Automatic Emergency Braking problems of the 2020 Ford Explorer

The abs failed and my car break system went out while on the highway with two small kids. Very dangerous.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact's husband stated while driving 60 mph, the brake pedal was depressed, and the vehicle failed to respond. The forward collision avoidance automatic emergency braking warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and was diagnosed with a possible sensor failure or transmission failure. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 37,000.

We had an issue where the abs light came on going down the road. If you applied the brakes the dash would say release parking brakes and then the vehicle did not want to stop when I actually needed too.

At approximately 30k miles (but after the 5 year warrantee had expired) the car started giving warnings about the brake system failing even though the brakes worked properly. Shortly after that, and without any warning indicators on the dash, the car began jerking when applying the brakes and down shifting at 35 mph. In the 4 months since the problem started, the jerking has become violent and other issues have begun. It also jerks when downshifting at 25 mph occasionally. It has a problem upshifting in gears 1-4, especially (but not only) when accelerating quickly. It seems that the gears are slipping. The engine revs higher because the gears are not properly shifting. My 18 month old child, my wife, and I have been put at risk driving in a vehicle that fails to shift properly accelerating through intersections and stopping at intersections. Both a Ford dealership and an independent auto repair shop have duplicated the problem and said the car needs either a new transmission ($8k) or to replace parts in the existing tranny that would cost $6k. Evidently there is a TSB from Ford on this issue, but not a recall. Ford has refused to offer financial assistance.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the parking assist was inoperable, and the reverse automatic emergency braking was inoperable. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that the sensors needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The contact used a scanning tool and determined that the failure was still present. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The manufacturer was contacted and referred the contact to the NHTSA hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 61,000.

Driving down the highway 65mph, cruise on, car makes an abrupt violent jerk forward, tires squeal, and car starts fishtailing across all lanes of traffic. Seems as if car spontaneously slammed on the brakes. Nothing crossed in front of the vehicle, nothing in the road, both hands were on the wheel, feet resting on the floorboard. Nothing displayed on the console. Once control was regained car drove per usual, no issues.

360 cameras are foggy and cannot see out of them causing false readings on parking alerts. This is the same issue the f150s have a recall about but there is not one for the Explorer. The foggy display is getting worse over time. Hard to tell by the picture but in not very bright areas out of direct sun you cannot see anything on the 360 camera.

On 3/22 I was driving my 2020 Explorer east bound on mississippi Ave just past the havana intersection in aurora, CO when all kind of warning lights lit up on the dashboard. (parking brake engaged, pre collision prevention system failure, abs light, check break system and other warning lights as well) the vehicle had a hard time stopping when I applied brakes almost caused a collision.

Vehicle would suddenly slam on breaks when breaking and stalled changing gears. We have had it looked at and it is in engine failure - the vehicle is only 3 years old.

Intermittent non-functional backup camera and brake assist after Ford dealer applied a fix for backup camera failure. Backup camera blue/black screen error was not present before dealer applied “fix”.

Drivers assist failed and caused me to cross lanes into the cable barrier on interstate 40 causing 18,000 dollars worth of damage now the parking assist no longer works.

Braking system stopped working. I had no breaks on the highway! all systems lit up on my dash. Thankfully I was able to coast down the side of road in neutral until the car stopped. Whole time I was holding the brake down to the floor. Upon stopping it automatically threw into park. I turned the car off and then started again and everything seemed fine. I was scared to death to even drive it any further. I took it to the dealership to have it looked at. I see this is a problem with 2020 Explorers and it needs to recalled. Someone is going be seriously injured or even die in the event of a wreck from this issue.

While driving on a busy , high speed road the pre collision error message came on the screen. It felt like the truck started applying brakes causing us to jerk. Although I tried I could not accelerate. Several error messages were sent to the Ford app about the powertrain. This put my kids and my safety in jeopardy. Our speed was greatly reduced and someone easily could have hit us. This is the second time I’m taking this truck in for service with the same problem. I have less than 25 k miles on this truck. This should not be happening.

Rear backup camera incorrectly sensed an obstruction behind vehicle and caused emergency braking with no visible obstruction. We were unable to pull out of the parking spot and had to jump a curb to leave. No further incident has been experienced,.

Automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning . The systems did not perform as they where designed to. No the problem was not looked at by the company. As far as I know Ford never looked at the vehicle. No warning of any kind showed up on the vehicle before the collision.

