Home · 2017 Ford Explorer Police Intercept · Complaints

What 1,671 owners told NHTSA about the 2017 Ford Explorer Police Intercept

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (1,671)Crash / fire / injury (61)Body & structure (645)Engine (235)Transmission & drivetrain (122)Electrical system (91)Engine & cooling (76)Steering (74)Visibility & wipers (74)Wheels (60)Suspension (55)Fuel system (49)

645 of 1,671 complaints match · Body & structure · clear filters · page 18 of 26

Mar 13, 2024Body & structure

The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

NHTSA ODI 11577057

Mar 12, 2024Body & structure

The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

NHTSA ODI 11576887

Mar 7, 2024Body & structure

The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the passenger's side front door clips needed to be replaced. While having the car washed, the contact was informed that the exterior top windshield trim was extremely sharp. Additionally, the exterior trim was loose. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact called the local dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and opened a case. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

NHTSA ODI 11575937

Mar 1, 2024Engine & coolingBody & structure

The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the exterior trims on the front passenger's side and the front driver's side windows were detaching. Additionally, the contact stated that while his wife was driving 75 MPH, the vehicle started shuddering and lost motive power. The contact's wife veered to the side of the road. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that his wife was able to restart the vehicle and drove to the nearby residence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the water pump had failed, and the front engine mount had collapsed. The dealer determined that the water pump needed to be replaced and the front engine mount needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 77,000.

NHTSA ODI 11574884

Feb 27, 2024Electrical systemBody & structure

Our Explorer, experienced this in June of 2022. My daughter had just graduated college and we were moving some of her stuff back home 350 miles away. The Driver side area where the codes are put into to unlock the door if locked out, fell off and was hanging while we were driving on the freeway. We had to exit the freeway and my husband had to buy duck tape to tape it up. Our hatchback would not work as well as some of the other electrical things. I refused to drive it the rest of the way home, and we switched cars. It did cause electrical to go out throughout the car, intermittently. My husband had to buy the part online and replace it. The passenger side is going to fall off also, I noticed while washing it. So yes we need this done, asap. And we had to incur charges for having to replace the other one. There were warning lights for electrical, not working. I cannot remember what they were.

NHTSA ODI 11574351

Feb 21, 2024Body & structure

The trim between the drivers door and the back door is coming off. And the front passenger door does not shut right there is gaps.

NHTSA ODI 11573064

Feb 21, 2024Body & structure

The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 45–50 MPH, the driver's side panel near the windshield detached and the trim on the windshield detached. While driving at various speeds, the windshield was rattling. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, and the contact was informed that the repair parts were not yet available. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure). The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 81,000.

NHTSA ODI 11573116

Feb 15, 2024Electrical systemBody & structureVisibility & wipers

All plastic parts around all doors and windows have become detached. Windshield wipers do not stay on. All lights and gps go haywire and flash on and off gps system goes off and makes loud buzzing noise

NHTSA ODI 11572111

Feb 14, 2024Body & structure

The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the exterior trim detached and flew off. The contact stated that the failure almost caused an accident because the trim flew onto another driver's windshield. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the recall was not an active recall. The dealer was made aware of the failure but confirmed that parts were not yet available. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

NHTSA ODI 11571850

Feb 5, 2024Body & structureVisibility & wipers

The black trim/molding around the front windshield is breaking and perking off in chunks while driving on the freeway.

NHTSA ODI 11569877

Feb 5, 2024Body & structure

The B pillar molding/trim with keypad pulled away at the top corner of both driver and passenger front doors. Then, they flew off while on the freeway, with cars behind me driving 70 MPH.

NHTSA ODI 11569876

Feb 4, 2024Body & structureVisibility & wipers

A piece of the driver side exterior column flew off and into windshield causing crack and poor visibility because of it.

NHTSA ODI 11569826

Jan 29, 2024Body & structure

The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the roof rail fractured. The contact stated that two years ago a recall notification for the failure was received, and the recall repair was completed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with fractured roof rail assembly. The contact was informed that the roof rail assembly needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 69,000. The contact stated the roof rail detached and flew off of the car on the freeway. The piece that is attached to the vehicle remains on the car. Also, the contact is requesting an update on the complaint.

