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.
While driving in "D" in first to second it has had a problem shifting between the 1st and 2nd gears when accelerating and will rev high rpms and sometimes do absolutley nothing when drying to move forward unless I de accelerate and then try to accelerate agine then finally it will catch and go in to 2nd and proceed to 3rd and then 4th and then 5th,4th and 5th when accelerating sounds very rough when accelerating like it's trying to hard to drive, lately it just the other day I had trouble getting it to go in to D to 1st 2nd 3rd automatic transmission shifting was not wanting to catch had T ok try 3-6 times de accelerating and accelerating to try to get it to go finalt it caught and I was able to drive it so I stopped at the parts store had them do a scan and the only code that came up was P1701 they looked it up and it said something to do with trouble in reverse witch in reverse has no problem at all so I'm a little confused about it and also a little scared to drive it when this is my only transportation and if it won't engage in to gear when accelerating when in D that could be potentially dangerous also the odometer and speedometer do not work was told it was vehicle speed sensor so I replaced it still had issue so I replaced the odometer spiral gear hopefully it will fix the problem also the back seat double side would not go down fixed it after pulling it apart and drilling another hole into the spring loaded circle that has a tenchener on it fixed that....and the driver and passenger automatic seats just stopped moving about half way so it's very hard for me to reach the pedal and the automatic side mirrors don't work eather one and the all fuses are good theas are all safety issues that have me concerned since it's all I have so anything or anywhere I can take it or do to it please contact me so it can get fixed asap for the shifting issue.
Noticed that the recliner handle was bent on the drivers side. The next time I went to recline the seat the handle broke off at the rivet point. Common problem according to the dealer. The part can only be bought from Ford and the cost is $100. There was a service bulletin for this problem for a later year Explorer. Dealer said the new part is more heavy duty and made to replace the stock version that was light duty. No recall was issued and they have stopped making the part.
Drivers side seat belt receiver does not clasp seat belt. We are taking the vehicle to a local shop to replace the receiver at $100 for the part plus labor. A seat belt receiver should be built to last normal driving conditions. This vehicle has not been in any kind of accident. The driver's side seat collapsed in the recline position on 8/24/2011, fortunately this occurred when the vehicle was not in motion. The recline mechanism does not work, and the seat does not stay upright. These two items are definitely safety issues.
My wife and I are scared to drive our 96 Explorer once we learned of all the recalls ( rear side glass, bad suspension, exterior lighting, headlights.) just to name a few I know of.
Drivers seatback failure. The drivers seat in our 1996 Ford Explorer collapsed. The upper portion of our seat suddenly flew backwards only stopping when it struck the rear seat. Luckily this failure occurred in our driveway. My wife was hurled backwards her feet flying upwards and striking the underside of the dashboard. Her hands came off the steering wheel and she was left prone staring at the ceiling of the vehicle. This should be a great concern to NHTSA since any driver experiencing such a failure while driving would be in grave danger. After removing the seat and researching issues with Explorer seats I found the 1998 Explorer recall that exactly described our seat failure. The same exact bolt in the 1998 recall was the cause of our seat collapse. I have said bolt ( broken in two pieces)and would greatly appreciate NHTSA examining it to determine whether the failure was due to bad bolts or if the seat design caused the bolt to fail. I have since replaced the bolt with a new bolt and steel spacer (I believe that was the remedy called for in the 1998 recall) if I had not removed the seat the whole process would have taken under 20 minutes and the parts can be had for under $2. please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't your web seat say that if a safety related repair is necessary the manufacturer will have to pay for said repair. This repair clearly falls into that category. I would hope NHTSA shares my concern and does a through investigation. Thank you, greg campbell
- Humble , TX, USA
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The contact owns a 1996 Ford Explorer. While sitting in the driver's seat of the vehicle, the seat spontaneously collapsed backwards. The contact called a dealer and a technician stated that he would have to replace either the recliner bolts or the seat assembly at his expense. The manufacturer stated that there was a recall for the recliner bolts, but his vehicle was not included because it was manufactured at a different plant. The vehicle has not been repaired because it was a recall for the same model. The recall number was unknown. The failure mileage was 130,000.
Consumer noticed that driver's seat broke. Dealer fixed it at consumer's expense of $593. On February 19, 2004, the seat broke again. A recall had been issued on similar makes and models. However, this vehicle was not included in the recall due to VIN.
Driver's and passenger's sea rbottoms have missing spring/lumbar pumps located in wrong place under seats/insufficient padding under seats, combination results in disconfort.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Brush Prairie, WA, USA