In june of 1996, 1 new tire blew out, and I was lucky to get a replacement and goodyear reinbursed me for the cost of a new tire. Eventually, my tires started wearing oddly, and after getting a whole new set, my sway bar link broke. I had the sway bar replaced, but my new tires are also wearing very oddly. I have had several front end alignments, tire balance and frequent rotations. No one is sure why my tires are wearing as they are, on the inside only. The tread is very thin, and I think I will need a third set of tires on this truck. I wonder if the sway bar is part of the problem. It seems like everything big and expensive went out on this car as soon as it hit just over 100k miles. Of course my transimission, and catalytic converter problems were not covered under warranty, even though both were very close. I plan to take the car to ford to discuss the tire problem, I hope someone can explain why I am going through so many sets of tire. I have never had an accident in this vehicle, and have maintined it carefully. Could the sway bar be a problem? *ak (tiresize: lt23s/75r1)( dot number: tire size: lt23s/75r1 )
1996 Ford Explorer suspension complaints
Page 3 of 4: complaints 41 to 70 of 97, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Left front sway bar link snapped off at the top bolt. Vehicle started swaying back and forth heavily. At 60 MPH.
Consumer was traveling 35mph in snow. While going up a hill rear end came around & it rolled over. Dealer & manufacturer were no help, they referred consumer to the federal safety agency hotline.
I am associated with the u.s. Airforce, stationed at raf lakenheath, england. Within the past three weeks both left and right rods connecting the foward anti-sway brace to the frame have sheared off while driving. The effect of this was excessive bouncing and loss of smooth control of the stearing. Both incidents occurred at aproximately fifty miles an hour. My speed had to be reduced to aprox. Thirty miles an hour to maintain a reasonable control and stability. Part of the rods remained in the sway bar, until I removed them for replacement. The only damage that I observed to the rod was where the shear occurred.
I bought this SUV used and I thought I was getting a great vehicle, boy was I wrong. It has been one thing after another with this SUV. Please check all of my complaints this is an interior problem, these things cannot be caused by evey day use. The problems I am having are, back seat door handles are broke, the spare tire release broke the first time it was used, the air bag light went off and caused an inconvience to my family, the tires have been replaced and the alingment hasen't been right sense I've owned it, the back seat doesn't work properly, it will not release to fold forward, and the motor on the hatch hasen't worked properly from day one of my ownership. Please help me with this matter. Thank for all you do. Margie hulsey. Ml
Bushing that holds stabilizer bar is gone, causing vehicle to vibrate at highway speeds.
Noise was coming from vehicle. Been in dealer shop on several occasions, and informed consume rthat nothing could be found. Please feel free to provide any further details on this matter.
Consumer had vehicle new michelin tires, and was serviced for the ABS light and two days after work completed vehicle flipped over for no known reason (02-may-00), dealer claims it is no fault of the ABS, the vehicle flipped on two other occasions (07-oct-00 and 14-oct-00).
Consumer has experienced various suspension problems, installation of the caster/camber kit was necessary to properly align the vehicle, however consumer was in an accident due to possible suspension problems which caused the vehicle to fishtail and crash into a utility pole, two injuries due to collision. *mjs the consumer now believes the accident was due to the advisiory to inflate all 15 inch tires to 26 psi, the consumer had 45 psi on rear tires and the dealer deflated them to 26 psi which she believes caused the vehicle to spin out of control. Nlm
Front stabilizer linkage had to be repaired. Afted consumer heard a snap, a minute later, car went to shoulder like a big wind had pushed it. Vehicle started to rock back and forth, and it was hard to steer.
The sway bar linkage was entirely missing. At approximately 70 MPH, the car started swaying back and forth progressively harder, until the brakes were apprlied. I installed the new parts to replace those missing and the car now drive prefectly normally. It felt like the car would roll over if allowed to continue the side-to-side oscillation.
Front torsion bar separated, causing vehicle to sway from side to side . Dealer has repaired vehicle.