NHTSA ODI 11568624

Jan 24, 2024Body & structure

Shark fin antenna flew off the car. Plastic piece only, the rest of the component is attached and exposed. At a visit with the local Ford Dealership I had requested a repair to a current recall on the vehicle and to inspection the antenna. Upon their inspection they state they do not need to perform work on the recalled problem and that the shark fin would be $590 for the piece that detached although I did not hit anything for the plastic to fall off. Also, if I did hit it on something I believe the whole piece would've completely detached not just the plastic piece. Upon many google searches, it appears this is a common issue. This piece flying off the vehicle could fly into the vehicle behind me and at the rates of speed commonly traveled it could cause severe damage to the driver.

NHTSA ODI 11567448

Jan 23, 2024Body & structure

I was driving on the freeway. We were having a windstorm. A strong guest of wind tore off the passenger side windshield trim piece.

NHTSA ODI 11567302

Jan 13, 2024Body & structure

When I was driving down the highway at a normal speed (65 mph) the passenger side windshield trim piece detached from my vehicle. I was not able to confirm that the piece of trim was the origin of the noice. I was not able to determine that until I reached my destination. This is a large trim piece and I could imagine it could cause damage to vehicles behind either to their vehicles or their tires. I will be taking the vehicle into the dealership to have the area with the missing trim inspected. It has not been inspected by police or insurance. There were no warning lights, sounds, or any indication that the piece was about to fail.

NHTSA ODI 11565373

Jan 4, 2024Body & structure

Once I reach 65 mph it sounds like bees are in my truck. It's a very annoying sound and it feels the windshield will come off.

NHTSA ODI 11563445

Dec 21, 2023Body & structure

The passenger side windshield panel came loose and then cracked and flew off whole driving on an interstate. It did not hit any cars but it is a big piece and could have damaged a car or caused a wreck.

NHTSA ODI 11561275

Dec 3, 2023Body & structure

The driver and passenger windshield trim started to break apart while traveling at 70 mph. First the soft trim started to fly off and then the hard trim started to lift off. Luckily I was able to pull over before it completely flew off on the highway and hit the cars around me. Did some research and it looks like this is a very common issue for the explorer and some cases end up worse than mine.

NHTSA ODI 11558207

Nov 27, 2023Body & structure

While driving in the freeway the plastic cover on the front "A" pillar flew off causing it to crash onto the front passenger side window before falling off. It could have caused serious bodily injury to my wife (front passenger) if the window was rolled down.

NHTSA ODI 11557010

Nov 23, 2023Body & structure

windshield trim panel detaching and flying off my car while driving at highway speeds.

NHTSA ODI 11556551

Nov 16, 2023LightsBody & structure

Driver's side A-Pillar trim fell off while driving at highway speed

NHTSA ODI 11555475

Nov 13, 2023Body & structure

The A pillar panel on the windows are a hazard. While driving yesterday the panel flew off and hit the car behind us causing the driver to over react and almost crash into several other vehicles. Ford has been unhelpful with this matter on making these safe.

NHTSA ODI 11554843

Nov 7, 2023Body & structure

The contact owns a 2017 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 65 MPH, the driver's side keyless entry panel detached from the vehicle. The contact stated while driving, the panel fell off and was sticking out, but eventually snapped in half. Additionally, the liftgate lost power. The contact duct taped the panel to the door. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was determined that the panel needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. While driving at an unknown speed, the panel detached. The manufacturer was contacted and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.

NHTSA ODI 11554046

Oct 29, 2023Body & structure

I noticed a couple of months ago that the rubber gasket that lines my windshield on both sides has started to crack. Within the last month pieces of it started to fly off while driving, even at standard speeds of 45mph. I started looking for replacement parts and cost for having this repaired but could not afford the dealership cost. Last week while driving on a busy highway at 72mph my passenger side windshield pillar molding completely detached from my car and flew into traffic behind me. Luckily, it did not hit any vehicles but was run over by several behind me. There are multiple complaints about this being a VERY common issue with Ford Explorers from 2011-2019. I'm unsure why this hasn't been recalled yet as most owners of these vehicles have had to replace them on their own. I've seen several reports of this costing upwards of $1000 of done by the dealership. As an owner of this vehicle, I expect when I pay $30,000+ that it be a vehicle that is safe not only for my family but others traveling around us. There are no warning signs of this happening and it's very dangerous. Ford has been made aware by multiple complaints and nothing is being done to correct the issue.

NHTSA ODI 11552459

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How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2017 Ford Explorer Police Intercept verdict →