2004 Ford Explorer visibility problems

Filed Feb 5, 2019 · Body, Visibility · 61,000 miles · SC

I have cracks in the plastic on the outside of my lift gate . Each time I use the handle to lift the cracks become worse. There are several posts online asking about the same problem. Every one I see in a parking lot or on the road has the same problem. Ford reports that it affects 1997-2007 explorers. I don't understand why this hasn't been addressed. I called ford and they referred me to your organization. Some of these cracks I have seen reach to the back window which I believe would be a safety hazard.

Filed Dec 13, 2015 · Visibility · 172,000 miles · TX

Was driving on the road almost to my parents house when I heard an explosive sound. I look in my mirror to discover that my rear windshield had exploded. At first I thought a rock had hit it but when I got out I discovered that the hydraulic arms had expanded and pushed out the sides of the hatch, which resulted in the shattering of the windshield. My children were in the car but fortunately the glass only exploded into the back of the car and not into their seats.

Filed Aug 23, 2015 · Body, Visibility · 130,000 miles · VA

Sun visor bracket cracked and disintegrated leaving sun visor blocking my view. Had to pull over and disconnect the wire and remove visor. 2nd incident, pressed button to open rear glass and the hinges snapped ejecting the heavy glass panel at me. Had a child been opening it, they could have been killed. As it was, I caught the glass panel.

Filed Feb 9, 2015 · Visibility · 135,000 miles · ID

While closing the rear window glass hatch the driver side hinge broke allowing the window to fall out on that side. The rear glass hatch window is heavy and could have easily broken the hinge side allowing the glass to fall off the vehicle. A previous ford recall on the very same component covered vehicles up to 2003. The exact same problem is occurring to this 2004 vehicle. Contacted ford and they are not willing to help owners out. Had the vehicle been traveling at highway speeds and the hinge let go, there would be a very high probability of property damage and a very high probability of personal injury to others on the road.

Filed Jan 30, 2015 · Visibility · 40,000 miles · FL

Sun visors have been replaced twice. Horizontal plastic panel with the ford logo has cracked and been replaced 3 times. Current one on vehicle is cracked. Sent an e-mail to ford and was told basically "too bad--out of warranty ". Formoco has known of this problem on both the ford and mercury but has done nothing to fix it because it is not a safety issue. And of course this " damage " will lower the value of my vehicle when I sell/trade it for something other than a ford.

Filed Dec 23, 2014 · Body, Visibility · 123,000 miles · NJ

The rear lift gate window of my 2004 ford explorer exploded while the vehicle was parked. According to the ford dealer, this apparently is something that is known to happen.

Filed Dec 18, 2014 · Body, Visibility · 105,900 miles · PA

Leaving work at end of day, pulled out of parking space and rear glass shattered. The edges of the back hatch pulled away from the truck and curled up causing the glass to blow into the truck. A crack in the plastic of the hatch (which I have seen on many of this year model) has not been recalled and I have emailed ford many times about this problem for fear of water getting in behind the panel. My belief is that water did get behind the panel and that is what caused the plastic panel to pull away and blow in the glass. Luckily my children were not sitting in the 2nd or 3rd row seating or this would have been a much larger problem. I believe ford should have this problem addressed and recalled before someone gets seriously hurt from that flying glass.

Filed Aug 21, 2014 · Suspension, Transmission · OH

Every since we've financed this lousy SUV 08/2012 we've had a clicking noise from the rear and still cant figured out what that is,but the transmission has been slipping and shifting hard,we have replace front left wheel bearing and ABS sensor just a few months ago and the bearing is bad again and the front right wheel has a bad ball joint and the visibility thru windshield is horrible,always have a hard time seeing, cna only see a few inches ahead!!! This car needs serious recalls the air conditioner stopped working in less then a yr!!! And we bought this car with only 68,506 miles!! We already spend over a grand for a fuel pump!!! This car sucks!!! Plz help we still owe thousands and everytime we blink an eye it's not safe to drive because of wheel problems!!!!

Filed Aug 4, 2014 · Body, Visibility · 141,500 miles · WA

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford explorer. The contact stated that after opening the rear glass lift gate window, the two plastic hinges attached to the window fractured causing the window to fall and separate from the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 141,500.

Filed Jul 5, 2014 · Body, Visibility · 108,800 miles · WI · 1 injury

Upon opening the rear glass hatch, the passenger side of the hinge broke when fully open and the window fell down, hitting me in the head. The panel below on this same window to the left of the ford logo plate had also cracked about 6 months ago.