I purchased my 96 ford explorer in nov. 95 and have had a vehicle shudder problem that becomes a safety problem when tires are inflated beyond the recommended tire pressure of 26psi. Ford have now recommended tire pressures of 30psi, which I cannot do without risking a vehicle loss of control situation. The first time this happened, it absolutely scared the living daylights out of me, to put it politely! I had just picked up the truck from the mission valley ford after some brake work. I took the truck up to freeway speed and while traveling over some rough freeway surface the truck almost went out of control. I returned to the dealer where failure analysis was performed. The only issue the service engineer identified as abnormal was they had set the tire pressure to 30psi(all tires). Resetting the tires back to 26psi eliminated the problem.this problem resurfaced twice more since and resetting the tires to 26psi corrected the lack of control problem. The shudder I normally feel appeared to extend into the steering wheel and it became very difficult for me to control the truck when I traveled over a rough patch in the surface of a freeway. Emergency braking brought the truck back under control. I no longer allow my wife to drive the explorer. Im familiar with steering wheel shudder as a result of poor wheeling balancing, but this is different. The whole vehicle shudders, not the steering wheel, at cruising speeds of 60 MPH and above, and is particularly obvious on long journeys. This was identified to the ford service dept., who suggested that the tracking and/or the tires may be at fault. Tracking has been checked and new tires purchased, but neither corrected the problem. The shudder problem has been verified by the service dept of the dealer where I purchased my explorer. See attached service records dated 6/12/97 and 12/1/98 for this problem.
Pe# 00039; nut to hold front sway bar had sheard away. Consumer has had nut replaced by dealer.
I have replaced the sway bar links twice since new
Left front stabilizer bar link (sway bar link) broke when driving over bump in road. Car drove poorly after that. Ford replaced both front links and charged me a total of $81 for the repair.
Vehicle has always swayed. Even after new tires and rotations.replaced axle seal.
Pe-00-020; original equipment tires were wranglers.. Tires have been replaced with four other sets of tires every 15 thousand miles due to the cupping on the frontal tires, around the outter edge, which was causing excessive wear and vibration when driving at any speed. Vehicle have been aligned. Excessive wear control to occur ..*ak
While wife was driving felt some vibration and started to slow down, then automibile began to sway- later, found out from the police officer that firestone tire that was on and tread had began to peel off.
Tire delaminated while driving on a multi-lane highway in moderate traffic. The vehicle suddenly slowed and my wife reacted by further slowing the vehicle to prevent further vehicle jarring/swaying. She was able to fight the loss of vehicle control, and cross several lanes of traffic to stop the vehicle on the shoulder. The tire flap tore the wheel well and side of the vehicle, causing over$2000 damage. This failure put the lives of my wife, two young children, two other passengers, and other drivers in grave danger. I am offended that firestone and ford have not accepted responsibility and put containment plans into action. This is the second occurrance of a tire issue on this vehicle (with the original equipment firestone radial atx tires). When the first occurred, we noticed a thumping sound and upon inspection found that the tread was missing (down to he steel belt) in one localized area of the inner edge of the tread (about 4" diameter failure). I found this an odd failure and approached the local ford dealership, who attributed it to wheel alignment. They claimed no responsibility and offered no suggestion. The service manager even resorted to vulger language directed at me. I spoke to a customer mediator and berge ford eventually performed a wheel alignment free, but I paid for the tire replacement (2 tires). I did not report this to firestone at the time. The fluid has leaked out of both front shock absorbers. I continue to have issues with engine ping and gave up after bergeford attempted 3 times to resolve the issue. *ak( dot number: tire size: 235/75r15 )
Consumer was traveling on the highway about 70mph and then she felt vibration, and all of a sudden tread came off of the tires and damaged vehicle. Also, tail light was broken, as well as fender well and the bumper. The original atw tires were on this vehicle. Consumer had them replaced.
A bolt that holds the sway bar bracket to the wheel snapped due to corrosion which could have caused loss of control. Dealer will replace bolt with the same design.
While driving about 55 MPH could feel vehicle pulling to the right. Also tires were worn out on the outside.
