2016 Ford Explorer complaints

The A pillars, which are the moldings on the left and right side of the windshield, began to come detached from the vehicle while driving down the Interstate at 70 mph. Only one clip was left to hold it on. I had to reduce speed to 40 mph on a very busy interstate until I could exit the interstate. These clips are similar to those used on the roof rails of this vehicle which was part of two previous recalls. Body parts detaching from the vehicle while driving at high speeds down an interstate should certainly constitute a safety concern. From what I understand from the Ford dealership, this has been a problem for a couple of years now that Ford has chosen not to address. It is currently being held on with duct tape until these can be replaced.

I was on I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson southbound. I heard a thumping noise but could not see anything wrong. Then there was a loud bang and I thought a semi had kicked up something though I saw nothing in the air. I was doing 75mph the posted speed but there was a cross wind. When I arrived home in Oro Valley i noticed the right, front passenger windshield entire trim was gone! Upon looking for a replacement part I noticed that I am not alone with this problem so I am reporting it. I would suspect many others have this problem but do not. Anyhow it is a safety issue. It is a large part to have this debris fly into another vehicle.

2016 Ford Explorer. Wife was sitting in running vehicle, in line waiting to pick up our kids from school. Warning lights came on and engine sputtered out. Was checked by personal mechanic said coolant was empty but no leaks on ground at school. Said signs of past leakage. I filled with antifreeze and it ran fine with no visible leaks. @ months later i noticed reservoir low. Brought to ford for the luggage rack recall and had them check coolant issue and do oil change. Water Pump. We had only owned the car for six months. How many thousands of people need to have issues with the water pump failing before we get any help. For god sakes its becoming a meme. Ok another couple thousand after i just had the water pump on my lacrosse replaced. Kids can go without food again. At least we weren't traveling down the turnpike at 70 mph when it happened.

2nd failed/leaking water pump since purchasing the vehicle. The water pump was replaced on 9/30/20 at 121,948 and now at less than 100,000 additional miles on 2/9/23 (210,826) the water pump is leaking again. $3000+ is an expensive repair for a $154 part.

The water pump failed and dumped coolant into the oil and seized the engin

Passenger window trim piece came off while driving down interstate. I have seen a story that stated complaints about this were already being investigated so I felt I should report that it happened to me as well.

In November of 2022 on the highway the molding against the windshield that runs from the hood up to the rooftop flew off the vehicle. Luckily nobody was injured or no accident caused. Kerry Ford charged me $538.62... In February of 2023... Again, going down the highway the driver side molding against the windshield broke in half and another piece went flying off... Again, luckily no other damage or accident caused. I noticed this time there appeared to be velcro underneath at the bottom of the panel - Velcro? Not sure that seems appropriate. Again, Kerry Ford charging me another $446.00 to repair the driver side now - Hopefully Ford doesn't think Velcro is the answer. Meanwhile, I'm out nearly a $1000.00 because Ford has pieces flying off their vehicles... wonder how long until it causes a major accident or cost someone behind me their life? Better start a recall now instead of waiting for the worst to happen.

Steering creaks loudly while turning the wheels, accompanied by loose steering and steering lock intermittently. The problem occurs at all speeds. Without great care at low speeds, we would have had an accident already. There have been no warning lights. This problem started after shipping our vehicle overseas.

Right side windshield molding flew off on highway.

When I was driving the vehicle on the interstate (approximately 75 mph) the roof rack railing flew off. Luckily there were no cars following behind me. This was a prior recall that was fixed on my vehicle and I was told Ford was no longer fixing that because they found the glue was faulty.

My pregnant girlfriend was driving our Explorer on the highway (70mph) with her father in the passenger's seat when the driver's side A-pillar trim came off. She said it came loose and stuck the window, scaring them both, before it detached completely. They weren't sure if there was a vehicle close behind them when this happened. This seems like this is a big safety issue worthy of a recall. I purchased replacement parts from a local Ford dealer, and they said they sell a lot of those trim pieces.

We were driving on the 58 freeway in CA and when we went to stop for gas we noticed that the passenger side windshield trim panel had broken off somewhere on the freeway.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front driver’s and passenger’s side window trims detached from the window and struck the side mirror. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 79,000.

Every since I bought this vehicle back in December 2016. I've had major problems that consist of the battery lasting a year an half. In 2018, Ford had it for two weeks due to a major problem that they repaired but never told me what the issue was. Still, to this day, I don't know what they repaired. In 2021, My water pump went out, something is wrong with he fuel injection that may be causing the engine light to be on. Every year since 2016 there's been something going wrong with my Explorer, including the radio panel/cameras monitor. Last year, 2022, I was driving down the highway when my windshield trim panels flew off! I thought it was something from another car until I stopped and realized, my windshield didn't have a cover on the driver side. I'm hoping I didn't caused harm or almost caused harm to any drivers behind me! Nonetheless, since my incident, I have noticed other Explorers missing a windshield cover.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that on two separate occasions; the windshield trim panels on the passenger’s and driver’s side detached from the vehicle. The contact replaced the parts himself; however, the failure returned less than a year after the initial failure. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 45,000.

