2020 Ford Explorer complaints

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to simultaneously accelerate and make a left turn, the steering wheel forcefully turned in the opposite direction. During the failure the message "power steering fault, service required" was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who determined that the 12-volt battery was faulty and performed a reprogramming of the steering system. After retrieving the vehicle, the failure was still present. The manufacturer was not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 34,000.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH and slowing down for a traffic light he had a brake failure and crashed at low speed into the rear of a vehicle already stopped at the traffic light. The contact stated that he was pumping the brakes and was not able to stop. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that there was damage to the right front passenger side of his vehicle and was unable to determine the damage to the other vehicle. The police were called and wrote a report. There were no injuries and the contact had the vehicle towed to his home and later towed to a dealer. The local dealer diagnosed that there were no problems with the brakes. The vehicle damage was repaired but not the brakes. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,000.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V255000 (Power Train) and the fix stated that the dealer would update the electronic parking brake software but not replace the bolts. The contact was concerned that an update would not fix the issue as the failure was with the bolts. The contact had not experienced a failure. The contact stated that he called the dealer and it was confirmed that the remedy was to update the electronic parking brake software. The manufacturer was contacted and confirmed the remedy and a case was opened. The manufacturer offered no further assistance. Parts distribution disconnect.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 10 MPH the vehicle started jerking while shifting gears. After the vehicle accelerated above 10 MPH, the vehicle operated normal. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the transmission was replaced; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer and a software update was performed; however, the failure continued. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 3,000.

While driving on the highway the 2020 Ford Explorer XLT briefly lost all power, exhibited jerking through the drivetrain and erratic engine RPMs, before regaining power. Thereafter, the vehicle consistently jerked during acceleration and deceleration, with an audible clunking sound, as if the vehicle was transitioning gears or drive modes (2WD-AWD). Mileage noticeably dropped and transmission and engine RPM performance was erratic. Only a warning was issued with no indication of high severity, only reduced power. Upon further driving, the erratic behavior persisted included losing power in highway traffic and putting occupants at risk of accident. Vehicle has only 14,500 miles at time of issue with full dealer service history. As of this writing, it is being brought to the dealer for service.

While driving on a busy , high speed road the pre collision error message came on the screen. It felt like the truck started applying brakes causing us to jerk. Although I tried I could not accelerate. Several error messages were sent to the ford app about the Powertrain. This put my kids and my safety in jeopardy. Our speed was greatly reduced and someone easily could have hit us. This is the second time I’m taking this truck in for service with the same problem. I have less than 25 k miles on this truck. This should not be happening.

My car has a transmission problem. 6 times now, it fails to re engage after I took my foot off the gas pedal. This happens when I am attempting to accelerate after slowing down in fast moving traffic when I really need to be able to accelerate. This caused a very dangerous situation due the the fact that I am trying to get into a faster moving lane of traffic. This put me and others around me at risk. The car is at the dealership now. They say that they have identified the problem. No parts are available to fix the problem. Covid, you know!!! 6 weeks for parts! There are many complaints on the internet expressing the same problem. I also read that Ford has been buying some of this year and model back due to "This" problem. What does NHTSA know? There have been "Warning Messages", But when driving at 70-75mph and there is a problem like this, I did not have time to read it before it disappeared. Scared the crap out of me as I was put into a dangerous situation.

Backup camera display shows intermittent blue screen.

Vehicle stalled on interstate on my way home from picking it up. Had been at dealer for nearly a month for heater repair. Cost me $250 to get it towed back to dealer. Very dangerous situation. I was lucky to be able to get it oof the travel lanes before someone rear ended me at high speed. Very frightening.

