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 body-A pillar trim panel doorman on the passenger side. Flew off while driving on the highway. I happened to be the passenger this day and if I had the window rolled down a little more, this piece would have hit me in the face. At first, we thought it was a piece of debris from the ground on the highway so we kept driving. But then the rubber part that sits underneath the trim began to flap and that-??s when we realized we needed to exit. There-??s no way we were going to be able to recovery that piece from the highway. Luckily no one got hurt.
I purchased this car in January of 2021 and in April of 2022 the passenger side front window A pillar trim flew off while driving down the highway. Since then, the same thing has happened to my driver-??s side A pillar exterior trim, and just this week (August 2023) the B pillar trim that also held my keyless entry keypad has also flown off while driving down the highway. I-??ve joined a -??5th Generation Ford explorer-?? Facebook group, and it seems that this is a VERY common occurrence to many users of this vehicle. I-??ve also seen many ford explorers driving around that have the trim pieces missing meaning that either they fly off so often that I am seeing these vehicles during this short time before the owner-??s get them replaced, or they flew off and people just didn-??t want to fix it because they fly off so often. I-??m lucky that all 3 times it happened to me, there weren-??t any motorcycles driving behind me that could have gotten seriously injured by these pieces flying off at highway speeds. I really believe something needs to happen to fix this. These seem to be poorly engineered parts if they continually fly off the vehicles, plus ford doesn-??t make or sell these parts very cheap so it-??s obvious they are just trying to make money while putting lives at risk. I unfortunately do not have specific dates/milage/pictures of my previous incidents, and didn-??t think of filling out a report until now when I-??m in the middle of replacing my B-Pillar, but I can provide the dates and pictures of the piece off of my B-pillar below. I hope this helps. Please investigate this and really review this issue. I-??ve seen previous articles that mention the NHTSA has received reports of these flying off, but the number of reports was only around 160. I-??m sure if anyone from the government reached out to the Facebook group mentioned above, along with other ford Facebook/Social Media groups that this would cover like the ford Edge groups, they would easily find that this is a major safety issu
Trim piece on the front of the vehicle beside the windshield flew off while driving on the interstate. It smacked my windshield and flew off behind me. Very big safety concern considering there were other vehicles driving behind me and it could have hit them. I did not see where it went as I was confused as I did not know what the sound/item was at first.
The mouldings on the side of the windshield have detached multiple times. There is no warning lights, and I have been told by the dealership and outside repair shops that it is a common problem. Detachment of these parts puts other motorists at risk of injury. July 2021 driver side flew off on the highway - parts on backorder from dealership so they never repaired it. May 2022 had both sides replaced for $160 since they were done at time of windshield replacement. June 2022 passenger side flew off on the highway (no cost replacement since so soon after last replacement). August 2023 passenger side flew off on the highway and hit a semi, $100 repair quote.
- Las Vegas, NV, USA
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Both A-pillar pieces have blown off while driving. The first time this happened I had them replaced at a local windshield repair. And now they have both blown off again.
On 07/30/2023 The right passenger front windshield trim plus rubber stripping flew off our 2016 Ford Explorer XL. We were travelling 60 mph down a mountain area from San Diego, CA heading into Yuma, AZ. The noise of the trim was so loud hitting the windshield then the windshield panel blew off and the windshield stripping blew off. We made sure no one was behind us as it could have caused damage if the cover would have hit car behind us. Vehicle inspection yearly and no signs of any areas of concern. No warning or signs of this part coming off.
The drivers side windshield trim panel came off of the car while driving down a highway at 55mph. Luckily, there were no other cars on the highway and no further damage or injury occurred.
Windshield trim piece came loose and broke off while driving on the highway. I had to tape down the part that was still on there two times before I could have it repaired so that I did not lose the rest of it on the highway and cause an accident. The driver's side failed first and now my passenger side has split apart and is rattling while on the highway, so I have to have both sides repaired out of safety concerns!
Windshield trim blew off going down the interstate. I replaced it and it blew off again! Now I have extra wind noise and I-??m scared it-??s going to leak. I would try to glue another one down but do not want to affect my windshield integrity.
The drivers side trim piece that runs vertically on the edge of the windshield and holds the rubber gasket in place came loose at the top and allowed the rubber gasket to flap around and hit the window, trim, and windshield. I was on the highway for a relatively short distance so it didn't come off completely. If it had flown off the car it could have caused an accident or hit someone else's vehicle causing damage. I am assuming there is some type of clip or screw? that has come off allowing the trim piece to come loose at the top. I have notified the dealership where I purchased the vehicle. They have not responded yet. I have not contacted anyone else about the incident.
We were driving on the freeway and out of nowhere, the trim next to the windshield completely flew off on the passenger side of the car and then the driver side trim broke in half.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front driver's side windshield trim detached and flew off the vehicle. Additionally, the windshield rubber gasket was flapping while driving, and the contact removed the rubber gasket from the windshield. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the windshield trim clips had fractured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that there was no recall associated with the VIN. The failure mileage was approximately 81,000.
Window trim pieces detached while driving on the highway, hitting window hard and then flying back into traffic. This is the 2nd piece of trim that has detached while on the highway. First piece was on further back on side.
While traveling at highway speed on Interstate 20 W in Texas, the right A-pillar molding detached and flew off. There were no indications of the part beginning to loosen prior to detaching. I have not taken the vehicle to the dealer as it is out of warranty.
I-??ve had two instances of the windshield moulding becoming detached and flying off the car while on the highway. The first was a couple of years ago and involved the right side windshield moulding, this last one involved the left side windshield moulding. Each time I can-??t be sure that the moulding didn-??t fly into another car because it came off with such force, it actually scratched my car when it flew off. This is the second time I-??ve had to pay over $300 to get the moulding replaced because of what I feel are faulty clips that hold it on. This poses a safety hazard to not only me (distraction when it comes off while on the highway) as well as other drivers around me. I feel this needs to be a recall issue and, if owners have paid to have said repairs already done, a reimbursement made for the repairs done to date. As an added note, I was at my grandson-??s baseball game Friday night and there were three explorers in the parking lot, I ring mine. ALL THREE were missing one side of their windshield mouldings!!
While driving on the interstate at 65mph, the driver side windshield trim cover and outer rubber windshield seal flew off the vehicle. There was no evidence of this possible issue prior to the event and no previous damage to the part.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Maurepas, LA, USA