At least one Ford Explorer owner has complained about their SUV making involuntary emergency stops following earlier recall work
https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/
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by Chris Chilton
1 hour ago
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Ford is cooperating with the NHTSA in an investigation looking at whether recall work carried out to prevent Explorer SUVs running away when parked was an effective solution, and if it could be leading to other problems.
The automaker announced a recall for almost 253,000 Explorers in April 2022 after it was discovered that a rear axle mounting bolt on 2020-2022 model year vehicles could fracture. The breakage could cause the driveshaft to disconnect and allow the SUV to roll away if the driver had only left it in Park and not applied the parking brake.
Recall work involved a software update that would automatically apply the parking brake, but it’s a fix that doesn’t seem to have gone far enough. The NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) has received two complaints from owners who have had the recall work carried out but have still suffered from a loss of power to the rear wheels.
Related: Ford Recalling Over 250k Explorers That Could Rollaway While In Park
“There is no safety remedy addressing the failed rear axle horizontal mounting bolt which is the basis of this safety issue and the cause of the impaired vehicle,” an NHTSA report said of Ford’s attempt to deal with the problem as it announced it was looking into the recall. Reuters reports that one owner’s Explorer has randomly performed emergency stops while driving following the update.
The Explorer has had more than its fair share of recalls over the last couple of years. In February of this year we reported that certain SUVs fitted with the 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine and 10R60 automatic transmission could shift into Park while the vehicle was in motion due to a fault with the Powertrain Control Module (PCM). And the same month the NHTSA announced it was conducting a preliminary investigation that could lead to the recall of 1.86 million Explorers following 160 complaints about pieces of windshield trim detaching at speed.
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Other Explorer recalls have been focused on fixing faulty back-up cameras and detaching roof rails, while more than 500 of the special Explorer-based Interceptor SUVs built for the police were returned to dealers earlier this year due to a problem with the 12.1-inch dashboard screen.
