general problems of the 2020 Ford Explorer - part 1

I previously reported a safety issue re. Brakes not working in park. Vehicle rolled back and car almost hit mom and young daughter walking behind vehicle in parking lot. When I brought it to bellford in [xxx] they told me it was not covered under the recall since it wasn’t being caused by rear axle. Instead they wanted to charge me $3,000 to diagnose their manufacturing defect. In addition when I notified Ford rep who never said anything other then I must get car diagnosed and pay for it and then “we will see . ” Ford complaint xxx and I believe this is the NHTSA complaint # xxx. Here is my initial Ford complaint cxh-xxx was closed without explanation no one could tell me why no one had contacted me. I am very concerned that Ford is not taking responsibility for defective cars. My car now has only 47k. Brake issue. I had to replace front boots due to leaking and front axle was leaking. I had that fixed and now rear back up camera isn’t working. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Parking brake won't disengage. Cannot drive or reverse.

Vehicle was engaged in park with parking brake on, I put my foot on brake applying pressure & shifted out of park to drive. As I disengaged parking brake vehicle pushed forward 10 feet forcing me to take my foot off brake & reapply pressure to stop vehicle.

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

Electronic brake booster has failed. Ford has issued a customer service bulletin to address however ended the program in 2022. This needs to be turned into a recall as it could easily lead to a fatality if not addressed and replaced. Speaking with Ford they have done numerous replacements of these.

The wiring is faulty. We have had electrical issues since buying this vehicle. The car is not old- I turned my car on put it into reverse and all these lights popped up saying there’s electrical issues and it can’t work and the brakes legitimately did not work. We almost went into traffic from a business with no ability to break. For a 4-5 year old car this should not even be a thing I feel like. And it should not be having this serious electrical issues. Everything electrical in the car is not working and the fuses are fine according to the mechanic. Si we are going down the list of issues that could be an issue. But he is saying the wiring could just be faulty. Which is scary because it almost cost me and my oldest child our lives.

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.

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? - driveline, brakes, acceleration, and steering. Ford and 2 dealerships now refuse to take my complaints seriously even though I’m willing to pay diagnosis fees for them too try to figure out what the issue is. Yes available. How was your safety or the safety risk? - delay and at times complete lack of braking and acceleration, being unable to steer, accelerating when braking and vehicle moving when in park. The vehicle shakes, wobbles, vibrates and chimys. Vehicle warning lights have flashed only to be gone in 2 seconds. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer? yes and no. Initially many parts in the driveline including the transfer case was replaced. The vehicle went into the dealership multiple times because the symptoms kept returning. However, now the same dealership refuses to take the vehicle back because they couldn’t figure out what the issue was and now the second dealership is trying to push back and even accepting my money to take a look at the vehicle. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? the manufacturer including Ford engineers. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? the warning lights seem to appear and then disappear as quickly as they show up. I have tried to log some of them, but sometimes I do not get to see it in time as when starting the car I’m closing my door and out putting my seat belt on. There have been multiple cars for this vehicle, including customer satisfaction programs. The most recent one a steering torque sensor failure posted on the NHTSA site as well as Ford. However on Ford’s website, it is being misrepresented as a loose seatbelt (see attachment). I don’t believe they are being transparent. There are recalls that I believe are excluding vins purposefully.

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.

The vehicle is equipped with electric power brakes which will intermittently stop working resulting in no power brakes. It doesn't warn you that the pump has stopped working just a very hard brake pedal and no braking effort, failure to slow down.

When slowing down around 27mph car downshifts so hard it jerks. If someone would have been behind me they would have probably hit me.

The lift ajar lights came on, lift wont lock so it goes back up umless I push it down manually but the warning light “lift ajar” keeps going on everytime I turn the engine on. Im afraid that the lift would open up while im driving .

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.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at undisclosed speeds, the passenger’s side rear brakes were scraping. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer for NHTSA campaign number: 23v675000 (power train). The vehicle was repaired; however, the brake failure persisted. The manufacturer was not notified about the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 40,000.

We turned the vehicle on and a parking brake error came up on the dashboard followed by the dashboard lighting up with a lot of warnings. The vehicle was turned off and back on but continued with the error. Because we were out at a store and not home, we tried to drive it. We placed it in reverse and when put in drive, the brakes did not work with engaged. There was a small bumped that was able to stop the vehicle. I called Ford and they offered to run diagnostics on the vehicle for next week but could not guarantee a paid rental for the length of time needed for the repair. After exiting the vehicle, letting it rest for 5 minutes and restarting again, we were able to drive home with the brakes working again.

