general problems of the 2016 Ford Explorer - part 1

Driving down the NJ turnpike the dashboard started displaying lane assist no longer available along with a check engine light. Once stopped the front of the car had been burned with parts of the bumper melted. No visible fire at that time. Had the vehicle towed to holman Ford. They assessed the damage to the Explorer and it was determined that the front facing camera had shorted causing an electrical fire that damaged the camera and front bumper writing harness along with the engine wiring harnesses. The car has been deemed a total loss due to the fire. The vehicle on has 67000 miles on it to date.

Intermittently, the vehicle's backup camera displays a blank (black) image when the vehicle is placed in reverse. The issue resolves its self by turning the vehicle off and back on.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the keypad detached and flew off the driver’s side door. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The contact referenced an unknown recall; however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was filed. The contact was advised to contact the NHTSA hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 104,000.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 25v347000 (structure); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that water was entering the cabin of the vehicle through the a-pillar and b-pillar trims, sunroof, and doors. The contact stated that the water had started to affect various electrical systems. The contact stated that the a/c unit failed to cool as prior to the failure. Additionally, the turn signals failed to self-deactivate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and opened a case. The failure mileage was 142,000. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

See attached document for complaint.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the sunroof opened independently, and an abnormal burning odor was coming from inside the vehicle. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and was pending a diagnostic test. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 104,000. The VIN was not available.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the front passenger side door was opened, and the contact noticed water on the carpet after it had rained overnight. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that on another occasion, while driving 25 mph, during a rainstorm, the contact noticed water leaking from the front windshield. Additionally, there was water leaking from the dome light into the vehicle. The contact became aware of failures with the electrical system. However, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired due to the cost for the most recent failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the nhsta hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

I was driving 55mph (speed limit) down a curvy country road when the steering wheel became stiff and wouldn’t turn. A red light flashed and said I had lost steering. I was barely able to get stopped before going of a steep embankment. I was stoped in a dangerous spot with no way get out of oncoming traffic. My vehicle flashed a yellow light that said terrain management system failure. No only was my life risk everyone that traveled down that road that morning. This included a school bus full of children and several other people that were trying to make it so work just like me.

The problem remedied by TSB 21b11-s2 did not occur in my vehicle while the TSB was in effect. It has now surfaced.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact received notifications of NHTSA campaign numbers: 19v435000 (suspension), 24v031000 (structure), and 25v347000 (structure). However, the parts to do the recall repairs for 24v031000 (structure) and 25v347000 (structure) were not yet available. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the driver's side a-pillar detached from the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, while the vehicle was idle and the contact was dropping off her child at school, the rear passenger seat caught on fire. The contact had turned on the seat warning, and when the daughter exited the vehicle, an abnormal burnt smell was coming from the back seat. The contact then noticed smoke was emitting from the seat. The contact pulled over to the side of the road, turned off the engine, and put out the fire. The seat was damaged beyond repair, and the wires were exposed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired for the most recent failure. No fire and police reports were filed. There were no injuries sustained. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was unknown. VIN tool confirms parts are not available.

Rack & pinion went out while driving . Ford dealer said it’s on back order a lot of vehicles have done it . Had complete steering loss in the mist of driving down road. It’s electrical .

Randomly, the power steering, abs, and traction control went out on my car. There are thousands of others with this issue and previous years of this car have already had a recall relating to this issue.

Randomly whilst driving, my dash had multiple error messages pop up and my power steering went out completely. The error messages were as follows: service advancetrac, terrain management system fault, hill start assist not available, & power steering assit fault. This keeps happening intermittently, while I am driving. This causes a serious safety issue, for my steering wheel to lock up while I am driving! I did get the codes for the errors and they are as follows: u0420-41, c0051-67, u0151-00, u0131-00. My abs system failed check, as well. This is a known issue with Ford vehicles, as there have already been recalls for previous models. . Read more...

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving 30 mph, the a/c unit became inoperable. The vehicle was driven to a dealer and an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that there was a leak in the a/c unit. The contact was informed that the a/c unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 19,000.

