Both driver and passenger door lock/latch mechanisms failed showing car door is ajar when door is actually shut. Driver door lock actuator failed around 30,000 miles and passenger lock actuator failed around 135000 miles. When driving at night, the interior lights of car cannot be turned off until speed reaches approximately 10 MPH. This leads to unsafe driving conditions and limits driver visibility outside of car due to glare.
2013 Ford Explorer electrical complaints
Page 4 of 7: complaints 71 to 100 of 163, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The power steering fault assist button came on in the SUV. The steering wheel locked up on me while the vehicle was in motion. I was in another city other than where I live. This was by far one the scariest things that has ever happened to me. The wheel completely locked up. This is beyond unsafe for anyone to be steering a vehicle and the steering wheel locks up. The vehicle was towed to the mechanic shop. The steering rack had to be replaced. I was charged for the pet and labor. The total cost was $1,931.18. There is a recall on the same model vehicle but because my VIN doesn't match I wouldn't qualify for the recall. This is not right! There is a recall on the vehicle for the same issue but not for my VIN. I will upload a copy of my receipt for parts and labor. This is so disappointing!
It's an intermittent problem. The electric power steering goes on and off. It does so while still or even while driving.
Paint bubbling on aluminum surfaces hood and door skins, referred back to dealer who repaints and reoccurs until out of warrantee. Steering failure intermittent accutrac control requiring towing and computer reset. Can fail while driving resulting in no or difficult steering. Multiple times reset no charge. Estimate to repair $2500
Smell of smoke, and tapping noise prior to fire. Smoke came from near the center console between driver and passenger seat. Fire started. Made a complaint prior about smell of smoke and noise.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While the vehicle was parked in the garage, multiple warning indicators illuminated on the instrument panel and flashed different colors. Also, the information screen on the right side of the dashboard turned black. There were no warning indicators illuminated. On september 6, 2019, the ignition failed to start. The contact also stated that the door latches would open and close multiple times. The vehicle was unable to be driven and was towed to jim click ford lincoln (located at 6244 e 22nd st, tucson, az 85711, (866) 787-4416). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failures. The failure mileage was 99,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. The contact stated that the ignition switch failed three months ago. Also, while in a parking lot driving 12 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle failed to restart and failed to shift out of gears. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the ignition switch failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 158,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. The contact stated that the instrument panel was blank and inoperable. The vehicle was taken to mel hambelton ford (11771 w kellogg ave, wichita, ks 67209, (316) 462-3673), but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 145,343.
The steering became so bad it was not safe to drive and could easily have caused a bad accident. I did not let my wife drive it. Local auto repair shop said it is an electrical issue in the steering so I drove it unsafely to ford dealer who told us it is an issue with the steering gear. This should not happen in a 2013 vehicle with a little over 100k miles
The "door ajar" warning continues to appear after driver door is shut. Once the car is in motion and comes to a stop, the warning will audibly beep and display a message to shift to park, thus distracting the driver. The warning prevents the dome lights was shutting off until the car is in motion. All of which is a drain on the car battery. Issue appears to be a faulty car door sensor. I've cleaned it, but it only offered a temporary fix.
This dealing with the my sync (myford touch) . The system will will cause the screen to go black,it also will cause the A/C & heater, navigation, and radio to stop working. This happens while the vehicle is moving. To restore the system you have to pull over and reboot the system by turning off the vehicle. I just recieved a customer satisfaction program alert for ford on 5/25/2019. Dealer will not repair because they clam that the program has expired. But I can have the repair done for the cost $1200.00
When I shift it to park. It doesn't recognize it and when you turn of the car. A sign comes up on the dash screen saying 'shift into park'. And it drains your battery because the system is waiting for you to shift it. Also you can't use the factory remote start.
The back up camera just started working sometimes and sometimes when we go in reverse it will come on then go away and says to contact dealership. This issue just started.
Vehicle experiencing intermittent engine shut off under all driving conditons which exhibits a serious and dangerous situation when the vehicle abrubtly loses total power while driving. This has recently been an issue in the past two weeks while my wife and kids were driving on the freeway at 70 MPH in traffic. Vehicle started back up once the ignition was turned completely off and waited a few minutes to start the vehicle back up. This scenario occurred on the freeway, in town driving and while stopped at traffic light. Contacted local ford dealership and all they said was to bring it in. I had a mechanic check it out and he was unable to retrieve any engine codes while running an ecu scan. There are several complaints noted online with other ford explorer owners who have attributed it to a "terrain management" fault. This is the same diagnosis my local mechanic came up with. This results in the engine control module to receive a throttle position in the wide open indication causing the vehicle to shut off. The vehicle is currently being operated in oahu, hawaii. I am currently deployed to the middle east so I am very concerned for the safety of my family while this is the only mode of transportation available to them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. During inclement weather (heavy rain), water affected the electronic components in the vehicle. Bowditch ford (757‑595‑2211, located at 11291 jefferson ave, newport news, va 23601) kept the vehicle for several days for diagnostic testing. The dealer did not provide an update on the status and the vehicle was not repaired. A second dealer (hall ford newport news, (877) 398-2216, located at 12896 jefferson ave, newport news, va 23608) diagnosed that the water short circuited the switches and the sun roof motor failed and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.