The front panel of my 2020 Ford Explorer ST panoramic sunroof exploded on May 6, 2022. Fortunately, I had closed the sun shade two days prior while on vacation in Florida. It was not due to being hit by debris as traffic was light and no trucks nearby. I was driving westbound on I-4 between Orlando and Tampa when a sudden "BOOM" occurred. I looked around as to what happened as their was no vibration or shuttering in the steering. I then heard glass shattering. When I could safely pull to the side of the road to inspect, the entire front panel of the sunroof was gone except around the perimeter. If I had not previously closed the sun shade, the tempered glass would have been in my eyes and any passengers in the front or rear seats. The local Ford dealership initially stated that the sunroof would be covered by warranty while waiting (6 days) for the back-ordered sunroof to be delivered. Then after being in the Service department for 2 days, they stated it would not be covered under warranty. I called Ford Corporate to complain, but they were only concerned if there was an open recall on the sunroof and there were none. They seemed disinterested in the safety aspect of the issue. I have since paid for the repair and filed an insurance claim. I know what a rock hitting the windshield or hood sounds like... this was not a rock, but a low, "mini-sonic boom"... the sunroof literally exploded. I usually do not pull the sun shade closed, but did so while in Florida although it was no

Sometimes the rear camera view shows a blue screen while the other camera views work. I have to restart the vehicle to make it work.

When reversing the rear camera display turns blue and I'm not able to see anything behind me using the safety camera feature. I rely on the camera to assist with detecting people or objects in my blind spots while reversing and intermittently the display turns blue. There was a recall for this make and model and manufacture date, but the vehicle is not included in the recall. Recall information - Rearview Camera Recall 21C09. The dealership can't reproduce the issue because it's intermittent and there are no error codes, so they won't replace the camera. They've tried several software fixes but the problem continues. No warning messages displayed when the issue occurs. Thanks.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, unattended on an incline, the vehicle rolled backward without warning. The contact was able to place her hand on the brake and stop the vehicle. There were no warning indicator lights illuminated. The contact scraped her knee but no medical attention was provided. The contact stated while sitting in the driver's seat, the vehicle rolled backward. The driver was able to depress the brake pedal. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where they could not duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified but no additional assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 22,000.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the rear end of the vehicle would make an abnormal, roaring sound as well as vibrate without warning. The contact also stated that the vehicle would violently jerk upon depression of the brake pedal or the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that she had taken the vehicle to the dealer several times for repair and had the transmission replaced; however, a year later, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a case was filed. The contact stated that the VIN was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V154000 (Suspension). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 6,000.

I have brought my vehicle to the dealership for repair of the Safety Recall for my car. They stated that they repaired the car. However the problem still exist. I have taken images and videos of the problem.

Reverse camera blue screen is appearing again after the 1st recall “fix”. Apparently this is becoming quite common, as I am in many Ford Explorer groups. Many others have this happening after their “recall fix” as well. Some even appear to have this happening after multiple times of recall “fixes”. Ford should be held accountable for not addressing a safety concern with a concrete solution. I have asked others within the groups to also submit incident reports.

The gas pedal snapped off where connected to the floor.

This vehicle has a recall 21E11, for an inlet exhaust leak on the driver side, but the service technician when doing the recall says I have the exact same thing on the passenger side - a weld has corroded and there is an exhaust leak (photo available). The passenger side is not covered by the 21E11 recall, but is the same identical weld/corrosion/exhaust leak issue. They quoted $3,500 to repair. I have escalated via Ford - case number CAS36437910, but until this side has an official recall, they won't repair.

The back up camera is malfunctioning on my vehicle. It presents a blue image with the back up camera and a blue image on the 360 camera. Everything that I have read shows it is a recall, but my VIN does not have a recall.

Recall 21V735000 was performed by Sakelaris Ford of Rolla, Missouri on December 9, 2021. On February 28, 2022 the problem of the "Blue Screen" Backup Camera display again occurred and has been occurring regularly ever since. I have not yet contacted the dealer to reschedule a follow up pending correspondence from the NHTSA.