The plastic piece on the drivers' side of the windshield was loose and flapping. Before I could get it looked at and fixed, while driving down the highway one morning I heard a noise and in my rearview mirror saw black plastic shattering all over the road. If I didn't realize quickly what the noise was, I could have reacted and caused myself harm in an accident and if there were cars close to me, or a motorcycle or even worse a pedestrian, they could have been damaged or hurt. The missing piece has not been replaced or inspected so it is still missing. I had noticed the flapping plastic piece a couple weeks prior to the incident, a month tops.

Trim piece on driver-side windshield flew off while driving. To the best of my knowledge it did not hit any surrounding vehicles. There was no warning prior to this happening...I just realized it was missing when I returned to my vehicle after work. I had just heard on the news about window trim pieces flying off Ford Explorers the same day this happened to mine.

I have had to replaced two separate times my windshield trim pieces that cover the hardware on windshield. Every time I have lost them it has occurred on the highway where I was going a speed of 65-70mph. When I have had a professional reinstall new parts it has cost me almost $350.00 The parts are coming directly from ford nothing aftermarket and they are being reinstalled by a professional. I should not have keep paying for the same parts. All due to the fact they don’t stay adhered to the vehicle properly and they’re the parts coming directly from Ford manufacturer. I know no accidents have been reported but we shouldn’t wait until one happens either. Ford needs to correct this issue and stop costing the consumer so much to replace and deal with same problem.

While driving 60mph on the highway my windshield molding on the passenger side flew off.

Our trim around our windshield came off while driving on a highway. Tried to fix it ourselves but trim replacement would not fit on it properly.

My windshield panel trim came off while i was driving

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the driver's side front window detached. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the thread was replaced; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

The trim on the passenger side pillar next to the windshield detached and flew off of the vehicle while driving on the highway. The trim piece was not recovered as it is unknown where it landed. There was traffic on the highway behind the vehicle and it could have hit another vehicle or later been run over by another vehicle if it landed on the road. The vehicle was subsequently taken to a Ford dealership to have the missing part replaced.

While driving normal speed on the freeway, the passenger windshield molding flew off. Also, the driver side side window meeting has flown off. Both replaced at my cost. Both of these objects flying off the car could impact or hit other motorists causing damage or potential injusry.

The plastic windshield trim on the passenger side of the vehicle broke and flew off while driving down the interstate. The piece was then run over by another vehicle. Luckily it did not hit another vehicle or someone on a motorcycle . When I called the dealership near us they said that they were aware of the problem. The dealer said it has happened to several explorers that the were aware of but there was no recall. They gave me a quote of 400 dollars to replace it. The vehicle has not been repaired and is still being driven. Hopefully the piece that is still remaining does not come off and hit someone. There needs to be a recall to fix this problem.

I was driving down the road 50 mph The driver side, plastic piece that goes around.the outside of the windshield blew off.Upon further inspection the passenger side is also loose and ready to fall off. The rubber that goes around the whole windshield is dry rotted and all broke off .

The windshield trim panel blew off. It was repaired at Camargo Cadillac where the Explorer was purchased. It blew off on the way home. Camargo replaced the panel again. It blew off 2 days after the second repair. We were reimbursed and it was suggested we go to a Ford dealer. I called Beechmont Ford and I have waited 5 months plus for an appointment for recalls that have not been done. I always felt it was very dangerous when the metal part blew off. In today’s paper I noticed NHTSA is investigating complaints that the windshield panels can fly off of Ford Explorers while traveling at highway speeds.We certainly know this to be true. Please add this to your recalls with instructions on how to correctly fix it. To our knowledge we were never notified about serious issue with the rear suspension toe links either.

On August 20, 2022, the left side pillar molding unexpectedly came loose while driving and began flapping about. On August 24-25, 2022, we replaced both exterior a-pillar moldings and brackets at our own expense.

The passenger side windshield trim flew off while driving on the interstate with no warning. Other than it hitting the side of our car when flying off, no other incident occured. Nobody inspected the windshield trim as we installed a new trim piece we got on Amazon ourselves.

I was driving down the Interstate in my 2016 Ford Explorer at approximately 80-85 MPH when a long piece of the windshield trim panel flew off of the car. I didn't realize what had happened until I saw the trim piece missing. Once I saw how big the piece was, I was immediately concerned that the trim piece could have hit another car and seriously injured someone. I took the vehicle to a Ford dealership service center to have the trim piece replaced. The vehicle was not inspected by anyone other than the Ford service center. There was no warning at all prior to the panel flying off. It didn't appear loose or flap in the wind, it literally just flew off.

