2014 FORD EXPLORER Complaints

This is about my 2014 ford explorer passenger side "windshield trim panel ",it fly away when I driving at speed around 70mph at I275 ,it did make some noise before fly away,and i found out it's the trim panel when i home. already bought a replacement but not sure when will happen to the driver side.

Plastic Trim piece, which covers the windshield rubber seal on driver side “A” pillar, fell off my 2014 Ford Explorer Limited. Incident happened about 2018.

Exterior trim or molding on windshield, driver and passenger (both) sides flew off vehicle while driving 65 MPH on the interstate. The weather conditions were sunny skies and wind during day time. This incident occured July 2022. Thank God no serious accidents occurred I'm aware of. After some research, I learned this is a common occurrence with Ford Explorer vehicles. I feel this is a safety concern. Hopefully Ford issues a recall or other type of compensation for owners. I replaced the molding on both sides via Amazon myself after I didn't hear back from a Ford Dearlership nearby.

Three times in 8 years I have lost windshield trim panels when traveling at elevated speed (approximately 70 MPH). I believe it would have occurred more often but I grew weary in 2018 of paying the $135 to replace the trim part. Each time it occurred the trim piece left the car with a resounding & startling "crack" sound and happened without warning. All three occurrences involved the driver's side trim part on the A-pillar. Twice it occurred after a large truck passed me going the other way on a two lane road. Initially I went to the local Ford dealer but no one there seemed to care... they directed me to the parts counter... happy to take my money for this grossly overpriced part. Currently my car does not have the trim part in place

I was driving on the highway on December 17, 2022 when the right windshield trim panel came off the vehicle. I didn't know what it was at the time but there was a loud noise. When I got to my destination I noticed the trim panel was gone. The panel flying off could have hit another vehicle. I just saw the article on Fox Business that others were having this issue so I wanted to report my issue as well.

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at 75 MPH, the windshield trim panel detached. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not covered under warranty. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Action Number: PE23001 (Structure). The failure mileage was approximately 185,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Lost all power steering while driving with absolutely no warning. Took to dealer and it is the electronic steering assembly. After further investigation and talking to people this seems to be a major issue with this year of explorers. And it is very expensive to fix.

While driving on my local highway I heard a large clunk and scraping noise as the windshield trim flew off my vehicle and scrapped down the side and flew behind me. It was very startling and dangerous.

At Christmas we noticed that there was something flapping from the side of the windshield & hitting the windshield as well as bilateral front windows. Further inspection revealed what appears to be a rubber seal keeping the body trim flush with the windshield was disintegrating. This could even be holding windshield in place. This problem is reproducible & occurs anywhere over 30mph. The faster you go, the more the trim starts to detach from the vehicle. With the seal disintegrating, the trim body pieces that cover the arm of the door (black) is becoming loose/flimsy. Photos enclosed show you there is about a 1/2 inch gap between the trim & windshield without the seal causing easy movement & potential for air to lift/detach the trim. We are fearful this is going to fall off the vehicle. It appears that this seal was keeping this body piece in place. A huge safety concern arises anytime there is a part of a vehicle that is beginning to fall off at any speed. The seal itself could fall off in pieces as you will see in photos hitting not only other vehicles & causing them to lose control, it could also hit a motorcyclist causing them to crash, it could even go to the extent of hitting a pedestrian & causing major physical harm. The body trim that appears to be affected by this seal were to detach itself while moving it will definitely cause some major issues. Given this is more solid & bigger in size, this could cause significant motor vehicle damage, significant injury to motorcyclist and/or motorcycles, Injury to pedestrians, & even potentially cause a fatality. There are no warning lights or alarms from the vehicle alerting us of an issue. The Ford dealership is unable to see us for over a month to diagnose this issue let alone an oil change. This problem has not been reproduced by an inspection facility or license dealership because of scheduling at this time period there is an appointment set for February 10th however Injury or worse could occur until then.

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the front driver’s and passenger’s side windshield trim panel detached and struck another vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the contact was informed that he would be charged a repair cost. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 109,000.