day. My Explorer was purchased new in 2005 and is in excellent condition except for this mystery crack that I am now noticing on a lot of Explorers around the same age. It is an obvious defect! when is Ford going to take care of this?.

I walked outside to enter my vehicle and noticed a crack in the hatch lift on the back door adjacent to the Ford emblem that was not previously there. Since then, I've noticed this same flaw on most Ford Explorer xlts of approximately the same age as mine.

Crack appeared to left of Ford emblem on rear hatch door, under glass.

Rear widow is also a hatch. The hatch has a fracture in the center of where the hatch secures itself to the frame. The hatch will not close properly and needs to be physically manipulated at an angle to be secured.

Discovered a crack in the panel below the rear window hatch above and below the Ford emblem.

The plastic bracket that holds up the overhead control console between the drive and passenger and right next to the rear view mirror broke and the entire console fell while the car was off and parked with no one in the car. The console dropped and blocked the rear view mirror. Had I been driving it would have been a shock and caused me not to use my rear view mirror. When I went to remove the bracket to get a replacement I found it was super brittle and falling apart. It broke into a few pieces while just holding it. It clearly was not structurally sound. If this interior and hidden plastic part that was not subject to any passenger interaction or sun exposure is disintegrating what about other parts of the car. I see lots of plastic parts failure complaints for Ford Explorer. Is the plastic they used defective or are car parts like this bracket in Ford products supposed to self destruct?.

First noticed what appeared to be a scratch underneath rear window. Grew into a crack which runs from the bottom of the rear window down around the Ford emblem to the bottom of the window hatch. Crack has widened to about 1/8 inch. Vehicle purchased my myself brand new.

I am another very annoyed owner of a 2002-2005 Ford Explorer with a cracked rear panel. From what I can tell, this affects nearly 100% of all Explorers of those model years and it is ridiculous that Ford has not issued a recall notice for this defect.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the rear panel near the hatch was fractured. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and indicated that no recalls were associated with the vehicle. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 130,000.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the rear lift gate was fractured. The vehicle was not taken for inspection or diagnosis. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that he approached the vehicle and noticed that the tail sill plate on the lift gate was fractured. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that there was a fracture on the lift gate under the window. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000. The VIN was unavailable.

I have a 2005 Explorer XLT and I also have a large crack down the panel below the back window. Which has led to water seeping into my back wiper motor causing me to replace it frequently. Wbich replacing this is not cheap. This is certainally an issue that needs to be addressed due to there are many of the exact same complaints. Also the brackets that hold on my back window came off/broke. We were leaving for vacation and the whole window was in my hand when I went to close it. I am a Ford lover through and through and would just like these problems that numerous people are having corrected . Thank you for your time!.

Hinges on the rear glass hatch are broken. Eventually will brake off and possibly cause an injury because that supports the glass. Many other Explorers have this same issue.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the rear hatch back panel developed a fracture. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician advised the contact that the panel needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 123,000.

The contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that there was a crack in the lift gate. The manufacturer was notified but they offered no assistance. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure and current mileage was 81,300.

Below rear window, top hatch crack out of no where. Reason for filing complaint is I just saw another Ford Explorer that had the same crack.

The panel at the bottom of the rear lift gate window cracked the entire length of the panel. Approximately 8 inch crack. I have since seen several other Ford Explorers and a Mercury SUV with the same crack. Obviously Ford has a problem which they are not making good on.

The rear lift gate trim panel split vertically from the glass to the bottom of the lift gate. The crack runs adjacent to the Ford emblem on the lift gate. I see a lot of this occurring on similar year models and consider that this is a design defect that should be addressed.

Tl - the contact owns a 2005 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the rear hatch back panel had developed a crack. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician stated that the panel needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not offer any assistance since the vehicle was not included on any recalls. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 120,000 and the current mileage was 127,000. Pm.

Large crack through the entire lift gate panel under the window.

My vehicle was parked. I went out in the morning to take my children to school. I noticed a large vertical crack in the lift gate panel to the right of the Ford emblem. It had not been driven. This happened overnight while my vehicle was parked. I did some research to find that this is a common problem with this year/model.

Crack under rear window on rear hatch door.

There's an obvious defect in the 2005 Ford Explorer, the 7 ¼ x 55 ½ panel, the one with the Ford logo in it. It cracks. It did it twice on ours, we replaced it once costing us $500. Our repairman said he?s seen this exact problem on many Ford?s. We looked into it, and numerous other experts agree on the defect. The first time we tried to bring attention to Ford for this problem, they blew us off, not even having the courtesy to get our letter to the person it was addressed. As human nature, Ford tried to manipulate the problem, at the end of the conversation actually convincing themselves and trying to convince me that there was no problem. We like to keep all our stuff nice but currently our vehicle doesn?t look nice. We cannot afford to throw away our money on a defective product. Again, it is defective, anyone related to the vehicle industry and bodywork, with any sense, can realize the problem. On our first attempt to propose Ford?s resolution of this problem we didn?t draw attention to the problem. This time we?re ready to go at it in full force (attorney general, bbb, local & national news outlets, and the federal trade commission) if Ford doesn?t find a fair way to compensate us. The issue being the first panel being defective and cracked allowing us to drive around in a junky looking vehicle; replacing the product for $500 which still had the issue and once again we?re driving around with a junky looking vehicle; resale value has been compromised. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration in hopefully resolving this issue.

Went to load stuff into the back and noticed a spider crack on the plastic panel right below the rear glass panel. I have no idea how it got there but this seems to be reported by almost all 05 Explorer owners and it needs to be replaced under Ford's liability since it is such a common issue and not just a small amount of vehicles occurring this problem.