While parked in the driveway, we found that the back window of the hatch was completely broken and the body in the back was lifted off the car. It looks as if the hydraulic arm malfunctioned overnight.
2005 Ford Explorer body complaints
Page 2 of 6: complaints 11 to 40 of 151, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford explorer. While the vehicle was parked, it was noticed that the liftgate was cracked. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 117,000.
Crack in rear hatch plate by ford emblem
Crack on back panel from window down around ford emblem literally just appeared one day. My explorer was purchased new in 2005 and is in excellent condition except for this mystery crack that I am now noticing on a lot of explorers around the same age. It is an obvious defect! When is ford going to take care of this?....updated 11/13/15
The rear lift window started cracking multiple times and the open button stopped activating.
Walked out to my garage and noticed a cracked had showed up overnight. It goes from the back eindow, by the right edge of the ford logo, to the bottom of the lift gate. It is almost perfectly vertical, I have seen a ton of these on xlts. I thought I was lucky, I was wrong.
My 2005 ford explorer has multiple paint problems peeling all over the car,,the dealer said its any after market paint job I bought the car used from dave smith ford in 2008 they are trying to say that the car was completely repainted within the first 3 years of the cars life.
I have a cracked tailgate that is a defect. I have seen this same crack on numerous ford explorer's 2002-2005. I have contacted ford and have gotten no where with this problem.there are numerous complaints of this same problem. I thought the door was closed to hard, that is not the case until I kept seeing the same crack on every ford explorer 2002-2005 then a light bulb went off there's something wrong with the tailgate, that makes it eventually crack. This has not been fixed on our vehicle, we worry the glass could shatter while continuing to close it as I have read with some owners. Please help us solve this problem.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford explorer. While opening the rear door, the contact noticed a large crack on the rear panel that extended from the rear window vertically all the way down to the end of the panel where the ford emblem was located. The vehicle was inspected by the insurance adjustor. The vehicle was not diagnosed by an independent mechanic nor the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 160,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford explorer. The contact stated that the rear hatchback panel cracked. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, who informed the contact that the manufacturer had a customer satisfaction campaign to replace the paneling, but it was discontinued. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 74,000. Updated 4/15/15*cn the consumer stated the panel below the back window was cracked. Updated 04/21/15
Typical ford problem with 2002-2005 explorer/mountaineers. Rear tailgate cracked all on it's own because it's cold here, and because it's a defect ford should have fixed when they knew of the issue. I am not the only one (of many) with this problem.
The rear lift gate trim panel split vertically from the glass to the bottom of the lift gate. The crack runs adjacent to the ford emblem on the lift gate. I see a lot of this occurring on similar year models and consider that this is a design defect that should be addressed.
First noticed what appeared to be a scratch underneath rear window. Grew into a crack which runs from the bottom of the rear window down around the ford emblem to the bottom of the window hatch. Crack has widened to about 1/8 inch. Vehicle purchased my myself brand new.
The back tailgate panel has a crack beside the ford logo. Looked on line and saw this is a listed problem with 2005 explorers.called ford they were no help.
Paint in roof channels bubbling, roof rusting.
I walked outside to enter my vehicle and noticed a crack in the hatch lift on the back door adjacent to the ford emblem that was not previously there. Since then, I've noticed this same flaw on most ford explorer xlts of approximately the same age as mine.
Noticed a crack in the back window panel near the ford emblem.
Took my SUV to bodyshop yesterday I noticed the roof top exterior was peeling paint and rusting. It will lead to leaking problems if not repaired but owner of shop says that there is no way of them being able to seal it permanantly it is a matter of how long new paint will last . To have it repaired is very costly but if not will do further damage.
Crack appeared to left of ford emblem on rear hatch door, under glass.
Discovered a crack in the panel below the rear window hatch above and below the ford emblem.
Rear widow is also a hatch. The hatch has a fracture in the center of where the hatch secures itself to the frame. The hatch will not close properly and needs to be physically manipulated at an angle to be secured.
The plastic bracket that holds up the overhead control console between the drive and passenger and right next to the rear view mirror broke and the entire console fell while the car was off and parked with no one in the car. The console dropped and blocked the rear view mirror. Had I been driving it would have been a shock and caused me not to use my rear view mirror. When I went to remove the bracket to get a replacement I found it was super brittle and falling apart. It broke into a few pieces while just holding it. It clearly was not structurally sound. If this interior and hidden plastic part that was not subject to any passenger interaction or sun exposure is disintegrating what about other parts of the car. I see lots of plastic parts failure complaints for ford explorer. Is the plastic they used defective or are car parts like this bracket in ford products supposed to self destruct?
I have a 2005 explorer xlt and I also have a large crack down the panel below the back window. Which has LED to water seeping into my back wiper motor causing me to replace it frequently. Which replacing this is not cheap.this is certainly an issue that needs to be addressed due to there are many of the exact same complaints. Also the brackets that hold on my back window came off/broke. We were leaving for vacation and the whole window was in my hand when I went to close it. I am a ford lover through and through and would just like these problems that numerous people are having corrected . Thank you for your time!
I am another very annoyed owner of a 2002-2005 ford explorer with a cracked rear panel. From what I can tell, this affects nearly 100% of all explorers of those model years and it is ridiculous that ford has not issued a recall notice for this defect.
I went out to my 2005 ford eddie bauer explorer to remove items inside back cargo area and noticed that the plastic tailgate panel below the rear window had vertically cracked all the way down and through the whole piece. There was no physical evidence to show cause for the spontaneous wide crack. The car has been well cared for. Parked daily in garage and not even driven daily. I am extremely concerned that the glass window panel might be compromised and could cause deadly damage to passengers in my car or others on the road behind me should it come loose or shatter, including the chance that the back windshield wiper could come unattached and also fly off into the window of a vehicle behind me. I have just researched this problem and have found hundreds of other owners who have had the same spontaneous cracking and have filed complaints. Something must be done. This is an extreme safety issue.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 ford explorer. The contact stated that a crack developed across the full length of the hatch back door. The glass of the hatch back door also shattered without warning. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for a diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 92,210.
Paint is bubbling/flaking along front edge of hood.
Body issues: I have a 2005 ford explorer and have never been in a car accident. My tailgate somehow develop a crack that goes through where the ford logo is. Nothing happened to the SUV to cause the crack. It just somehow happened on it's own. I believe the vehicle is defective or at least the materials used to make the vehicle. Electrical issues: another issue I have is with the electrical. My turn signals (most times) do not work. I have to manually move it up and down when turning. When it does work, it goes really fast. My reverse notification no longer works for some strange reason. Also, my radio goes louder when I turn it down. I have to turn it off for a little while, turn it back on then try to lower the volume.
Hinges on the rear glass hatch are broken. Eventually will brake off and possibly cause an injury because that supports the glass. Many other explorers have this same issue.
Without any impact or known cause,the liftgate cracked from the rear window, along the ford emblem, to the bottom.
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