10/23/22 While driving at highway speeds - Interstate 39 - a large piece of the driver's side windshield trim flew off. We had no impact with anything that would have made it fall off - it simply came apart and landed on the road behind us. We have had the piece fixed since. Body shop could have photos still - if needed. No warning signs were present in the car.

My window pillars flew off both last week. driver and passenger side windshield trim panels flew off in like to caused a wreck.

The driver windshield trim flew off my 2016 Ford Explorer as I was going down the highway. I saw where this has made the news and wanted my report included in it. Nobody was hurt and I was unable to retrieve the trim.

Pieces of my windshield seals are flying off my car endangering other drivers.

The windshield outer trim on the passenger side has detached two separate times (I replaced it each time at my cost), and it could be a hazard when it happens while I am driving on the highway.

Body trim pieces on the b pillar of the vehicle became loose and flew off on the highway, secondary replacement from Ford is now loose and about to come off on both sides, waiting on the warranty from Ford to send another new one.

On September 11th, 2019 we had to replace (while still under warranty) the seat belt buckle assembly on the rear (middle seat, driver side) because it would no longer buckle. On January 23rd, 2023 we returned to our local Ford dealership because the other rear (middle seat, passenger side) seat belt buckle assembly would no longer buckle. Upon inspection by the dealership's trim technicians, it was discovered that the other previously replaced seat belt buckle assembly is also about to fail again as well. So I now have 1 completely broken seat belt buckle assembly and a 2nd one seat belt buckle assembly that is about to fail in the middle row of my Explorer where my children are passengers. This is a repeat safety deficiency and we are very upset about it. We were under the impression our children were safe in their seatbelts in the back seats of our car. We contacted Ford Motor Company about this safety deficiency and were assigned the following case # of [XXX]. We were also assigned the following individual to handle the financial cost of the required repairs: CXS [XXX] Customer Experience Specialist, SUV Team [XXX] |www.ford.com office: [XXX] ext.[XXX] Our Assistant Service Manager at AutoNation Ford sent all the requested repair information and pictures requested by [XXX] at Ford. Our Assistant Service Manager at AutoNation Ford is: [XXX] Phone: [XXX] Unfortunately today, we received a phone call from [XXX] at Ford indicating that we do not qualify to have the repairs of

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that on multiple occasions while driving at various speeds, the steering wheel seized. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle; however, the steering wheel seized. Additionally, the contact stated that while driving, the steering became difficult to maneuver the vehicle and veered to one side. The contact then stated that he heard a grinding sound while making left or right turns. No warning lights was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that a steering module panel that needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was advised to call the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 102,000.

Rack and pinion making crackling noises My safety still at risk if I continue driving Yes the dealer ordered the part but is unavailable due to back order. The vehicle has not been inspected besides the dealer.

Purchased vehicle used in November 2022 that had been inspected by the dealer i bought it from. On January 20, 2022 I had routine and recommended service completed, along with multi-point inspection at local Ford dealer. All components tested ok and was told vehicle is in good condition. One of the recommended services I had performed was a coolant flush due to mileage of 105,500. I drove home approx. 18 miles from where I had it serviced. I did not notice a leak when i picked it up because the vehicle was brought out too me from the service bay and i got in the driver's seat and drove off. I didn't notice anything wrong until the next day (Saturday) when i noticed an oily spot on my driveway. I thought during the oil and filter change the day before that oil had spilled on the frame and had dripped down on the driveway while parked. I drove approx 5 miles to pick up pizza and back home. When i arrived back home there was a fast drip of coolant dripping under the vehicle. I sent video to service department, and even though it was a Saturday evening one of the Service Reps called me back. He said they'd come pick up the vehicle if needed, and it was probably just a loose fitting or hose. From Saturday afternoon until Monday morning the vehicle sat unused due to the leak. I drove the vehicle back to Ford Service on Monday morning and dropped off first thing. It did not overhead on the drive, but it was still leaking fluid when i parked it in the service lane. I was called aroun

As I was driving my electronic power steering system went out causing me to be unable to steer my vehicle. I was luckily able to get it off the road but had I been going any rate of speed it could have caused a major crash as you cannot steer.

