This all started within a month of having my brand new Explorer which I paid 48K+ to get everything I wanted. Most recent update just occurred yesterday (2-14-17). I dropped off my suv at the dealership, Maxwell Ford in Austin as I have done countless times before, to have a creaking and knocking noise looked at and hopefully repaired this time. After driving around with my service advisor and the front-end vehicle specialist for a half hour we located the area of the exact noise was coming from. That was on a Thursday (2-09-17) and after waiting a few days I decided to call the body shop, as that's what service informed me of where it was going to be repaired the day after it was dropped off, only to find out they could not or will not fix the problem and it was kicked back to service. The body shop explained they could not fix the issue as it had to do with the welded portion of the center pillar under the vehicle and any fix would compromise the integrity of the structure of the vehicle. I am limbo at this point as I await to see what the next steps are. If it is a structural issue that cannot be fixed due to the fact it might inhibit the airbags from deploying in a car accident, they why is this not considered a defect and why does it not qualify for the "Ford Buy-Back Program?" The body shop stated it will not cut into the frame to fix "a noise issue" as it is not worth it, now I get that but this is a brand new car (or at least it was when I signed my lease)and it should not have the issues it has been having. There have been countless other problems with this vehicle on top of this most recent one. It makes me sad to think that I'm stuck with a noisy racket of a sh*tty vehicle for however long I have left on my lease. I will update when I hear back from Ford with their "options" but I'm not holding my breath and neither should you.