Twice now my car has felt like it has stalled. Once I was at a stop light, the light was red so I stopped. Then when the light turned green I accelerated, the car moved slightly and then stalled. Pedal to the floor and nothing happened. Nothing in the car indicated why this happened. The car was on and ready to go but the petal or engine didn't work. Not sure what happened. The second time it happened I was trying to make a turn from a stop. I accelerated, the car moved a bit then stopped. I was pulling onto a 55 mph road and I was just sitting there. Car was fine, running and seemed to be in working condition but it stalled on me. Pedal to the floor, no response from the car. I have an appointment on Tuesday April 12th to take the car in to speak with the service department. I have spoken to other 6th generation ford explorer owners that have stated the same thing has happened and the service department had no answer for them. I am hoping if enough of us submit an issue it will get investigated preventing a fetal crash.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that there was oil leaking from the vehicle at start-up. The seat heating and cooling system was inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken four times to the local dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was then taken to Phil Long Ford of Denver (7887 W Tufts Ave, Denver, CO 80123) where it was diagnosed and determined that the valve was loose and oil was leaking on to the manifold. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted but no further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 10,516. THE CONSUMER STATED THEY FAILURE WAS DUE TO ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS AND DRIVER'S SIDE BEZEL TRIM REPLACEMENT.

My car warnings were malfunctioning as they were all flashing on briefly. The car has done this before and has other issues with the panel such as now it has the icon for camera visibility is not working. I cleaned each camera and the light is still on. I backed out of the driveway put the car in drive and started to accelerate. I stepped on the brakes and they were not working, I repeatedly tried to stop but they were gone. My car finally stopped (I was not far enough to have started to build any speed. I turned the car off and back on and the brakes were back on. This happened March 31st, 2022.

I have a safety recall notice 21S44/NHTSA RECALL 21V735 - 360 degree camera display, which includes the rear view camera may intermittently display a blue image on the media touchscreen upon shifting into reverse. Although your form said there was no recall on my vehicle I have received a notice mentioned above and I have experienced the problem mentioned in the recall notice a number of times. The Phil Long Ford Dealership in Colorado Springs on Motorcity .Drive have worked on the vehicle four times since the 1st of January and still have not repaired my vehicle. I would think that since this is a recall that they should have a fix by now. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

This has happened multiple times. Start the vehicle and put into drive while the brake pedal is fully depressed and the car will move forward. While it is in motion you can hear what sounds like the anti-lock system activating. You have to pump the brakes as I assume the master cylinder has lost pressure. It does this randomly and is not repeatable. If this ever happens and someone or another car is around it could be a very bad day.

We reported the driver's side headlamp as going out intermittently on Jan 4, 2022 to the dealership (Ford of Boerne, Boerne, TX). When they could not resolve the issue, we reported the problem to Ford. The light is out mostly full time now. We first realized the problem when driving at night when it would go in and out.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the vehicle would lunge backwards when shifted into reverse. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated after each failure, she turned off and restarted the vehicle, and she was then able to reverse without any further issues. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who informed the contact that the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 10,500.

I was driving down the road and several sensor malfunction warnings started to pop up including an antilock brake fault. I was in traffic and needed to slow down but the brake system was non responsive when I applied normal pressure to the brake. I had to attempt braking with all my force before car slowly started to brake. I nearly was in an accident but fortunately was able to pull off to the side until car was able to fully stop.

The driver's side door doesn't unlock. The locking mechanism gets stuck in the locked position and the door will not open as it won't unlock. Has happened 9 times in the past 48 hours during a total of 7 outings. It puts the driver at risk if they need to quickly get out or get in the vehicle. I took it to the dealership today and it would not unlock for me to exit the vehicle. They tested the mechanisms involved and all function so not parts replaced. There are no warnings when this happens. First started on 2/22/2022. In my online research, it is happening for others with this type of vehicle including police vehicles which is a huge safety issue for them if they can't exit the vehicle when necessary.

My rear camera works less than 50% of the time. It even goes out while backing up. I get a blue screen and my rear brake assist becomes inactive.

The rear back up camera area is blue and you are unable to see behind the vehicle.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the instrument panel would remain inoperable, resulting in a loss of speedometer and tachometer functions. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed with needing the instrument cluster replaced; however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 41,000.