Ford issued a customer satisfaction program 21B11 regarding the 2nd row seat belt worn or damaged electrical connection which results in the air bag light illuminating. My vehicle is doing this after arguing with the dealership because they did not want to fix it. Only to get my vehicle scheduled on 01/24/23, and this expired on 1/21/23 so Ford will not pay to fix the problem

Left for work steering locked up with no warning luckily not at a bad part of my morning commute I was doing 55mph was able to come to safe stop tried steering wheel back and fourth after a few attempts it started to tun but was very hard to turn so I turned around and on my way back home numerous lights came on on dash hill assist unavailable terrain management system fault loss of steering and I can't remember the other 1 but I was able to make it home

I was driving my 2016 Ford Explorer to the end of my driveway when the steering system locked up. The wheel would not move to either side, and I was forced to stop the vehicle before entering the roadway since this posed a serious safety risk. Fortunately, this issue was identified before entering the public roadway where an accident could have easily occurred. No warning light or safety message was displayed by the vehicle when the issue occurred. I initially tried to identify if the steering wheel locking mechanism was to blame, but this was ruled out since the vehicle was actively in "drive" and no other issues were noted with the steering wheel. This steering issue developed on a particularly cold day in December (less than 20 degrees out), however, it is unclear if this issue was related to the colder weather. The steering did not free up for approximately 30 minutes of idle time and multiple attempts to restart the vehicle. The vehicle would always go into drive but had no steering. This issue occurred on the three (3) subsequent days until the vehicle had idled for a period of time. Since this occurrence, the steering has had a grinding sound when moving the wheel. I took the vehicle to a licensed Ford Dealer and was told that the electronic steering rack would need to be replaced. This came as a shock since the vehicle only has 63,000 miles on it. I was told this part is on back-order and it took approximately a week for the replacement steering rack to arrive. This s

I went into the store, came out 10 minutes later started the vehicle and it said service electric power steering, this also affected the stabilitrac, hill climb assist, 4wd, and traction control. If this would've happened while I was driving I would've caused an accident as the roads were icy. I brought it to a Ford dealership and the parts needed are on backorder with no lead time! You can't even get aftermarket parts! So now I have a vehicle with only 70k miles on it that I've had for less than a year that I cannot drive and have to continue making payments on because it's not worth anything to trade in. The repairs are going to cost just shy of $3000! Ford needs to recall this now!

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the third -row passenger’s side seat was not properly secured to the floor of the vehicle. The contact indicated that an unknown part used to attach the seat to the floor had fractured and the seat was no longer secured to the floor. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who indicated that the unknown part needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 50,000.

"Steering Assist Fault" and Lane Keeping Sys. Malfunction" faults appeared on my dash display. The vehicle is available for inspection if requested. When the faults lit up, I was unable to steer the vehicle. It was as if the steering was completely locked up. Fortunately I was driving down the driveway at the time and was able to stop before entering the roadway. If this would have faulted while on the road at any speed I'm sure an accident or death would have resulted from not being able to steer the vehicle. I took it in to a repair shop where they said to fix it would require the rack to be replaced and programmed. They recommended taking it to a dealership to be repaired. This appears to be a known problem to the vehicle manufacture but no recalls have been put out. Parts alone I was quoted $2,500 not including labor and programming costs. Vehicle has only been inspected by a repair shop. Symptoms prior to failure - I bought the car used from a dealership. Took the car back to the dealership a few weeks after purchase because I kept hearing a grinding sound coming from the front end while traveling at highway speed. They test drove it and inspected and said they could not find anything wrong. They ended rotating the tires. This did not help. Drove the car for a year feeling like something was wrong under the hood. Summer of 2022 the air vent control actuator went out and the car would not switch off from defrost mode. I had that replaced by a repair shop. December 22, 202

The power steering on my 2016 Ford Explorer completely stopped working while driving with two children in the vehicle. This is completely unacceptable for a 6 year old car with just over 100,000 miles. Ford Corporate refuses to honor this as a safety recall or safety issue despite the substantial complaints filed with the NHSTA. Are they really going to wait until there is a loss of life or severe injury to address this? On top of Corporate's unwillingness to acknowledge this is a manufacturers defect for which the safety of their customers and their families is at risk, they will not even consider a financial assistance program to partially fund the approximately $2,500-$3,000 price tag of rectifying; not to mention the backorder on the part needed. How many complaints regarding the very same issue have to be filed before NHSTA forces Ford to do something to prevent severe injury or death as a result of this known manufacturing defect?

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, she noticed a white cloud of smoke coming from the exhaust. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the residence then towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that oil had leaked through the exhaust. The contact was informed that the turbos and catalytic convertor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was denied a claim and transferred to the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000

Steering rack failed and I was unable to steer the vehicle. The safety of me and my family could have been put at risk if the steering failed on the highway. Upon research, I found this issue with Ford Explorers is a very common one. My mechanic was required to have the vehicle towed to him. I was unable to move the steering wheel at all! There was a light which stated the advance steering or something failed. There was no advanced warning. We are lucky the family was not traveling fast on a highway.