general problems of the 2021 Ford Explorer - part 1

Recently purchased a vehicle that had just previously got a recall 23s55 3 weeks prior. Upon receiving the vehicle there was a slight clicking noise when going into gear. I took the vehicle to a Ford dealer and they investigated the recall remedy was installed improper from the dealership and the vehicle was unsafe to drive the rear subframe of the car moves and has free play which made is very unsafe to drive . . While calling the dealership back that did the recall work they refused to take responsibility . I then put in a repair order through Ford and they denied repairs for the recall mishap . I am being stuck with a $3500 bill for a recall that was installed improper.

Sun roof fabric/covering came off tracks and is now sagging. Many forums on this issue. When driving if windows are down, the fabric flaps in the wind and sounds like it will fly off. I no longer drive with the windows down. If it continues to sag, could obstruct rear view.

The drivers side door latch mechanism malfunctions and causes the door to unlatch or does not allow the door to latch. This is a safety hazard. I know two other Ford owners with vehicles after 2021 that is having this same issue. This calls for a recall!.

Panaromic sunroof blind became lose and is sagging, causing an unsafe driving experience, making it difficult to see out rear view mirrors.

The sunroof shade is sagging. It broke from one day to the next, and it’s blocking my rear view.

The sunroof shade cover has become unattached to the rollers on the sunroof track. This causes sagging of the sunroof sunshade, and limits visibility while driving.

The sliding roof mechanism for the sunroof failed and droops into the backseat impairing vision. This can be triggered accidentally while driving causing zero rear visibility. This is part of the sun roof that is the shade keeping the sun out of the car. With extremely little use on my 2021 Ford Explorer this mechanism has failed causing this dangerous malfunction. I found may posts in facebook describing this same issue. [xxx] there’s just one example of many people having this issue. There’s component was taken to the Ford dealership where I was provided a verbal quote of more than $4,000 to fix, which is not feasible. There were no warning signs. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

When operating the sunshade a plastic clip sprung from the assembly mechanism that retracts the shade towards my face. Now the shade is obstructing my vision of the road and I am concerned that I am going to run over someone and/or something.

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.

My vehicle is experiencing exhaust fume issue where the exhaust fumes are entering into the cabin for Explorer and aviator models (any model with the 3. 0l ecoobost). Upon inspection by 3rd party mechanic, it can be determined that the problematic catalytic converters that are not the one piece cast was installed on my vehicle from the factory. Speaking to other st and interceptor owners, the problem seems widespread to every 2021 model that Ford installed the multipiece welded catalytic converters. Apparently the cast part fairs better and is not subject to cracks. The recall originally covered the left side catalytic converter but the flawed design also affects the right side catalytic converter where many owners are experiencing this issue. This has affected all 3. 0l ecoboost engine vehicles. [xxx] I believe the recall should have extended to cover all 2020 and 2021 model year vehicles. There are forum posts where owners outside the recall have experienced the issue in addition to owners having to repeatedly replace the catalytic converters post warrant as Ford continued to reinstall bad catalytic converters as part of the repair process. I have driven this vehicle for several thousand miles with the issue and did not realize exhaust was leaking until notices of headaches and health issues as CO is odorless, causing co2 levels to reach 3000+ inside the cabin at stop lights and blows in through the vents if a/c is on. I believe NHTSA should investigate this issue further and require Ford to replace both catalytic converters as this issue poses a serious health hazard, especially given the location of the exhaust leak and the commonplace occurrence. I am happy to forward to forums and provide evidence of this occurring. Ford considers lifetime of the vehicle to be ~150k miles and these exhausts do not last close to that, resulting in a massive expense and danger to us consumers. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I bought my 2021 Ford Explorer limited brand new. I have never used the sunroof for my personal pleasure. I have opened it less than a handful of times, only to appease my grandson. The other day, I had my grandaon and I closed the sunroof, for maybe like the 4th time ever, and the sunshade liner started to sag. If this falls while I am driving I am afraid it may blind my driving. Should Ford have to pay for this defect? I am seeing forums all over the internet where this is happening to a lot of owners. Thanks for your time and help.

Roof window cover/headliner has come loose and is impeding full vision to the rear of the car while the headliner is retracted.

Sunroof shade won't open and bind down covering the rear mirror view.

For the past year and a hald I have taken my vehicle to Ford in ontario because it has had numerous incidents that I am at a light and the vehicle complety shuts off. When I have taken it in they return it stating that nothing id wrong with the car. This month alone it has happenned atleatt 5 times. Latest one being this morning on my way to work. It shut off luckyly I am getting faster at 1st pressing on my hazards and then resuming the engine and taking off the parking brake I am in fear of being in a collision. I called dealer today they said all they can do is keep the car again for several days but if nothing is found again I have to pay for the rental car out of pocket. This is crazy as my self and my family are at risk every time the car shuts off we have been blessed not to have been rear ended. There are no warning lamps that turn on.