The rear left brake caliper locked up and caused damage to the wheel, tire, rotors and most of the brake assembly. Ford service thought that maybe a bolt fell out. The vehicle has ~36000 miles. I purchased what was called a bumper to bumper warranty from the dealership but was told it did not cover the problem. The damage is $3200. I looked at online forums and found numerous entries about the brake caliper issues. A parts employee at a dealership told me the part (l1mz2b511c) was on national backorder due to a "quality" problem. Ford customer service said they would not cover the repair because there is no recall.

2020 Ford Explorer purchased in January 2021. Since owning this vehicle, we have experienced numerous (10+) situations where at a light or entering traffic with our foot on the brake pedal and waiting to proceed the car starts to acerate on its own and jump forward 4'-6' before it stops. I have visited my dealer jones Ford in charleston, SC and reported this issue a couple of times over the past few years. As usual they were unable to replicate the issue in shop or find a service code that relates to this problem. On Thursday, November 16, 2023, while horizontally parking my vehicle in georgetown, SC in front of an electrical pole (with support wires holding it in place), with my foot on the brake pedal coming to a stop, the engine acerated and jumped the curb hitting the steel wires causing damage to my front and right side. The following Monday, November 20th I brought the Explorer into the dealer to investigate the problem since it was still under an extended warranty. After spending a week at the dealer, they return the vehicle unable to find anything wrong and charged me over $200 for a service inspection (invoice included). At that point I contacted Ford customer service directly and after numerous calls and emails they denied that anything was wrong with my Explorer and closed the case (email included). Since January 2024, I have incurred 5 additional occurrences, and the last one was last week while I was parking the car in reverse. . . It jumped and struck the parked vehicle behind me. Thank goodness there was no damage to either vehicle. Over the past weekend in continuing to research this problem I came across an ap article from June 2023 discussing this problem with 2020-22 Ford Explorers (article included). This is why I am lodging this complaint; Ford was well a where of this dangerous situation that my wife and I faced over the years. When the vehicle would acerate it was very scary, and you honestly were not positive the car would stop.

Was at a complete stop heading westbound on state road 200 at amelia island parkway (rd name?) at approximately 9:35 am. I was behind a semi truck in the right hand lane. No one was ahead of him. There were two cars in the left hand lane, no one in the turning lane onto amelia island parkway. I decided to get into the left lane behind those two cars so I wasn’t stuck behind the semi. I very slowly moved to the left lane, pushed on the brake the first time and kept moving, second time pushed as hard as I could and kept rolling, now close to hitting the car ahead of me. I immediately put the vehicle in park and which also activated the parking brake. The light turned green and I put the car back into drive and drove no faster than probably 45 mph. Stopped into the ulta parking lot parked and called paul clark Ford who insisted I bring the car in right away. Drove approx 2-5 min to paul clark Ford slowly. Ford was not able to reproduce the issue. No warning lamps came on.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the brake warning light was illuminated. The brake pedal was engaged and continued to depress independently. After turning off the vehicle, an abnormal sound was detected. The contact stated that while driving, there was a line on the screen. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was referred to the local dealer. The contact called the local dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed down a steep driveway, upon depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle failed to come to a complete stop. The driver was able to bring the vehicle to a complete stop by shifting into park. The hill stop control and abs warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not yet diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened. The failure mileage was 45,200.

After starting vehicle it rolled when placed out of park while foot was on break and the emergency break was still engaged. There was no pressure and all warning lights associated with pre-collision, hill start, and antilock break fault were flashing across screen only while trying to stop and break from rolling. My safety and others was at risk by rolling into the street I could have been hit by oncoming cars or unable to stop from hitting anyone. My vehicle is maintained at dealer and is kept up on all service and recalls requirements. After vehicle was towed to dealer they were able to find the following TSB https://static. Nhtsa. Gov/odi/tsbs/2020/mc-10177885-0001. Pdf lives are not a technical service bulletin they are a recall.

For months our backup camera would turn blue and not show the rear cameras. Also during this time, on occasion the emergency braking would stop us from backing up and then the brakes would not work. We had a recall on the blue screen software but the breaking has started again.

Drivetrain failure. Vehicle rolled forward while turned off, in park, while on a hill. Break did not respond while rolling (passenger who was still in car tried to lean over the seat to depress the break). Driver ran from behind the vehicle, hopped in (while car was moving!), turned car on, applied break and veered the vehicle right to get the car to stop. Vehicle nearly collided with three pedestrians and a nearby parked car. We have brought this car in to a Ford dealership today. We reported a shuttering that occurred during peak torque while in for service last year - but dealership said they could not replicate.

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.