I was driving along and heard a big bang, like someone threw something and hit the side of the truck. I took it into ford and they couldn't find anything wrong because the bolt broke holding the arm to control the front end. It was just hanging on by a thread waiting to pop out and me to lose control and be seriously injured or worse, killed. They found this out a week later when I returned to have the other work completed. My check engine light came on (the second time within 16,000 miles) and my window washer was broke. When they went to check the front end again they put it up on the rack and that is when the bolt fell out. I was told I was lucky to be there. If it went when I was driving I could have been killed. What really upsets me is, they told me the first time I took it in, that I would have to wait until it did it constantly. I am still counting my blessings to this day. No one could explain to me what caused this problem or why it happened. I was told by ford motor co. That this isn't a recall item and financially they couldn't help because it was out of warranty. Warranty or not, this should have never happened!! To me this is shoddy workmanship on ford's part. The price you have to pay for these vehicles is outrageous and they shouldn't be death traps. I'm constantly putting money into it (besides my monthly car payments) to keep it on the road. I am very dissatisfied with this vehicle and will never buy a ford product again! I just want buyers to beware!!
My wife commented that she had difficulty steering her ford explorer on 4/8/00. I drove the vehicle and agreed that it seemed to "sway" from side to side. Examining the vehicle, I noticed a part was missing from the front right wheel/axle assembly. I later found the part in my driveway. It was a "sway link assembly" according to the dealer. I had dealer replace lf as well as rf as I feel the part was defective. It simply snapped in half. Things like this should last the life of the car, not break after 5 years.
Excessive tire wear due to inability to align front and rear ends of vehicle to toe, cantor, and curb. Ford says its a design flaw and all future models, including the year 2000 model of the explorer and expedition are using the same design. Our vehicle leaped off of the highway, nearly causing us to go airborn and leave the interstate. This would have most definitely caused serious injury if not multiple fatalities. Ford is not concerned with this defect, yet, millions of folks buy these SUV's each year. Please help affect the change. Thank you. *ak( dot number: tire size: p255/70r15 )
I noticed bouncing of the vehicle when traveling over dips in the road. I would imagine this problem is very wide spread but is not noticeable to many people because the of the "firmness" of the other parts of the suspension. Such as the torsion bars. I had front shocks replaced after pressuring the ditschman ford(flemington, nj) dealership pretty hard. I noticed the difference immediately. The problem seemed to reappear again after only 4,000 additional miles.the same problem seems to be true of the rear shocks also. This problem results in bouncing and diving of the nose of the vehicle during hard braking. I would imagine in emergency(severe)handling the vehicle would not perform as expected. I am now considering an aftermarket set of shocks.
When brake pads were being replace, mechanic noticed that the bushing on the front left driver's side was missing. The bushing has not been replaced. Please provide any further information.
Making turns there is a clicking noise in the rear end of his truck.dealer was contacted, and stated that the problem was common.
The front tires have"cupped" within 2000 miles of purchasing the vehicle. I have been to the dealer and to goodyear over this issue. I have noticed that braking takes longer to accomplish because of the uneven wear pattern that has developed. I've had to replace 2 tires at 46,000 mles(as compared with 70,000 miles on a 1992 explorer that I owned that was equipped with firestone tires). Goodyear has told me that I have to rotate my tires every3,000 miles to prevent this wear pattern. I believe this is excessive maintenance and cost to the consumer. Goodyear has also told me that these tires were not engineered for this vehicle, but ford equpiped these vehicles with these tires as standard equipment in 1996. I've noticed that since1997, ford has gone back to firestone tires for explorers. I have called the ford consumer hot line. I spoke with the person answering the calls and explained the problem. I was told I would hear from a ford rep, but after a year I have heard nothing. Goodyear has looked at all mechanical components, including suspension bushing and alignment that could be causing this problem and has found nothing wrong. I believe this problem may be inherent to ford putting tires on this autmobile that are not matched to the vehical suspension. *ak( dot number: tire size: p235/75r15 )
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 1996 Ford Explorer?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history