2016 FORD EXPLORER Complaints

The contact owns 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact recieved notice of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure). The contact stated that while driving at unknowns speeds, she observed something hitting the vehicle. The vehicle was stopped and when she observed the vehicle the lower passenger windshield had a missing trim piece. The contact added on another occasion while parked and examining the windshield she noticed that additional pieces were missing. The mechanic from the dealer made a house call to her residence where it was diagnosed that the pillar trim needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that distorted image would appear on rear view camera every time contact would go in reverse with his vehicle. The contact stated that distortion on camera started happening today, 06/03/2026. Contact stated they contacted dealer but has not contacted manufacturer. The vehicle failure damage regarding rear view camera distortion was 90,686 miles.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 MPH the drivers side B- piller had detached. The contact indicated that the B-piller trim stayed connected to the vehicle by a wire. After the failure the contact discovered that the rear hatch door would not longer open. The B-piller trim was reattached to the vehicle using duct tape. The cause of the failure was not determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 119,000.

I have been put off every month for over a year to have this fixed. It is a safety risk. Not only does the recall state the trim can come off and cause a crash, the rubber around both sides also keep coming loose and flapping on my windshield which causes interference with my view of the road. I am not sure why a safety recall was issued in 2024 but has still not been able to be resolved by 2026. They say the parts are not available but they should be making them available for any issue that can cause crashes and harm people.

The A pillar piece has been on recall since 2024. I have been trying to get this fixed for almost 2 years and Stevens Ford in Milford has been telling me the pieces are on back order since then. The piece became loose recently when driving on highway and I called them (Ford dealer) to notify them. They said they were still waiting on parts and were not going to have them until August. I called Ford corporate number two times and then received a call back for scheduling my recall repair. The recall was on the driver side and passenger side A pillar. They only repaired the side that was missing that flew off on highway. I explained to them the risk of safety to myself and others if the other side was not repaired in a timely manner. Kait Brudecki service advisor told me in person today when I picked up my car, that they have no control over the parts they receive and that they only get one part delivered to them every 6 months and that this recall has cause them a lot of grief. This piece that flew off of my car on highway caused me to swerve because I thought something hit my car, it then hit the car behind me causing them to swerve as well. I am scared that if this other piece on driver side is not replaced this will happen and end up in an accident. I drive for work and do home health care and frequent the highway. Please help!

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact received the recall notification letter for NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 and NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V347000. The contact stated that the water had entered the B-pillar trim and had detached. The local dealer was contacted who confirmed who confirmed the parts were backordered. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was unknown.

Odometer Fraud. The contact purchased a 2016 FORD Explorer. It was discovered that there was a mileage discrepancy. The vehicle was a dealer sale. At the time of purchase, the vehicle mileage was 93,000 and at the time of registration, it was discovered that the mileage was 184,847.

Vehicle: 2016 Ford Explorer 2WD V6-3.5L VIN: [XXX] rchase: January 20, 2026 Odometer at Purchase: 70,929 miles (fraudulent — true mileage approximately 123,779 miles) Dealer: Drive Time Car Sales Company LLC, DBA Drive Time, 8805 E Adamo Dr, Tampa, FL 33619-3525 Narrative — Copy and Paste Into NHTSA Online Form: On January 20, 2026, I purchased a 2016 Ford Explorer 2WD V6-3.5L (VIN: [XXX] ) fr [XXX] Sales Company LLC, located at 8805 E Adamo Dr, Tampa, Florida 33619-3525. At the time of sale, the vehicle had three open, unrepaired federal safety recalls: 1. NHTSA Recall 19V435 / Ford 19S17 — Rear Suspension Toe Link Replacement (initiated June 26, 2019, affecting 1,194,173 vehicles). The rear suspension toe links may fracture, causing sudden loss of vehicle handling and risk of crash. 2. NHTSA Recall 21V537 / Ford 21S32 — Rear Suspension Toe Link Cross-Axis Ball Joint (owner notifications mailed March 2022, affecting 644,055 vehicles). The cross-axis ball joint may corrode and seize, causing toe link fracture and loss of steering control. 3. NHTSA Recall 25V347 / Ford 25S53 — B-Pillar Door Trim Detachment (owner notifications mailed June 2025, affecting 492,145 vehicles). B-pillar trim may detach while driving, creating a road hazard for other motorists. None of these recalls were repaired prior to sale. The dealer had documented actual knowledge of all three open recalls. Drive Time provided me with copies of the recall notices as part of the purchase paperwork at the time of sale. Additionally, the recall documentation included a printout from the NHTSA recall lookup website for this specific VIN, timestamped January 19, 2026, at 5:28 PM — the day before the sale — proving that Drive Time actively investigated and confirmed the open recalls within hours of delivering the vehicle. Ford's own dealer notice for Recall 19V435/19S17 states: "Federal law requires dealers to complete this recall service before a new vehicle is INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Description of Incident: The driver, [XXX] , was idling on a road near Lake Murray when her vehicle was rear-ended. Despite the force of the impact requiring Ms. [XXX] to be rushed to the hospital, the vehicle’s airbags failed to deploy. Post-Accident Concerns: Following the collision, the CEO of RideCare had the vehicle moved immediately to avoid public scrutiny. I have reason to believe the company is intentionally withholding the vehicle from inspection to prevent the XXX Highway Patrol or safety investigators from accessing the "black box" (Event Data Recorder). The vehicle is currently being stored inside the garage at the RideCare facility off [XXX] . Given that this company is responsible for the safe transport of vulnerable mental health patients, the failure of critical safety equipment and the subsequent attempt to hide evidence is a matter of urgent public safety. I request a formal investigation into the maintenance standards of this fleet and the specific safety failure INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

When I am driving at a speed limit of 35-45 mph, there is a shutter in my transmission accompanied by a rattling noise. It only happens at that range of speed, below 35 and above 45 it seems to work just fine. If I have to drive a considerate amount of time at that speed, it does it constantly and I can't make it stop. It feels like the transmission will blow up. I have seen multiple articles and recalls for the torque converter in the 2016-2020 models, but apparently my VIN number isn't included, although the symptoms are exactly like the open recall symptoms of other Explorers. I have taken it to a transmission shop to get it test driven and diagnosed and they agreed that it did feel like the torque converter was slipping, but their advise was to rebuild the whole transmission since there wasn't any recalls specifically for my VIN number. It does not show any messages or have any warning lights about this issue on the car itself, I don't know if the computer recognizes these type of issues or not.