Table 1 shows one common exterior lighting related problems of the 2021 Ford Explorer.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Exterior Lighting problems |
Adaptive headlamps keep going out causing a safety issue.
Led low beam headlight failures. Our 1st headlight failure occurred in January 2025 at 51,248 miles (passengers side), our 2nd failure occurred in December 2025 at 64,356 miles (drivers side). My claim is Ford decided to embrace led technology with out properly performance testing it. Led headlights are new on the Explorer platform since 2020, the platinum & st trims are the only ones that utilizes led's to my knowledge. The design intent was life of car which clearly is not occurring. Ford should have completed more testing and/or designed a serviceable headlight for all internal components. The cost of these lights is astronomical ($1600 a pop w/o labor or diagnosis fee). As reference we also own a 2006 Audi s4 & a 2012 f150 XLT. The Audi has ~170k miles on it and the f150 has ~130k miles on it. Both have the original headlights and bulbs within them. Both older technology and both still working as intended. The headlights in the 2021 car both failed in terms of the low beam led components failing in under 4 years. Seems to be a common issue in over 50% of 6th generation platinum trim level explores on the market. Numerous others have experience similar issues. Asking for a recall for these. Again only on platinum & st trims so not nearly as many at the average XLT level trims.
Vehicle low beam headlights went out all of the sudden. Would not come back on after car was turned off and restarted. Drove home with high beams on. Next day, just the driver side low beam came back on. Took to dealer, they reprogrammed and headlights worked for three days, then went passenger low beam went out again. Took back to dealer and now they are telling me both headlamp control modules on both sides need replacing. The cost is very expensive and I am doubting this is the problem. This is a safety issue and I am reading blogs and the platinum version of the Explorer seem to have issues. This could cause an accident and Ford could be liable. This issue needs to be looked at, as this should not be an issue for a car with 50k miles on it.
Led light issue. Passenger side low beam. Lifetime of led should be 45,000 hours or 12-15 years. It is not working. Ford needs to generate a repair also current warrantee work needs to be completed including the rear camera.
Headlamps stay lit even in auto lamp mode. Indicator on the dial does not display which mode or setting the lights are in. This has occurred numerous times and seems to have increased frequency.
Vehicle blinker works at fast rate at all times. In the event that one of the rear turn signals stops working, the vehicle will not adjust the turn signal flash rate frequency to warn the driver that a turn signal is not working correctly. Federal motor vehicle safety standard number 108, "lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment. " Ford says 'fast' blinker on all Explorer st's is by design and normal.