All of my warning notifications (911 assist, airbag, front camera, parking assist, lane departure, lane keeping, etc. ) turn on after 10 minutes of driving or turning on ac/heat. I was told by Ford dealer that the steering column control module cluster needs to be replaced and that there is a backorder for the part meaning it is unknow when the part will be available ($1450 for repair plus $175 for diagnose). I have been waiting a month already and still no update. Dealer also said that they hope it will fix the problem but no knowing until it is done.

The rear camera, mounted on the lift gate, is no longer operating correctly. At times, it will flicker off and on, camera picture 'rolls', or does not work at all (black screen with error message - "camera is no longer operational, contact the dealership"). These incidents with the camera have occurred multiple times each month over the last year. When reversing in the dark especially, this becomes a major safety issue. Currently do not see a NHTSA or Ford recall for this defect.

The water pump failed vehicle only has around 105,225 miles on it. This has been a known issue with the 3. 5l twin turbo ecoboost. The water and coolant continuously coming out happens to be on the alternator which has caused it to short out and no longer be working properly. There has not been any kind of malfunction or warning lights for any of the issues and because of the way Ford designed the water pump to be inside the motor working off the timing chain it turns into what the book lists at 14-15 hours to complete. The motor has to come out taken apart to replace the water pump and with that not just one but both timing chains have to be set again which adds additional hours for the repair and of course more money to take it to a Ford shop to have it fixed the rough estimate which they said did not include the labor for the timing chains being set nor the price of any of the parts needed as I have already purchased them myself so only labor for the water pump (not including timing chains) is about $4,350. 00 + tax of course but they said that would increase because of the labor for the timing chains that you have no option or choice regarding having to work on them or not because of the water pump. Oh and none of that includes rental fees while repaired nor the price to get and replace the alternator and labor for that. So my guess would be somewhere around $6,000 give or take to fix this disaster and Ford does not care about their known failed design and flawed water pump issues and expect someone to be able to fork out that kind of money instead of trying to help fix there issue.

Stereo/ inside lights turn off randomly. Unable to know if others can see if blinkers are on or not. Has not been checked due to high out of pocket cost through dealership. No warning lights ever come on from the times the issues have occurred.

There has been many reports of electronic steering issue where it would just swerve you off the road and loose full control while driving for years 2013-2015 cars but 2016 years are also being effected. A dealership confirmed it was an electronic steering rack causing the issue. No warning lamps had went off either.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that rainwater had leaked into the driver's side b-pillar trim panel causing electrical failures to occur which included the battery failure and the keyless entry failure. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 125,000.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving in the rain, water leaked inside the vehicle from the dome light. No warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that the moonroof failed to function as intended and was no longer able to be opened. The contact stated that there was mold on the front driver's side and front passenger's side seats, as well as inside the cupholders. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, no cause for the failure was found. The vehicle was not repaired. However, the contact was informed that the moonroof assembly needed to be repaired. The contact had a friend inspect the vehicle and found a burnt wire underneath the steering wheel unit. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 153,000.

Vehicle sat for a little more than a week, and battery dies has happened multiple times. I consider this a safety issue, because I cannot leave my car for longer than a week. If I go on a trip, and coming back to a dead battery in the middle of the night is clearly unsafe. Battery is 1 1/2 months old, replaced it because it kept dying after a week to one and a half weeks of sitting. Dealer confirmed, parasitic draw, but says it’s within spec and nothing they can do about it. Suggestion from dealer, was leave the car on a trickle charger. If you look on Ford Explorer groups, this is a rampant problem with the Ford Explorer dating back years.

The car will give an error “service charging system now” the car will then lose power steering and the ability to give it gas. Eventually , minutes later it will completely lose all power while in use. This has happened on several occasions, started in 2023. Had it checked and nothing was found and again it happened 01/15/2025.