The auto/stop start system is malfunctioning. When I stop at a stop sign, or to turn left, the vehicle stops, but then does not turn on again when I press the gas pedal. Instead, I have to place the car in park and manually restart the engine. This has happened four times over a 2-month period. Sometimes it takes me 30 seconds to turn the car back on. This is harrowing when I am suddenly stuck in the middle of the road. I took my vehicle to the Ford dealership after it happened three times. They had my vehicle for 3 weeks but could not find anything wrong, and the incident did not happen again. I’ve had my vehicle back for 6 days, and it happened again today at a stop sign. Suddenly, there was a message on my screen to place my car in park and restart the engine. There were many other cars waiting for me to turn.

Panoramic sunroof fail for 2nd time repair is close to 2000$ I’m not going to paid again this is a Ford design issue not a owner fault panoramic roof have some plastic click that hold the shade and they got brake or damage by itself causing the shade felt, Ford rapair is close to 1. 8k$ I paid one when I first bought the car now after the texas freeze when I was closing the system I heard the clicks braking and then we have the same issue with the panoramic shade got weak and there is no way to fixed just the deal and the price is close to 2000$ for a internal design there is several people with this same issue this is a internal fault design not a owner fault.

The sunroof sunshade snapped a clip off and now hangs down blocking the rear view. It is impossible to see out the back window. I have read on multiple sites that this is happening to many of these suvs and it's an extremely expensive and difficult fix. It's very dangerous and I won't even let my girlfriend drive it anymore.

Backup camera has failed again aftyer being programmed twice and replaced once under recall's. But now it's out completely. It has worked off and on since new.

I was stoped at a red light with cars in front of me and behind me when with my foot on the break the car accelerated forward like my foot was on the gas pedal but my foot was not on pedal, the car surged forward and came close to hitting the car in front of me I pressed the break and got stopped didn’t happen again but sometimes I can feel the car wanting to keep surging forward when breaking. If there is a problem this could cause me to hit someone in the rear or even worse could hit a pedestrian in the crosswalk please check this out.

Sun roof clips broke causing sunroof shade to sag.

Automatic roll up sun shade for the sunroof sags and does not retract anymore, causing visibility issues as it droops down. Car is out of factory bumper to bumper warranty, currently 52k miles, and the aftermarket warranty does not cover the shade. Ford quoted over $2000 for fix, when this is a manufacturer's defect and many cars are affected.

The rear axle bolt snapped. Causing the differential to fall out and rear wheel axles and driveshaft to break out of position.

The electronic sunshade that covers the panoramic sunroof has malfunctioned and cannot be retracted fully. The sagging sun shade covers the rear window and blocks the view. I have taken it to the dealership for repair, but it is not covered under my extended warranty and is around $2000. 00 to repair out of pocket. The dealership charged a $199. 99 diagnostic fee to ascertain that it was the sunroof shade that had broken. There were no symptoms or warnings before this happened.

I was driving and pressed the button to open my sunroof (which has a powered sunshade) but the sunshade dropped down on top of the 2nd row seats, blocking my view through my rear view mirror and rear window completely. I made an appointment with my Ford dealer the next day. The dealer had my vehicle for over 30 days waiting for parts to fix the tensioner system that pulls the powered sunshade back in order for the sunroof to open. I've seen in multiple forums online that this has happened to a lot of other people that has this option on their Ford Explorers (2020-2024) models. This was definitely a safety hazard as I was unable to see anything behind me while I was moving and luckily I didn't panic. I pulled over slowly to the soft shoulder in order to try and get the sunshade to at least go back to it's "closed" state which it finally did after trying for a few minutes. I think Ford needs to make this a recall because of the safety issues of this blocking the view of the driver.

Car has a delay when going into reverse & will move forward while in reverse then jerks into reverse. Also has a delay in going into drive from reverse. Not safe to back out into the road or doing a 3 point turn because of the delays. It happens all the time so the incident happens every day for me.

My vehicle is having the blue screen & message to contact my dealer when in reverse. I understand there is a recall for this. I contacted Ford to see why I haven't received a notice & am being told that it only affects certain vehicles yet I'm having the exact issue. It is a safety hazard due to low visibility behind the vehicle when in reverse.

When vehicle is in reverse, the car still moves forward. Dealership said there is no fix. I was almost hit the other day because I couldn’t reverse quick enough.

Sunshade cover for sunroof malfunctioned and it hangs down causing a visibility issue as it obstructs the view from the rear view mirror. After doing a search on reddit and the Ford forum, it seems to be a common issue. My vehicle only has 35,000 miles on it and this should not be happening.

