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.
Report #1 - My grandma brought this 08' Explorer back in 2014, and after she passed, my mom drove it for the next 2 years. It started having general maintenance issues, then the cats were stolen, but then, one night my mother was coming home from a relative's house, when she was trying to keep up with the flow of traffic on [XXX], and she noticed that the vehicle was not accelerating at all and the vehicle stalled out. She had it towed home and it sat on the streetside for some time. After digging through the internet, I figured that Ford designed the throttle-body wiring to settle next to the cooling hoses, and after time, the wires rot from the hot temperatures of the hoses and crack/snap causing the vehicle to either stall, or possibly have unintended acceleration. Ford never recalled this issue! Also, it had a massive coolant leak, from which was believed to be the cheap plastic T-Stat housings that Ford never recalled, and to top it all off: the right rear turn-indicator failed from the faulty wiring harnesses... As a result, we ended up having it scrapped/junked. It was sad to see her go, but obviously Ford doesn't care about their customers safety and will find any loophole to avoid recalling a vehicle... Ford needs to get their stuff together or they need to be shut down!... INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The wiring harness going into the back of what I believe is the throttle position sensor has a 180? turn in the wiring in a very short distance. There are four wires involved in that portion of the wiring harness. The wiring is also next to the hot, cooling system hoses coming out of the firewall. These factors caused the wiring to crack prematurely creating surges in the idle and the vehicle speed to be uncontrollable due to shorts/arcing in the electrical wiring. An extremely dangerous situation. My daughter ran into a bullard because she started the vehicle, put it in drive, and it took off on her. Vehicle would drive at 20 to 25 miles per hour on its own without stepping on the gas pedal. After two or three attempts, I was able to satisfactorily fix the wiring. Please note that the attached pictures do not show the original condition of the wiring. I attempted to use liquid electrical tape on one of my first attempts but that soon cracked as well. You will see that in one of the photos. I may have original pictures of the electrical wiring on my desktop computer and will gladly submit those at a later time if I can find them. This failure in the wiring should be easy to identify in any 2008 Ford Explorer.
Engine light and traction control light and wrench light all came on and car went to idle and would not rev up like it was stuck om idle--this happened while driving 60 miles per hour in heavy traffic and I was almost rearended over it.
On or about May 15th, 2019, while sitting stopped at an intersection, my 2008 Explorer suddenly started to accelerate with my foot on the brake. On May 28th, 2019 this happened again while sitting in the home driveway. On May 29th, 2019 I took the Explorer to akins Ford in winder, ga. On June 3rd, 2019 the dealership advised that their tech had not been able to duplicate the problem. I picked up the car and drove it home. This is a potentially dangerous problem which Ford can not seem to address.
Transmission starting shifting hard going into 2nd and 3rd. I've talked to a number of Ford Explorer owners. They all have experienced similar problems. Transmission have been replaced. All out of warranty. Googled Ford transmission problems and seems like Ford doesn't want to recognized that their 5 speed transmissions have a problem.
- Eastpointe, MI, USA
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The contact owns a 2008 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while traveling various speeds, the vehicle erroneously accelerated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure could not be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.
The contact rented a 2008 Ford Explorer from an authorized dealer. While driving approximately 10 mph, the contact proceeded to park the vehicle in a hotel parking lot. The gear shifter was in the reverse position when there was an unexpected and drastic acceleration. Immediately, pressure was applied to the brake pedal, but the vehicle failed to slow down. The warning indicator was illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle crashed inside of a hotel room. The contact crashed into a truck in order to avoid crashing into the hotel office and pedestrians. The truck then crashed into two other vehicles. The air bags failed to deploy. The driver sustained a mild whiplash, injuries to the neck, a fractured toe, and a mild concussion. The vehicle was completely destroyed and was towed to a collision center. The police and ambulance were called to the scene and a police and incident report were filed. The insurance company was notified. The cause of the failure has not yet been determined. The other vehicles were damaged. The failure and current mileages were unknown.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Hazel Park, MI, USA