What 1,160 owners told NHTSA about the 2020 Ford Explorer Gas

Drivers assist failed and caused me to cross lanes into the cable barrier on interstate 40 causing 18,000 dollars worth of damage now the parking assist no longer works

NHTSA ODI 11567961

The camera system does not work and disables the reverse braking and other safety features while reversing. This is a safety concern as while backing up to a trailer I have hit it 2 times, as the image will freeze and seems as if there is still room to continue backing up. I have taken this 4 times for recalls (since 2020) and none of them resolved it.

NHTSA ODI 11551276

In April 2020, I brought my car into the Lafayette Ford Dealership in Fayetteville, NC bc I had been experiencing issues with the car moving when it was not supposed to. I would start the car with my foot on the brake, switch it into reverse/drive and *without taking my foot off the brake* the car would jerk forward or back, depending on if I was in reverse or drive. The event that caused me to bring my car into the dealership occured while I was in front of my garage. I had my foot on the break, and was planning to adjust my direction toward the garage when my car propelled forward and took a hit that resulted in bad damage to my driver side bumper. The dealership held my car for over a week and was not able to replicate the problem, so they told me my car was fine. I have since mentioned this problem every time I get my car serviced to see if there have been any similar complaints and nobody has shared anything. At my last service appointment, they updated my firmware so that the car keeps the emergency brake on until I disengage it, which nullifies the issues that I had been having. Today I can across the following article that sounds exactly like the cause of the damage to my car. What are my options for taking this information to Ford to have them acknowledge the fault and fix the damage? Thank you. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2023/06/25/ford-explorer-recall-investigation-nhtsa/70354653007/

NHTSA ODI 11540930

Essentially, my Ford 2020 Explorer is having the same issues as the other 2020 Explorers on a recall list . My Ford rolled back, and it hit my husband's car when it slipped out of park. It also is no longer going into park without giving me a weird error message. It is currently at Five Star Ford in Stone Mountain, GA awaiting repair. My car will not go into park. The transmission failed.

NHTSA ODI 11539354

1. The Explorer spontaneously went on fire while being driven damaging the entire front of the vehicle 2. The vehicle could have exploded affecting other vehicles as well as injured or killed the driver and passenger 3. No. Insurance Company immediately declared vehicle totaled. 4. No. Once again, vehicle was immediately declared a total loss and assigned salvage company to take possession 5. No warnings. First sign of anything wrong was flames coming from under the hood

NHTSA ODI 11537794

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.

NHTSA ODI 11536900

Badly cut two fingers on my left hand opening the door handle because the chrome tip has peeled/separated which resulted in exposed, sharp edges. I received a notice for "Customer Satisfaction Program 22N17" related to the window switch chrome tips, but not the door handle chrome tips. The window switch chrome tips peeled off first, within the first six months of owning the vehicle, but they did not expose sharp edges and cut my fingers like the door handle chrome tips did.

NHTSA ODI 11529891

Vehicle caught on fire while in operation. Smoke and flames noted under the hood behind glove box.

NHTSA ODI 11529065

360 degree camera is failing. The screen goes blue in reverse and i hit a garage wall unable to see it thru camera. Now the camera is failing in the front as well . Also is now occuring on a daily basis nor random anymore. Ford has not addressed the issue only thue software updates which i have has 2 occasions and yet camera still fails.

NHTSA ODI 11526521

My vehicle has had 3 software updates to try correct blue screen issues. Recently under a blue screen i was backing up in a parking garage and hit the wall as i could not see with the screen being blue. Fortunately I was going slow but it did scrape my bumper from hitting the concrete wall. Mostly It scared my kids and had an abrupt stop. I had read a pin on the connector was left uncapped leading to corrosion resulting in faulting screen. Why is ford trying to fix with software update? They should of been replacing connector pins or cameras. I have been experiencing this for over 2 years.

NHTSA ODI 11522821

Sudden unintended acceleration when parking; vehicle stopped with brake depressed. Vehicle suddenly accelerated and steering wheel jerked back and forth with no driver input resulting in an collision with an unoccupied parked car. No injuries. Insurance adjuster stated that Dealer found no evidence of equipment malfunction. A police report was filed (military police aboard a military base), report is pending as requires FOIA. No warning lamps or messages or other symptoms prior to failure.

NHTSA ODI 11517367

On April 1, 2023 | was leaving the garage of the Marriott Residence inn in Arlington, VA, with two passengers. Up the ramp of level two to level one, slight turn and suddenly car accelerated so fast, sounded like an airplane. Like the accelerator had a mind of its own. Brakes and steering wheel did not respond. We traveled about 20 feet in about 10 seconds at rapid speed head on into a wall. My car was totaled, airbags deployed, a parked car next to me was totaled. EMTs and police responded immediately. We were immediately taken by 2 ambulances to Virginia County Hospital. Injuries: Driver: partial amputation of right middle finger 16 stitches, deep scrape on left Front passenger: severe bruising from seat belt, cut to finger Rear passenger: 4 fractured ribs and severe bruising from seat belt, lower back injury. All treated and released from hospital ER late afternoon, I was not cited. I believe there was some kind of mechanical malfunction.

NHTSA ODI 11517421

I’m constantly cutting my fingers when I used the window controls to roll up or down my car windows. I believe this issue is the chrome is coming off and slicing people when they used it. This issue is unsafe and dangerous especially when driving.

NHTSA ODI 11515016

I parked my vehicle 2/17/2023 around 9:45pm in the parking garage of my Condominium for the night. I was awakened Saturday morning 2/18/2023 by the building fire alarm and my neighbors banging on the doors to get outside because smoke was visible from the side of the building. I exited the building and crossed the street. The entire parking garage was filled with thick black smoke. The sprinkler system had activated and the Fire Dept arrived. Through the smoke I was able to see that my 2020 Ford Explorer Limited Edition was on fire. The front end was engulfed in flames which were now shooting up the side of the building and the ceiling of the parking garage.