I purchased my Explorer used last March. The window switches, on driver and passenger sides (front seats and rear seats) have the black metal pieces peeling off the switch. Metal pieces are sharp and I continue to cut my fingers on them. The dealer shows the recall did not affect my car, yet they are all in need of replacement. My vehicle has faulty window switches and I am asking Ford to replace them under recall or warranty.

Moon roof cover is sagging and interfering with visibility with the rear view mirror. There have been many incidents of the sagging occurring online in for forums. There have been no warning notices for this issue.

Queja por reparación defectuosa DE recall en mi Ford Explorer estimados señores: por medio DE la presente, me dirijo a ustedes para expresar mi profunda insatisfacción con el servicio recibido en su concesionario relacionado con un problema DE recall en mi Ford Explorer [indicar modelo y año del vehículo], cuya reparación, realizada bajo su supervisión, no ha sido adecuada. En los primeros meses DE 2024, llevé mi vehículo a sus instalaciones debido a un recall emitido por Ford, relacionado con un sonido DE media frecuencia resonante (DE tono profundo) que se manifiesta al conducir a baja velocidad sobre superficies irregulares. Según se me informó, este problema fue causado por un defecto en una pieza, la cual supuestamente fue reemplazada en su momento. Sin embargo, después DE meses DE lidiar con el inconveniente inicial y tras un extenso tiempo DE espera, el problema parecía haberse solucionado temporalmente. Desafortunadamente, en noviembre DE 2024, el problema ha reaparecido exactamente con las mismas características, lo que me lleva a sospechar que no se realizó un reemplazo adecuado DE la pieza defectuosa, sino únicamente un ajuste superficial. Al comunicarme nuevamente con su concesionario, se me ha informado que no pueden hacer nada más porque el supuesto reemplazo ya se realizó. Este tipo DE respuesta ES inaceptable, considerando que: 1. El problema persiste y claramente no fue solucionado DE manera definitiva. 2. El recall original fue emitido para garantizar la seguridad y funcionalidad del vehículo, lo cual no se está cumpliendo. 3. Como cliente, esperaba un servicio honesto y DE calidad, especialmente tratándose DE un problema cubierto por un recall oficial. Solicito formalmente que este caso sea reabierto y revisado nuevamente, ya que mi confianza en la calidad DE los servicios proporcionados se ha visto seriamente afectada. Espero que Ford y su concesionario asuman la responsabilidad correspondiente y brinden una solución definitiva al problema.

I bought the car brand new in 2021. It handled great, no issues, not even on extremely icy roads. The temporary fix for recall 22s27 was done in July 2023 which was just a computer flash to set the park brake each time the car was put into park. Each time I put it in gear the car would make a loud noise as the park brake released. I immediately felt a difference when driving, it felt like the front end was "floating" and the car wasn't holding to the road. On dry roads it would be unstable if the road wasn't perfectly smooth. Driving in the winter on icy roads was scary, no control, it would fish back and forth. They performed the actual fix recall 23s55 in may 2024. They did not remove the temporary fix that sets the park brake. In January 2025 I was in a flat parking lot, icy and raining, I had no control. There were 5 mornings with those road conditions that I couldn't make it 1/8 of a mile. Absolutely no control, it pushed me all over the road and when I braked, it continued to push me all over the road. It never showed warning lights on my dash. My local dealership pulled codes, told me it was a park brake module code but they couldn't do anything until they could duplicate it. I have spent the last 9 months arguing with the dealership and winter is almost here with no help, they treat me like I'm crazy and told me that I'm the only person in the world with this problem. I just traded it off yesterday, lost a bunch of money, but I couldn't go through another winter with it. It's way too dangerous!.

Recently brought my 2021 Ford Explorer with 100,000 miles in for what I thought was a wheel bearing issue. The mechanic reports the entire rear end is gone and needs to be replaced. I’ve owned at least 4 Explorers all driven well over 170,000 without ever having this issue. This car also spent the first 3/4 months I owned it at the Ford garage getting the electrical replaced and “brains”. The crash alert system malfunctioned as did the locking system.

The class three hitch receiver is well above an acceptable tolerance causing the hitch to move within the receiver and cause damage to the receiver. This abundance of "play" in the receiver was duplicated with a brand new hitch as well. My safety as well as others was put at risk through the risk of excessive torque being applied to the hitch/receiver through it's overly large size potentially causing it to break. This problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer nor been inspected. The part has not failed, but is likely to fail through continued use. ***plastic deformation has occurred within the hitch receiver because of its excessive size.

Air compressor fails while leaking freon all over the engine creating an environmental hazard.