Ford Explorer owners have reported 53 problems related to warnings (under the forward collision avoidance category). The most recently reported issues are listed below. Also please check out the statistics and reliability analysis of Ford Explorer based on all problems reported for the Explorer.
The vehicles rear view camera randomly displays a blue screen on reverse backup. All sensors go failing at times. Attached are some screens over the month. I have taken this to a dealership for a most recent recall fix (02/01/23) and it seems this issue never gets fixed. I keep getting notices of recalls and they claim they will patch it with software fixes but there seems to be more serious sensor issues . When this happens in a school zone it feels dangerous. This is a leased vehicle and I haven't received much help even from the manufacturers dealerships. Didn't find anyone to even listen to these issues. If we try to manually reverse the emergency braking comes into play from nowhere and applies itself due to these malfunctioning of sensors.
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all problems of the 2020 Ford Explorer
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My SUV begin to run hot and instantly water begins to boil and I was trying to pull off the road immediately. With no warning from the forward collision as a car hit me. Got a quote from many dealerships or mechanics who says that the water pump failed and is a common problem with my SUV and it quoted 2500 with a two week time frame because the water pump is built inside the engine no one wants to work on it due to risk. Help!.
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all problems of the 2017 Ford Explorer
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We had an issue with fuse 34, it popped and sent warning lights to the dash regarding safety systems and sensors, as well as the cameras in front and back stopped working. We replaced the fuse and it held for a while, but then popped again. I noticed a lamp flickering one day on the front of the vehicle, and upon further inspection saw that the front camera and wiring harness had started on fire. The wiring harness is fully melted and there are signs of smoke and fire damage on the front of the car. I took the vehicle to a Ford dealer who confirmed their wiring harness had failed, but will not take responsibility for the issue. The care only has about 45k miles on it. I called to their corporate office who also rejected any liability. Obviously this is more than just the money for repairs, but a safety hazard that they will not respond to.
Navigation system started to re route my waypoint making me go to a location that was not enter in the system. Car has been access remotly apparently by the Ford pass app. My location has been disclose and my security put at risk several times. Automatic emergency braking will activate at any moment even when not necessary. There is a big security risk and concerns on Ford pass app and Ford security system is totally vulnerable. Car is been inspected by the insurance company car unsafe to drive car was taken to Ford dealership and they where unable to identify the issues. After that car was taken to a insurance location for deep inspection.
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all problems of the 2022 Ford Explorer
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The issue was initiated when you turn the vehicle on. The vehicle would process through normal startup modes, and then produce several error codes and light illuminations, all within several seconds. The illuminations would consist of; traction control error, auto hold error, descent control error, lane assistance error, and collusion avoidance error. This would then maintain the error during the trip or until the vehicle was powered off for several minutes. After the power cycle, the vehicle would start and show no symptoms of any error codes, at all. This would happen in several different instances a day, lasting several months. In several of my cases, this would disable traction control for longer periods of time throughout the day or week as well. This places extreme risk to drivers who may not know that there are so little standard safety features active while behind the wheel. Additionally, it affects drivers ability to stop, which traction control and auto hold disabled, and reduces the safety of everyone else on the road. I took the vehicle twice to a Ford certified dealer and repair shop to investigate the issue. The technician was able to verify the codes that arose from the incidents. However, the first instance when I took the vehicle in, they were unable to locate a solution to the problem. After the second visit, they recommended a complete reprogram of 5 major computer modules that have created the system error. I inquired since this seems to be an issue widespread that they could not identify as a user error, but rather an equipment defect. They indeed charged me for the service when this should be something that should be issued a recall and fixed at a wide spread level. The safety of others while on the road are effected and may lead to serious vehicle accidents as a result of the failure of the vehicle component.
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.
Audio control module failed on 2/17/22. No audio for forward collision warning, rear cross traffic warning, and reverse sensors. Dealer replace acm, which fixed the issues on 2/22/22. However on 2/27/22, the speakers started making a popping crackling noise and front speakers went out. Then a few minutes later, no audio for about 15 minutes, but the popping noise still continued. After no audio for about 15 minutes the driver side speakers started to work, but the popping noise continued. Vehicle will be going back to the dealership.
