Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. The contact stated that while driving 30 MPH, the transmission refused to shift gears. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection where they stated that they could not diagnose the cause of the failure but the transmission need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 131,000.
2002 Ford Explorer transmission complaints
Page 5 of 51: complaints 101 to 130 of 1,502, newest first, as owners wrote them.
My vehicle was parked in a driveway. I started the vehicle, depressed the brake, and attempted to put the gearshift lever into reverse. The gearshift lever would not move. Again, I depressed the brake and attempted to move the gearshift lever into reverse. The lever broke off at the joint where it comes out of the steering column. I had to hire a tow truck. The driver had to disengage the transmission to load it onto the bed of the tow truck. This has been a massive inconvenience both financially and strategically. I expected this issue to be in the recall mode as there are many incidents noted on this site. I feel the ford motor company should be held liable for all my costs as this is obviously a flawed metal joint that should not fail with normal use. We reside in a mountainous state and use the gearshift lever to down shift on the same roads. This occurrence would have been disaster on floyd hill outside of denver. I guess I was lucky!
The dreaded gearshift in hand so well known by ford and anyone with this model,and ford wants big money from the consumer,for a terribly engineered part. Have you driven a ford lately?
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. The contact stated that while attempting to reverse, the gear shifter fractured. The vehicle was not the taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 167,000.
Bearing keep have to be replaced, an the rear coil spring is cracked an the tire came off while driving my truck, have replaced the wheel bearing 3 times already. An I have replace the transmission 2 times.
Like many other frustrated ford owners, I have had transmission problems with my explorer. Its really frustrating when you take it to the repair shop and they don't even need to see it to know the transmission needs to be rebuilt, due to the track record of the faulty parts ford has used. Its really sad when they know the transmission where not good and continued to install them for more years. I hope sooner or later they own up to their faults and do the right thing and recall the faulty transmissions. We spent good money for a quality american made car and did not expect to have to invest almost $3,000 in a new transmission the next year. Ford will lose a lot of loyal customers over this and needs to address this problem.
Bought a used 2002 explorer with 116,000 miles on it, went through all the ware items and replaced with new. I drove this vehicle to work for a while, enough to get the mileage to 140,010 miles then suddenly started to slip into 3rd or miss all together 3rd gear. 1st to 2nd works fine, 2nd to 3rd is gone (engine raves like it went into neutral) when you let off the accelerator it goes into 4th gear on will pull again, o/d works also. Dangerous for anyone in vehicle, this is a very serious safety concern, if someone was to have to get into traffic and this vehicle was to this they could very easily be run over by a vehicle they are trying to stay ahead of or had pulled out in front of. Ford has known about this problem for years now and is doing nothing to make it go away are remedy the poorly designed transmission and it just ticks me off that the federal highway safety people don't make ford do a recall to fix the affected vehicles before someone gets killed.
Pulled into park, went to shift vehicle into park (was fully stopped) and gear shifter broke off. I did not apply any force, just the normal typical action of shifting the gear. Good thing it was in neutral when it snapped. Took rubber seal off of the gear lever arm and the part which the lever arm was attached had totally broken off. The metal was not stripped or twisted but broken. Part #905-104: column shift repair.
Transmission took a crap, it seems to be a know problem with the 2002 & 2003 explorers. Guess we should have looked into the explorer better.
Pulling in driveway stopped the vehicle going to put it in park shift lever broke off inside of steering column went on internet found 146 complaints as the same thing happened to them on ford explorer carcomplaints.com.
My ford explorer has had so many ridiculous problems. This one is extremely inconvenient. The car has trouble shifting gears, it spins from 1st to 2nd gear and then I have to let go of the accelerator for it to shift again, it skips 3rd gear altogether and jerks into fourth after pressing and depressing the accelerator a series of times. Once it's in 4th gear, it doesn't go past 50 MPH. My mechanic says his monitor detected a faulty solender and the entire pack has to be replaced, but that may not be the only problem. If that doesn't do the trick (even though it needs to be replaced regardless) he will have to open the transmission and possibly rebuild or replace some of the parts. I have encountered hundreds of other 2002 ford explorer owners with the same problem. Aside from this, I have a list of other dangerous issues that this car has had and that has endangered my family's and my life numerous times: - gear shift breaking off the steering column as I shifted from reverse to drive in the middle of a busy intersection. - ignition cylinder/switch breaking - possible spontaneous explosion recall related to the cruise control - rear latch breaking and inability to use the rear latch. - electrical system failure - doors not closing properly & draining the battery - faulty alarm system - faulty temperature gauge and radiator - ford not allowing customers to buy just the parts needed for replacement and repair and forcing their customers to purchase entire packages only in order to get the necessary parts at extremely high prices. Ford should be incriminated for selling these vehicles knowing full well that they are flooded with life threatening issues to their customers.
I was driving my 2002 ford explorer about 25mph when I felt the rear end drop down. Pulled over to the side of the road and all 5 studs had sheared off. The second time it happened I was only backing out of my driveway when I put it into drive & started to accelerate the opposite side studs sheared off. This time only 4 studs broke so I limped the truck back onto my driveway. The third time this happened I was driving about 15mph going around a turn & 4 studs broke off again. If I was going any faster the truck could have flipped over.
