This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 1996 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the hatchback support gate would not properly support the glass. Also, the child safety locks do not work properly. The vehicle has not been taken to the dealer for inspection. She notified the manufacturer and they stated that her vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign id number 97V137000 (structure:body:hatchback/lift gate:support device) or NHTSA campaign id number 96V070000 (latches/locks/linkages:doors:latch). The failure mileage was 120,000 and current mileage was 129,000.
The driver side door will not unlock properly, trapping the driver and child in the vehicle. Pressing the 'unlock' button does nothing. So far, the Ford dealer wants around $400 to fix this problem and says it is not a recall item.
The device caused my 2 year old daughter to lose a portion of her right pointer finger and we feel this could be prevented if that part was covered up (at the very least) in the models it exists in. It can happen when the rear door is being opened and the front door is already open. My daughter was standing in the doorway of the front door and apparently touched this roller mechinism as my husband was opening the rear door, it bascially sucked her finger in and cut it off (due to the pressure - the roller uses the car body to hold the door open). We have checked and some vehicles have this and other do not and some have it covered up! it would only be applicable in 4 door vehicles. Please contact me for further information, as I know it is somewhat confusing. But we would like to prevent anyone else from going through what we did - my daughter (2 years old) had to have emergency surgery to remove more of the bone/finger and repair the tip the best it could be. She still has discomfort at times and it has been 2 1/2 months since the accident. We have checked it out and she could have fit her whole hand in there which would of been even more tragic! I hope you will help us get the word out about this dangerous part in many cars.
10/2000 - the left rear door latch from the inside would not work. Anyone who attempted to open the door from the inside of the vehicle would be unable to open the door. I brought the vehicle in for repairs. The dealer replaced the door latch assembly. The repair cost me approx. $175. March, 2001 - the right rear door latch has now broken. Again, anyone trying to open the door from the inside will be unsuccessful. This is a big concern since I have children who sit in the back and if there was an emergency they would be unable to exit the vehicle from the right rear door. I will be getting this door fixed next week by the same dealership. I feel that these safety defects put any person sitting in the back in grave danger if there is an emergency. These failures should not happen. Please advise how I can be reimbursed for these repairs. Thank you.
Both rear doors won't open. They will only open from the outside. Consumer feels this is unsafe because in an accident rear passengers wouldn't be able to get out.
The broken interior door handle may have been broken for a long time but, because of the child safety lock feature being activated it wasn't noticed until the child safety lock was deactiveted only to find that the door handle would not open the door. Upon disassembly, I found the plastic cam that unlocks the latch of the door to be cracked off rendering the handle useless. As for the transmission, the premature and expensive failure should become a recall item for Ford as I have found that many owners of this type vehicle are experiencing problems of great financial consequence and possible tragic health consequence.. I'd say a disporportionate number of Explorer owners are encountering similar transmission failures. The life threatening condition of a bad transimission could have led to a lock-up or unexpected rapid deceleration at highway speeds which could have rolled the truck. Internal components were badly scarred and irrepairebly damaged. Initial symptons were hesitation on accelleration at shift points Ford issued several service bulletins to address these symptoms but never recalled the defective product.
On the same day both my rear door latches broke.you can't open either from the inside.this is not due to child safety locks. It is dangerous because my passengers couldn't get out in case of fire or accident.
Both rear interior door latches fail to open the door from the inside. First the right rear door failed to open from the inside, then the left rear also failed. This is very dangerous as it "traps" the rear passengers in the vehicle. The only way to open the rear doors is from the outside. I called a local Ford dealer and the service department indicated they would not cover the cost of repair.
Both rear doors have malfunctioned at varoius times, causing them to not open from the inside. This is a very dangerous condition and the dealer will fix but only if I pay.
Whenever child safetylock is activated, the handle from inside with a little pressure, can cause the door to be inoperative from the inside. Dealer notified.
The two doors in rear will not open from inside. Seems the child locks are on, when the child locks are in the correct position, the vehicle will still not open. Dealer contacted, and is not aware of the problem. Consumer states the problem still exists.
Door cannot be opened from inside. Opens from outside. Latch disengages itself so door fails to open from inside. Took to dealer. Was repaired. Problem has reappeared.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Clovis, NM, USA