Vehicle started, but then every warning lamp and alert triggered on the dashboard and engine shut off. Would not restart, but would just cycle through error/alert messages. Waited 15 minutes, car started but upon putting it in reverse with foot on the brake the car started to drive backwards. No amount of pressure on the brake pedal stopped the car. Had to depress and repress the pedal to stop the vehicle after shifting into gear. Rear cameras failed to activate as well. Thankfully, no one was behind the vehicle and injured. This is the second time this has happened and the second time I have reported to NHTSA. The Ford dealership is oblivious to the root cause of the issue. Their quick fix is a battery replacement and software reload.

The backing aid camera turns blue out of nowhere when put in reverse gear, which causes the parking warning system to fail, the forward collision warning turned on by itself while driving on the freeway, there were absolutely no cars or objects in front at the time, causing the SUV to abruptly come to a complete stop, putting my self and my family at risk of being hit by a vehicle in the back. This is absolutely unacceptable.

I have a 2020 Explorer platinum. I have owned it for less than 30 days. Mileage at time of accident is 6853. I was traveling on a two lane country road, there was about one inch of fresh snow on the road. I was driving 20mph. I came to an s curve that I was familiar with. I slowed to 10mph. I began my turn to the right, I lost all steering, was fighting with the wheel, then slid into a guard rail. Body damage was mild/moderate. However steering was out at that point. I received a flurry of error messages hill start assist not available / reverse brake assist not available / pre-collision assist not available / service advance trac. I notified both my insurance and Ford motor company. I towed it home myself. Then it was towed from my home to the dealer.

My 2020 Explorer st is displaying 4wd fault, drive mode unavailable, service 4wd. Reverse brake assist not available. The info screen stay black and will not load. The vehicle also displays pre collision fault and brakes hard on a clear and open road. Vehicle breaks by itself when reversing. The vehicle is also displaying numerous other faults. Vehicle will start on it's own. The break petal goes to the floor. The vehicle will sometimes break hard on it's own at highway speeds.

Several times when the rear camera just doesn't work - no particular reason but it's just out. It usually resumes normal operation after shutting off the car and restarting but sometimes I've had to shutdown and restart more than once (see picture from most recent issue). The emergency breaking system, particularly when moving in reverse has engaged unexpectedly numerous times without warning and without any danger or obstructions in the way of my car. This has happened in my driveway well before the sidewalk and when there have been no people are animals anywhere nearby. This has also happened at other times and places beyond my driveway and I've had the emergency breaking system engaged while in drive and stopped at a stop light. There have been other unusual electrical issues where that aren't necessarily safety related but might indicate a broader electrical issue. For example, the radio often doesn't work or respond to commands to change channels, volume, etc.

2020 Ford Explorer st with approximately 5,200 miles. Yesterday, I started the vehicle and put it into reverse and it started to roll backwards even though my foot was on the brake. Regardless of how hard I pushed the brake, the car continued to lunge backward until I fully depressed/repressed the brake. With my foot on the brake the vehicle continued to move. This same event occurred a few months ago but when in drive and the vehicle continued to lunge forward despite my foot full pressing the brake as much as possible. I shut off the vehicle, waited a few minutes, and attempted to restart. Restarted without issue. Today, I attempted to start the car and all lights on the dashboard began flashing and the engine failed to turnover. The in-dash display then began beeping, flashing all service/hazard/warning indicators, and cycling through the following error messages: - steering assist fault service required; - see manual (with wrench icon indicating powertrain fault); - front camera fault service required; - service advancetrac; - full accessory power active; - park brake fault service now; - pre-collision assist not available; - check park aid; - reverse brake assist not available see manual; - hill descent control fault; - normal cruise active adaptive braking off; I turned off the vehicle and attempted a few more restarts ranging in intervals from an immediate start/stop, 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes without success (same error messages displayed as described above). My next attempt was a few hours later and the vehicle started without error, but did not give any indication that the vehicle had failed to start the previous time and the �powertrain fault� wrench icon remained lit.

While making a turn around under the freeway, I saw an upcoming SUV stopped for cross traffic. By the time I was where the SUV was I saw the SUV accelerate to merge. I checked over my shoulder for the cross traffic unaware the SUV had stopped again in front of me. My SUV's collision warning and braking system never engaged or alerted me. I ended up rear ending the SUV in front of me causing a fended bender.