Multiple issues with the transmission. From park, when shifted into reverse there is a surge that overcomes the brakes and causes the vehicle to move roughly 4-5 feet. Also, the transmissions shifts so hard that it shakes the entire vehicle. When shifting through the gears the transmissions stalls then shifts so hard it overcomes the steering wheel and sometimes causes a change of direction. When traveling at highway speeds 50mph + in overdrive the transmission will surge the vehicle violently as it attempts to stay in gear. After regularly scheduled service of the transmission and multiple discussions with the ford dealership they have not offered a solution other than spend thousands of dollars on another transmission that may cause the same result. This is an unsafe vehicle and needs to be remedied before an accident or death occurs.
While pulling out from a stop sign the transmission was slipping causing the explorer to barely pull out into a busy intersection in the path of oncoming traffic which had to stop to avoid hitting me. This was not the only time this has happened, and it happens with no warning.
Three months ago the overdrive light began flashing on my dashboard. The automatic transmission made a loud noise when changing gears. Sometimes the RPM's will rev but the car will not increase in speed.the light will not turn off and the transmission continues to shift harshly.
Merging into heavy traffic on us23 n. In ohio, tried to accelerate just as I always do and the transmission decides it doesnt want to shift, then when it finally did (approx 5000 RPM) it slamed into gear. Narrowly avoided being rear-ended. Turned vehicle around, tried fluid/filter change with no success. Did a search on the net and found thousands upon thousands of the same problem. Checked for recall and to my surprise there was none.
Drive train, bucks, grinds, is slipping. Makes alot of noise. Had the rear end replaced and it did not work, paid $1000.00 or so and did not take care of the problem.
I just purchased the vehicle in a private sale on 11/09/12 and on 11/10/12 went to shift from park into reverse on a flat surface and my shift lever broke off and I am not able to shift my vehicle.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. The contact stated that while driving 2 MPH and attempting to shift into park, the gear shift lever became detached, leaving the vehicle stuck in reverse. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where the contact was awaiting diagnosis of the failure. The dealer and manufacturer were not notified. The VIN was unavailable. The failure and current mileage was 167,000.
The o/d light keeps flashing on and off. Also the transmission does no longer want to shift gears; and when it does it shifts very hard.
On the afternoon of october 22nd 2012 my pregnant wife was leaving the speech therapist with my son went to put the car in reverse and the shifter snapped off in her hand. The car every since we had it when u put it in park as a delay and rolls for ward a bit I feel that this is a recall that ford should issue for this car. Its just not fair to have to pay over 1200 dollars to fix something that is not my fault.what if this would have happened in the street luckily my wife knew to shut the car off and apply the emergency brake. This problem really could end up in serious injury or even fatality to an individual.
Transmission failed for the second time. Failed originally at 65,000 miles and had to be replaced. Failed again 3 years later at 130,000 miles and had a rebuilt transmission installed. 10 months later at 140,000 miles the transmission is leaking and starting to slip. I don't anticipate paying for a 4th transmission on this vehicle. Obviously there is something wrong with the design.
I was driving in town when I accelerated from a stop light and the transmission would not engage into 3rd gear. The engine revved highly and then suddenly the transmission kicked into gear with a sudden jolt forward.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. The contact stated that while parked, it became difficult to shift gears. The vehicle was also slipping gears while driving at any speed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing three different times. The technicians were unable to diagnose the failure. There was an investigation under the federal safety agency action number: ea09013 (power train: automatic transmission: lever and linkage: column shift steering: column steering: column locking: anti-theft device power train: automatic transmission: gear position indication (prndl)) that may be related to the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 146,000. Updated 11/28/12
While coming off a freeway my car suddenly jerked and the transmission failed. Causing my vehicle to stop. When trying to move forward the car began to try to roll backwards into the car behind me. I was lucky I was coming to a stop rather then going full speed on the freeway. After much research I have found that this is an all too common problem with this make model and year. The transmission now needs to be completely rebuilt according to 2 mechanics.
Went to put car in drive from the park position and the shifter completely broke and was hanging. Also, I was not able to get my key out of the ignition. We were planning to make an out of town trip the following day, however, had to change plans due to this situation. After searching online, I have discovered there has been numerous complaints for this exact defect for the exact type of vehicle. It seems that since there has already been so many same situations, that a recall would have taken place by now. Not has it only been inconvenient, but could also be potentially dangerous!
Transmission failed on the highway at 70mph pulled off exit and continued on city roads to our jobs parking lot and is no longer drive able.
The service engine light came on and I was told there might be a transmission problem. After the service the light was off and I was going again. At 107,000 miles the light came back on and back to the service departmant and they said the #5 ring was having problems I could drive it and it would get worse. It was also mentioned this year explorer had many transmission issues. Now they want a minimum of $3,500 to fix the SUV and the trade-in is only worth $3,500 dollars. I now have 117,500 miles on it and it shifts hard and goes in reveserves slowly. I have talked to ford to no avail at all. The say sorry but we can't help with fixing it at all. There is no discounted rate for an issue that is well known on the blogs. This seems to be against the fact that ford says they have the bext trucks on the road if they think 117,000 miles is enough to replace the transmission. I do not understand the fact they think it is okay to charge that amount for a known issue on the 2002 - 2004 model explorers. I need help as I can't afford to fix it to trade it in and I don't see putting $3,500 plus into some thing that may only last one day to maybe a year.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. The contact stated that while driving in reverse, the gear shift lever failed. The contact tried to shift the vehicle in park but the gear shift remained stuck. The contact stated the vehicle continued to move and the emergency brake was used to stop the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a mechanic for inspection where they stated that the aluminum house that connected the shift lever to the steering column failed and would need to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified and have not responded. The failure mileage was 135,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. The contact stated that while attempting to shift from park to drive, the gear shifter lever fractured. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and denied assistance with the repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and the current mileage was 64,549.
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