When this vehicle is put into reverse it does not engage the transmission at times. You either have to put it back in to park and back in reverse and/or floor it in essence push the throttle all the way down for it to engage. As that happens and it finally engages you’re going way too fast in reverse. Also when it does not engage it acts like a stick shift and that you are in neutral and you’re either rolling forward or backward depending on the incline. Very frustrating I’ve taken it into the shop two different times specifically for this they say they have a work order in place and the last time they said it was a chip and they ran their diagnostics and corrected it. It still did not get corrected and is still a problem . I am not pleased at all with this failure in the transmission as far as the engaging of reverse is involved. Thank you

I was driving my car in the afternoon & heard a pop. My windshield randomly cracked. It cracked at the base of the car about 2 inches up from where it meets the frame. Then it cracked across 3/4 of the windshield

2020 FORD EXPLORER. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO ISSUES WITH THE TRANSMISSION. THE CONSUMER STATED THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED SEVERE VIBRATIONS AT CERTAIN SPEEDS AND AS THE TRANSMISSION SHIFTS. THE CONSUMER STATED THAT THE MANUFACTURER BREACHED IT'S CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION BY FAILING TO PROPERLY AND TIMELY REPAIR THE VEHICLE.

It has happened several times over last year. When car is put in reverse the brakes barely work and car doesn’t stop well. Almost like no power brakes. Once put in drive, the brakes work correctly.

While driving my 2020 Explorer a couple of weeks ago I noticed it was down shifting really hard when I would slow down to stop at a light. There were no warning lights or check engine lights of any kind. It continually got worse over the next few days so I made an appointment with our local Ford dealership. When I called they told me it was probably just a computer issue and they could reset it. On my first appointment I was having them change the oil as well as “reset” the computer. When they came out to talk to me they said they had a technician “reset” the computer but the actual “transmission guy” wasn’t there and I would probably have to bring it back. He told me it would probably drive different to me now because it has an “adaptive” transmission and it would have to adjust to the way I drive. I called and made another appointment that same day after I saw it was still doing the same thing. Well the next night I took it on a trip to the next town that was about 20 minutes away. It started “driving” very strangely and I began to smell a hot or chemical kind of smell. I actually pulled off to the side of the highway at one point. I was able to make it home and didn’t attempt to drive very far until I had it looked at again. We’ll I took it back today and they’re now telling me it has to have either a new transmission or that one rebuild. Whichever Ford decides. Luckily it’s still under warranty or I’d have a bigger problem. After researching I’ve discovered thousands of o

Has burning smell of wires when heat is on, only has heat on drivers side, blows cold air on passenger side, had Avis Ford Dealership look at it, said it was the heater core and they don't know when it will be in stock.

The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while reversing, the rearview camera inadvertently turned blue. There were no warnings lights were illuminated. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V735000 (Back Over Prevention) and the vehicle was taken to the dealer who updated the Image Processing Module software; however, the failure reoccurred 1-2 weeks later. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who advised the contact that the rearview camera needed to be replaced and the repair would be completed at her own expense. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and followed up with the dealer. The manufacturer then called back but offered no further assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 39,000.

Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning . The systems did not perform as they where designed to. No the problem was not looked at by the company.As far as I know Ford never looked at the vehicle. No warning of any kind showed up on the vehicle before the collision.

The vehicle steering wheel felt loose, took the vehicle to a local Ford dealer where they found that the steering wheel bolt was loose almost to the point of falling off. They tightened up the bolt and sent me on my way.

The vehicle has been in the Ford Dealer 3-times to replace the sunroof/moonroof wind deflector. It has fallen off while driving two times interfering with traffic and one time it detached on one side only. Fortunately, no one was injured or any damage done other than the deflector was damaged by traffic after it detached. It was replaced just a few weeks ago for the second time and it just detached and fell off again while driving yesterday. I notified Ford Quality and Customer Concerns of the situation but no reply, apparently Ford, nor the dealer appear to care. However, besides the cost someone is going to get hurt. The first time the wind deflector came off was in April 21 and the second time October 22, the third time was yesterday, 01-14-22.