NHTSA ODI 11510193

On November 16, 2022, my 2020 Ford Explorer XLT AW, VIN # 1FMSK8DH2LBC95627, was being driven when it experienced a horrific incident of spontaneously bursting into flames. There were flames coming from under the hood and smoke inside the car. The vehicle was in traffic and had to maneuver over to the breakdown lane while the vehicle was filling with smoke in order for the occupants to escape. The Explorer’s mileage was 10,744 miles and had just recently been at the Ford dealer for regular maintenance. The vehicle had been driven that particular day approximately 100 miles without incident before it caught on fire. 1. Damage beyond repair Vehicle was totaled by insurance company 2. A spontaneous fire put everyone in the traffic area at risk 3. No reproduction of the event 4. Fire started with no warning

NHTSA ODI 11507142

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while approaching a stop, the vehicle's upper center console detached from its housing causing the contact to crash into another vehicle due to the failure. No one was injured. A police report was filed. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was 48,123.

NHTSA ODI 11500446

The contact owned a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 15 mph, the vehicle began to decelerate its speed on its own. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to park on the side of the road and saw fire located on the front passenger side wheel. The contact, his wife, and grandson were able to safely exit the vehicle before the vehicle was engulfed by the fire. The contact stated no one was injured nor sought medical attention. The fire department extinguished the fire and filed a fire report. A police report was filed. The insurance company deemed the vehicle total loss. The contact towed the vehicle to towing lot. The contact drive to the local dealer and made them aware of the failure. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

NHTSA ODI 11473812

THE HANDS FREE LIFT GATE CLOSES ON ITS OWN. THIS HAS HAPPENED MORE THAN A DOZEN TIMES SINCE I BOUGHT THIS VEHICLE 3 MONTHS AGO. ANY PERSON STANDING AT THE REAR BUMPER (NOT PUTTING THEIR FOOT UNDER THE BUMPER) ACTIVATES THIS SELF CLOSING PROCESS. THE DOOR HIT ME IN THE HEAD TWICE.

NHTSA ODI 11472128

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH and slowing down for a traffic light he had a 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.

NHTSA ODI 11470650

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, unattended on an incline, the vehicle rolled backward without warning. The contact was able to place her hand on the brake and stop the vehicle. There were no warning indicator lights illuminated. The contact scraped her knee but no medical attention was provided. The contact stated while sitting in the driver's seat, the vehicle rolled backward. The driver was able to depress the brake pedal. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where they could not duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified but no additional assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 22,000.

NHTSA ODI 11464987

Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning . The systems did not perform as they where designed to. No the problem was not looked at by the company.As far as I know Ford never looked at the vehicle. No warning of any kind showed up on the vehicle before the collision.

NHTSA ODI 11448856

The chrome plating on the interior door handle is peeling away from the handle structure, creating a sharp edge that has the potential to lacerate a person's finger(s) as they pull the handle to open the door. This defect cut my middle finger on my left hand fairly deep, causing bleeding, but did not require stitches.

NHTSA ODI 11445191

While driving at 70 mph the vehicle experienced the following issues all at once, the power steering shut off, all brake pressure was lost, the pre- collision system was turned off, parking brake engaged(at 70 mph) traction control system turned off, engine light turned on and all of the warning lights on the dash activated. This has happened 3 times and almost killed me twice. Ford has tried to repair this vehicle all three times and still have not corrected the issue. Ford has also refused to replace or buy back the vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11441511

Backup camera failed with a blue screen that was initially identified early August and brought into Ford 8/11-13 but dealership unable to reproduce problem. It is believed that the dealership re-booted the computer and downloaded new software. The same problem occurred just two days after we got the car back on 8/15 at which time a picture was taken to show the service department. A Google search suggested there was a problem with the back up camera for 2020 Explorer, but there was no recall on my VIN. After reaching out to Ford soon after we got the car back, a service person offered to order a new camera, but it was never approved. Numerous calls were placed to the dealership given ongoing camera failure and concern for causing an accident, but we were told that the problem needed to be reproduced. The camera could not be ordered. While backing the car out of our driveway without an operational camera or sensors, driver side rear bumper collided with a car parked in the street. The insurance company was notified the day of the accident and the car was taken to Ford body shop 9/21 where a repair estimate was provided. The dealership service department was notified that the car was involved in an accident because of camera failure and finally agreed to order a new replacement camera. On 9/23, we were notified of a "blue screen" back up camera recall.

NHTSA ODI 11435258

I had an issue with the rearview backupcamera. The camera kept going out multiple times. I asked Fodd customer care if there was a recall and told me no. One day I was backing up at night my camera went out and I hit a mailbox which was in my blindspot I immediately called Ford to alert them that the camera went out a d I damaged my vehicle. Ford requested that I bring in my truck and changed the camera. They found out the camera had an electrical shortage. I attempted to get Forx to pay for the damages to my vehicle and they refused. The total estimate was 2700.00. The response why they denied my claim was I had an accident and they were not responsible regardless of the camera not working. They told me to contact my insurance to fix the damage. I feel I wouldn't have had an accident if my rearview camera did not go out. The backup assistance beep would have sensed the object behind me in my backup view and I would not have damaged my vehicle since the object was in my blind spot. I feel that Ford is responsible for the repairs and I have Video proof that my camera was having issues prior to my accident. I need Ford to fix my vehicle at no cost to me. They are ignoring the fact that the backup camera and blinspot assistance failed.

NHTSA ODI 11435055