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all problems of the 2021 Ford Explorer
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When you put car in reverse the camera screen may go blue or black. Sometimes it is all in cone in rear, other times it’s on the right side and at other times it is the entire screen. Turning blue or black. This started in the first several months of ownership in 2020. The dealership tried several things including replacing the camera in 2020-2021-2022. Problem continued. Was told it was all fixed and the same day it happened again. I live in metro DC and have to park in small spaces often between cement pillars. I bought the car specifically for the camera system. I have hit things while attempting to get the camera back to useable again while in heavier car use areas buy not being able to see or have a sensor go off. Since 2020 Ford has had no viable remedy available. No option for new owners other than taking the loss on the car which as a widow I cannot afford to do.
Within weeks of vehicle being out of warranty apim module failed. Vehicle completely lost all gps, intermitment screen failure that prevents seeing backup camera. Forward collison lights come on for no apparent reason. All lane assist functions intermittently work.
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all problems of the 2018 Ford Explorer
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Driving down the street and the power steering went out and almost caused us to crash.
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all problems of the 2013 Ford Explorer
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I purchased a Ford Explorer st 2021 in new york from city world Ford on boston rd in the bronx on April 22, 2021 at approximately 9:37pm. I took my car home the same same day. The following day (second day) I started experiencing a pre-collision assist not available and powertrain malfunction/reduced power light on my dashboard at 12:49 pm. The car began to jerk and felt like it was on awd mode. The gas pedal was heavy and difficult to drive while I was on the highway with my children. I started to smell fire coming from the inside of my car. Once I started experiencing those problems from my car I immediately parked the car. I immediately called the dealership didn't get an answer so I drove to them personally after I let it cool down for a couple of hours. I explained the problem I experienced with the car to them. The dealership stated to me to take it to the repair shop the Monday and I did. The next day (Tuesday) I picked up the car from repair service center. The next day I started experiencing the same problems with the Ford. I went back to the dealership on Wednesday (next day) and stated I wanted a new car or exchange for a different car. Manager stated I had to take the car for second time for repair. I then took the car for the second time for repair on Wednesday. The car is currently still in the repair service center and still displaying malfunctions after being repaired in the repair service center. I have not yet received my car back and repair center stated they are not sure when will the problem will be fixed and working properly.
While driving on the highway my 2014 Explorer alerted me in the driver information section located to the left of the odometer that my �steering loss stop safety� was unavailable. In addition to this, it displayed, �service advancetrac� and �collison warning not available�. Moments later my steering locked up and I was unable to turn or control the wheel. We sat stranded, with our three children on the side of the highway for hours until help could come. While operating my vehicle at 70 mph, I lost complete control of my steering making this extremely unsafe for my family and I, and the drivers surrounding us. After some discussion with our mechanic, we believe it could be the steering angle sensor, yaw rate sensor or anything directly related to steering and/or traction control. My car was taken to a local Ford dealership and is awaiting a repair quote.
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all problems of the 2014 Ford Explorer
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I received my 2020 Ford Explorer back from the dealership on 01/23/2021, after it had been at the dealership since 12/22/2020 for an "overheating" issue, which turned out to be a module and sensor issue. While driving last night I received a warning for a "powertrain malfunction". I was able to get home with no issue by driving slowly. I parked the car overnight and checked the status this morning, 01/24/2021, in order to call roadside assistance and let them know what the current issue is. When I started the car I received warnings for "pre-collision assist" not available, "hill descent control" fault, "hill start assist" warning, and "anti-lock brake" fault. I attempted to move the vehicle in my driveway to make it easier to load on a tow truck, and I had almost no braking power. I had to put the vehicle in park to stop it from rolling down my driveway. This will be the third time in a month that the vehicle has to be towed to the dealership for a major issue that has left me stranded. This vehicle has 7,393 miles and was purchased 04/2020.
Driving normally and warnings illluminates collition steering and 4wd fault. All of the sudent sterring becomes hard to turn I had to stop at the hightway restart the car the sterring was the same faulty. Drive home at night slowly. Contact dealer after that.