Faulty power steering making noise while turning, difficult while driving because power steering seems to be failing. Making it hazardous to drive because it is difficult to keep straightforward in the road. Day before occurrence the back hatch (lift gate is ajar) would not open and shows light on dashboard and not sure if it's electrical or related to power steering. Only open manually through back of vehicle.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that on several occasions while driving at various speeds, the air bag warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the second-row seat wiring harness plugs were damaged and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 109,000.

Water pump blew up at 120k miles, motor locked up leaving me in the middle of the road.

Vehicle is experiencing a loss of power steering at all speeds. Steering stiffens and loosens erratically. Repair shop reports failure to electronic steering system and state that a replacement of the electronic steering gear assembly is required.

The power liftgate stop working. The liftgate light on dashboard shows liftgate open and the power liftgate does not work open nor closes.

I was driven down in orlando FL while on vacation and 3 notifications popped up on the screen back to back. I pressed ok to clear the notifications off the screen because I was unsure what they meant. I soon lost control of my vehicle and was unable to steer. I ended up veering into another lane and almost hit another vehicle. My boyfriend grabbed the wheel from the passenger side to help straighten it up. I was thankful that incident did not harm my family or the other family. I get it towed to pepboys and they inform me I need a new rack and pinion installed and that was going to run me up to $4500. I was also told in the same sentence that the part I needed was out of stock or unavailable pretty much everywhere. I contact another shop and receive a cheaper quote but still no part is available. I contact Ford and speak to an agent. Not very helpful at all. I mentioned I was looking up the part online and read there are recalls on that. The representative asks for my VIN and she tells me there is a recall however not for my VIN. I’m livid. Here it is going into August and still no parts are available. Ford never will I ever buy another vehicle with that name on it. Found on road dead is basically coming to light.

Everytime my ac/heat is on it affects my engine as I’m driving. My speedometer fast jumps. As soon as I turn it off it seems to run better. I made a complaint a week ago about something going on with my fuel and fan running high speed. I have a foul smell in my car. I thought for awhile it was something outside but now I believe it’s coming from my car. It smells like fuel/rubber/sewer if that makes sense.

The display screen keeps rebooting and not available. Its a safety issue as the backup camera is not available for sometimes up to 10 minutes.

My vehicle had a rear seat air bag recall. I brought the vehicle in for the recall and during a test of the airbag system the driver side air bag had a fault and the harness was replaced. Ford indicated that the vehicle airbag system is operational. I got a airbag light come on the dash and an appointment was made. They told me that the passenger side airbag harness is defective. They would not repair the issue because they said that the recall had been resolved and this is a new one? I feel that they did not resolve the issue since it is a electrical harness issue that needed a recall for the entire vehicle. Since they said the fixed the driver side they will not honor the recall. I feel this is not fair for the consumer and the safety of the passengers. I feel that there should be another recall on all airbags electrical harness. I feel that they did not complete the job since it was the same issue that caused the recall for the rear seat should cover all airbags in the vehicel.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while the vehicle was at the dealer for customer satisfaction program: 21n01 (high speed fan motor relay) the dealer diagnosed that the water pump was faulty, causing the air conditioner fan to fail to deactivate. The dealer declined to perform the repair because the vehicle was out of warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to file a complaint with the NHTSA hotline. The failure mileage was 41,785.

My fuel evap pump check engine light keeps coming on. I’ve owned this vehicle since July 2022 and I have paid for the evap pump 3x’s. My fan constantly runs in the engine. My engine has a stutter when I press the gas. Ford absolutely dropped the ball with this vehicle. I have already paid thousands of dollars (water pump, evap pumps and more) please help on getting this car serviced. I still owe like 20k on this car. I cannot afford to keep getting it fixed. I have 121k miles on it.

Rack and pinion power steering rack stopped working while my wife was driving back home with our two kids that are 4 years old and 9 months old. Thankful she didn't crash because she was unable to steer the vehicle. No warnings or signs of the part going bad. Ford should be held responsible for issues like this. Numerous people are having the same issue.