Power steering assist fault. Causing loss of power steering almost causing a accident was able to pull to side of road unable to steer the vehicle. Others have had this and some recalled but not all. This recall needs to be extended before someone dies. City street. I can't imagine being on a freeway in phoenix when this happened.
Power steering assist came on as I was driving and lost steering. Very dangerous
Power steering down. Warning massage said 'power steering assist fault' 'service advance trac' 'terrain management system fault'. It is too hard to steer. Control module internal failure, codes u3000-49, u3000-96, u3000-71.
While driving my vehicle at a slow speed my steering wheel locked up.
When turning on the vehicle a system error comes up 'power steering assist failer' and 'auto traction system needs servicing'and my traction control and ABS lights tinted in as well. I've tried turning my vehicle in and off again and even trying to move the vehicle and I have no power steering at all. There was a factory recall for my make and year model vehicle in 2014 but I do not know if it was corrected as I lurched the vehicle used from a ford dealer in 2017.
I have had intermittent power steering loss. At low speed, I received a power steering fault and lost all power steering in the vehicle while making a turn. Luckily I was not driving at high speed with family in car.
I have a door ajar light that will not turn off first it was just the driver side now it is affecting both the driver side and passenger side. The doors will not lock when in motion and the interior lights will not turn off.
Having a issue headlights going off. Mostly one bub at a time but not always the same bub or both buds go off but always turn back on once I place switch back in off position and turn them back on. After being pulled over by locat shierff is when I first noticed the issue for my headlight being out. Trouble had gotten worst of time. I spoke to a local state trooper and I was told that it is known issue with newer ford headlights. I went dealership and I explained to them it seem like a electrical power issue. I was that the harness over time gets moisture in it and had to grease to keep it from happening. He said it will be over $1000 to get it fix with the symptoms I provided him. On long straight trip at a stead speed the light do not go out, but driving around town it happens now on a regular.
Randomly honks with and with fob in or near car and without the car running. Check engine light comes on after getting fuel, and sometimes it does not stop the gas when pumping.... Send a code for sensor in fuel compartment.... Door panels crack
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled and the steering wheel seized without warning. Prior to the failure, the steering wheel seized on other occasions. The vehicle was towed to packey webb ford (1815 ogden ave, downers grove, il 60515, (630) 598-4700) where it was diagnosed that the power steering failed and the steering rack needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the vehicle was exhibiting the same symptoms as listed in the federal safety agency campaign number 14v286000 (steering). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 77,754.
Power steering does not work at times on start up. Could go out at high rate of speed and cause an accident. Should be a recall
Received warning light when I started my car which would stay on while driving which was diagnosed as an electrical problem. It was caused by battery acid leaking which required that I pay out of pocket to have the battery harness replaced. I was told by the dealership that the problem could have caused the engine to shut down completely as the electrical system would have gone out completely, in time.
My explorer has an issue when stopped and in drive with the AC on the car pulls/lunges foward as if I hit the gas/ also when im parked and the air con is running at some point the engine goes down below 500 rpms then kicks up to 700 to compensate then kicks down to below 500 , over and over again. If rev the engine a bit, then it goes back down to normal idle and its fine for maybe 10 minutes then does it all over again. This can be a safety issue as the car pulls itself foward with no human interaction. There is multiple websites declaring this is a known issue for this car. Google 2013 explorer rough AC idle you will see lots of people commenting on it.
The passenger side seat belt in the second row refused to latch while the vehicle was stationary or in motion. The dealership stated that it was not covered under our warranty. The sun/moon roof has leaked on several occasions causing me to pay out of pocket for repairs. The repair shop indicated that we should blow air into the tubes to keep them clear even though we always park in the garage and at work there are no trees around the parking lot to have anything be able to get into the drain tubes. I have owned several vehicles with sun roofs and never had them leak or need to be blown out even when they were stored 100%v outside. Again not covered by warranty even though we had less than 40k miles and a ford certified pre-owned warranty. This is a bad design and should be a recall. The sun roof was stuck open on 3 occasions. The driver side window trim pillar flew off when I was driving down the highway. I was told that it was not covered by warranty and had to pay out of pocket to have it replaced at the dealership. It is now coming loose again and I do not expect it to last much longer with how loose it is. It is a danger to anyone driving behind me as it could fly off and cause an accident. This is a bad design and should be a recall. These events happened over multiple dates but we were not aware of a way to complain about all of these problems as we were told they were not covered under the warranty.
Warning that car needs to be shifted into park. Alarm dings even when car is in park. Display does not indicate car is in park . Car is stationary position in parking lot and engine is on.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2013 Ford Explorer?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history