A police officer dropped this SUV off complaining of an exhaust smell coming through the vents in the vehicle. upon opening the hood ,a strong odor off exhaust from the right side of the motor could be smelled .No visible leaks or sounds were noticed. The vehicle remained out of service until our local Ford dealer could service this vehicle.

This vehicle has been “repaired” by Ford dealer per recall instructions but the backup camera is still intermittently blue. Recall “fix” offered by Ford does NOT fix this problem

While driving in regular weather. The dash flags a red box that say pre Collison alert, and beeps. For no reason nothing around me. I know the sensor is located in the front end of the vehicle. Scares everyone in vehicle thinking we are going to have an accident and put o

I have this 2020 Ford Explorer with about 15k miles on it. It suddenly started down shifting hard, getting hang gears, and having multiple issues. I took it to my local Ford dealer who refused to even do a diagnostic because my vehicle had warranty work done on the head gasket about two weeks after it was purchased. They are claiming it is similar to the issue I am having now. I am now trying to work with Ford to get it repaired. I checked online and this seems to be a pretty common issue on the forums that I went to and people were describing identical experiences that I had with my car. One example is that when I applied a small amount of pressure to the gas pedal, my car wouldn’t shift, got up to 7k rpm, and then finally did a hard shift that felt like I hit something. The hard downshifting would happen even when I was coming to a complete stop or anytime I was slowing down.

Adaptive headlamp assembly on my 2020 Ford Explorer Platinum AWD has failed twice in 2-years. First, upon receiving the vehicle, the passenger side had to be replaced (dealer was unable to fix the problem, so had to replace the whole headlamp assembly which requires a complete removal of the front bumper). Now the driver side headlamp has failed - and I haven't even had the car 2-years yet (will be 2-years in a few weeks). The headlamp failure is complicated by the long lead time to get the replacement part for the whole headlamp assembly - so now I am WEEKS without being able to have a headlight and am forced to drive without it.

The chrome plating on the interior door handle is peeling away from the handle structure, creating a sharp edge that has the potential to lacerate a person's finger(s) as they pull the handle to open the door. This defect cut my middle finger on my left hand fairly deep, causing bleeding, but did not require stitches.

Our radio/navigational/climate control screen will go completely black while driving the vehicle. This has happened approximately 15 times since the purchase of the brand new car in August of 2020. Therefore, I lose all of my controls and my GPS. This will not come back on until the car is turned off and is given time to reset. This reset time varies from 30 minutes to 1 hour. The first time this occurred was one month after purchasing the vehicle. So, after three different visits to Ford dealerships, Hopkins Ford, Manning Ford and Dundee Ford, not one technician can duplicate this problem so it is still happening. Recently, I was in Columbus, Ohio and the screen went black while I was driving in an unfamiliar area. I'm aware that Ford had a massive recall on this very issue but somehow our VIN number is not included in this. I frequently travel across the Midwest because my fifteen year old daughter is in travel volleyball. I cannot afford for safety reasons for this to happen to the two of us when we are driving in unfamiliar places. This is a huge safety concern for my daughter and I.

1) Powertrain - 10 speed transmission will not shift properly. When down/up shifting, The transmission slams into gear. It started at 54000 miles. Dealer repair shop stated that there were zero codes and was unable to ascertain the problem. Problem continued and only got worst. On another visit, the mechanic was able to duplicate the sound and still no codes. It was stated that I should return the vehicle on Monday and Ford technical would be contacted. Vehicle was returned on a Monday. i spoke with the Mechanic. he now stated that he could not duplicate the slamming. I recommend he ride with me. We took a four- mile drive. Within 3/4 mile, the slamming was back. The vehicle was kept until Friday of same week. The factory Rep recommended that dealer should reset the computer and drive for 500 miles. The dealer Rep/Dannelle stated Ford should assumed the cost of replacing the transmission and not the dealer under my Extended Warranty. Now the dealer's Repair shop will not return my phone call. 2) I also called in report and request an appointment regarding my electric windows will not go up or down. Zero return call. After driving approximately 300 miles and stopping for fuel, the windows started working again.