I started my car via remote start and after entering the vehicle, I hit the start button, depressed the brake and turned the transmission to reverse. Upon rolling back, I noticed the brakes felt funny, not completely stopping me as they should with the amount of pressure I was applying. I proceeded start driving thinking the brakes my fix themselves after letting off and driving forward. I then began to hear dinging, prompting me to look at the dash. It was flashing a bunch of errors: “hill start assist not available”, “pre-collision assist not available”, “service advance trac”, “check brake system”, “hill descent control fault”, 4wd fault service required”, “park break limited function service required”. As I was driving down the road with all of this flashing/ dinging and brakes not completely working, I noticed my emergency brake was on as well. I never use the emergency brake and am unsure how it was switched on. I was able to pull over about a minute down the road and turned the car off and then back on. I tried again to start driving, but had to pull over again 100-200 feet down the road because the dinging, notifications, and brake issues continued. At this point I again, turned the car off and back on. This time it cleared the issue and no more dinging, notifications, or brake issues. This has happened about 3 times. After the first time, I mentioned it to the dealer when servicing my car, but they were unable to find any problems. Each time this happens, I am able to clear it with a restart. I seem to notice it happens with colder temps (under 40 degrees).

When shifting from park to reverse, with foot completely on brake, the car will roll backwards several feet before stopping. Happens multiple times a month. Very dangerous as it rolls back into oncoming vehicles in parking lots. It is difficult to replicate as it is an intermittent problem. There is no prompting by the vehicle that there is an issue before hand. The only notable difference is the brakes are very firm while the vehicle is rolling and cannot be pressed in further.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that on various occasions after starting the vehicle, the brake system warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the warning light disappeared after driving; however, the failure persisted whenever starting the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 20,000.

I hit my brakes at a traffic light and the dash board lite up. With the following messages. Service advance trac, 4wd fault service required, see manual, hill start asst not available, auto hold fault, tooknto dealer tried to charge $600 for a diagnostic, codes were ran all codes are communication codes. Have no abs brakes. Took to another shop they couldn't figure it out. Called Ford. They refer back to dealer who what's to charge more money for diagnostics and the 33 codes they say are in the computer. Big safety issues. Happened just after 60,000 miles before looking at it dealer stated it wouldn't be covered under powertrain warranty anyway. Can't upload photos from phone for some reason.

When I release the parking brake and put the car in reverse, the car starts to roll while my foot is still actively pressing the brake. Brake pedal feels locked. It’s happened a handful of times but is not consistent and hard to replicate. This, of course, puts anyone in my car in danger and anyone around my car. I’ve taken it to the dealership and elevated it to corporate, but they say they can’t do anything since they can’t replicate it on site. Based on website forums, this is a common issue. When it happens, there are no warning lights or anything indicators. Again, to summarize, car rolls when brake is pressed intermittently.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while having a routine oil change completed at the local dealer, she was informed about a recall update. The contact stated that while driving, the electronic parking brake engaged when vehicle was in park or driving. While shifting to drive or reversing, the vehicle jerked. The auto start and stop features were disengaged. Additionally, the brakes were continuously grabbing. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken back to the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified and referred contact to NHTSA the approximate failure mileage was 19,624.

My car warnings were malfunctioning as they were all flashing on briefly. The car has done this before and has other issues with the panel such as now it has the icon for camera visibility is not working. I cleaned each camera and the light is still on. I backed out of the driveway put the car in drive and started to accelerate. I stepped on the brakes and they were not working, I repeatedly tried to stop but they were gone. My car finally stopped (I was not far enough to have started to build any speed. I turned the car off and back on and the brakes were back on. This happened March 31st, 2022.

This has happened multiple times. Start the vehicle and put into drive while the brake pedal is fully depressed and the car will move forward. While it is in motion you can hear what sounds like the anti-lock system activating. You have to pump the brakes as I assume the master cylinder has lost pressure. It does this randomly and is not repeatable. If this ever happens and someone or another car is around it could be a very bad day.

I was driving down the road and several sensor malfunction warnings started to pop up including an antilock brake fault. I was in traffic and needed to slow down but the brake system was non responsive when I applied normal pressure to the brake. I had to attempt braking with all my force before car slowly started to brake. I nearly was in an accident but fortunately was able to pull off to the side until car was able to fully stop.

It has happened several times over last year. When car is put in reverse the brakes barely work and car doesn’t stop well. Almost like no power brakes. Once put in drive, the brakes work correctly.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 mph and slowing down for a traffic light he had brake failure and crashed at low speed into the rear of a vehicle already stopped at the traffic light. The contact stated that he was pumping the brakes and was not able to stop. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that there was damage to the right front passenger side of his vehicle and was unable to determine the damage to the other vehicle. The police were called and wrote a report. There were no injuries and the contact had the vehicle towed to his home and later towed to a dealer. The local dealer diagnosed that there were no problems with the brakes. The vehicle damage was repaired but not the brakes. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,000.