All warning lights came on kept flashing that everything was wrong. Then the whole dash blacked out. I had no lights. No turn signals. Then they would come back on and off again. Had the car into the dealer on 7/20/20 when it keep saying head on collision and they told me nothing was wrong. On Nov. 20 had wench light come on and said the car could not hold on hill. On Nov. 24 they said they could not find any fault and problems. When I left I was at the light and the car accelerated trying to go forward. But I had my foot on the brake. So Dec 5, is when all the lights and electrical issues are going on. I was driving with all this going on I have a video but don't know how to add to the file. Also I could not check all the warning light above.
The vehicle has a �wake up� noise unlike any other that Ford can show me. Once you open the drivers door, it make an extremely loud metal grinding noise under the hood in the abs area. After you drive the vehicle and park it, it does it by itself 30 mins later then again once you open up the door again. Also, the break pedal and breaks lock in place at times when going from park to drive or reverse. Not immediately, but once you start to move causing the vehicle to violently jerk. The �crash warning� for a vehicle stopping short in front of you also goes off by itself without anything at all in front of you causing the alarm to sound and the vehicle to break on its on. This happens a various speeds but especially on the highway. All of these issues have been happening since I purchased the vehicle brand new in may of 2020.
We bougth the car on August 2019 with 4700 miles. In November 2019 the car started occasionally (3 times during 3 month period) to sound the reverse alarm sensor while driving. Then car didn't start, so we changed the battery. In mid March, after taking my 3 kids (our daughter 6 and the twins were 2) to the park, the car will start but the steering wheel was not turning. It was just stock and hard to move. We are so grateful that this didn't happen while driving. We couldn't take it to the dealer because of the pandemic (we didn't wanted to exposed ourselves to any other people). Finally in September, the car was towed to the dealer. They called the following day and explained that to repair will cost us $ 1790. Plus other regular items that needed to be done for a total of $2098. While I do understand that manufacturing errors do happen, still I can't comprehend the fact that the car is 50519 miles and already needs these expensive repairs that could have cause a very dangerous accident to my family. This is our family car! I drive my kids to school and to the park every day. How come something this serious is not put on a test before putting a car into the market (?). But, more than being very disappointed and shocked from what happened and I find the situation very irritating. New cars simply don't do that. I would like to please help me understand what happened to our family car and I would like for you to ensure this wont happen again, I am scared of driving my family in the car and expose them to something like what happened. Is there a recall for this? shall we give warning to other car owners? this is very dangerous!.
I am writing to formally express serious concerns regarding the safety of a Ford vehicle that continues to carry a 5-star safety rating despite multiple known, safety-critical defects that emerged after relatively low mileage. Two major issues developed between approximately 62,000 and 72,000 miles. Both are documented by Ford technical service bulletins (tsbs), yet neither has been addressed through a formal recall. My vehicle’s warranty expired at 60,000 miles, leaving me responsible for more than $3,000 in out-of-pocket repair costs. Issue 1 – front axle seal leak (TSB 23-2174) the front axle seal began leaking fluid. According to the TSB, the original affordable seal is no longer available, requiring replacement of the entire axle assemblies at a cost of approximately $2,000. Failure to complete this repair risks axle lock-up and a potential collision. Issue 2 – all-wheel-drive module ground wire omission (TSB 23-2061) Ford failed to install a required ground wire on the awd module. This caused multiple warning lights to illuminate, including powertrain failure and collision-assist system failure. I refused to allow my wife and children to ride in the vehicle throughout the winter because of these critical warnings. The repair, which required replacement of the awd module, cost more than $1,000. These are not minor inconveniences. An axle that can lock up, loss of awd capability in hazardous conditions, and the simultaneous failure of collision-assist systems present clear and foreseeable risks of serious crashes. A vehicle exhibiting these defects does not merit a 5-star safety rating, particularly when the problems are known to the manufacturer and affect used-vehicle buyers who may lack the financial means to perform the repairs. I respectfully urge the ntsb to investigate these issues, determine whether the continued 5-star rating is appropriate, and encourage Ford to issue formal recalls so that owners are not left to bear the cost and risk of repairs.