Random rear window exploding. Car had no chips or damage to rear windshield. The car had been parked for long periods of time. Vehicle was parked, not running, backed in away from street for 20 minutes before spontaneously exploding. The center of the windshield as well as the outside edges had holes blown out. Weather was and had been between 58' and 70' for the past week.
2013 Ford Explorer visibility complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 63 of 63, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. The contact stated that water leaked from the sunroof into the interior headliner eventually causing electrical failures to the 3rd row seat controls preventing the seat to not be able to be adjusted. Additionally, the water damage caused the carpet to mold and rusting of the wheel well. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but no assistance was offered. The local dealer was not notified. The failure mileage was 100,000.
The power steering went completely out. Steering wheel locked up & the turn signal & wipers wouldn't work. At first , I could turn the vehicle off & it would reset but it started happening more often at a low speed or when I would put the vehicle in reverse. It went completely out in august 2019. My particular 2013 ford explored didn't have a recall for this & it cost $2,300 to fix.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. The contact noticed that the windshield molding sealant detached from the vehicle without warning. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and did not assist. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving various speeds, the climate control temperature remained at the high heat setting. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to apple ford of lynchburg (2113 lakeside dr, lynchburg, va 24501, (434) 385-5012) where it was diagnosed that the front controls interface modules failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and provided case number: cas223-28019. The failure mileage was approximately 149,121. Consumer stated in my attempts to cut off the heat (it was a 95* day) from blowing, I almost hit a cement girder. This was only 1 of many times that this happened. The heat would cut off. ____ this created a dangerous situation _____. Since-ford gave me a comparable vehicle to drive and the repairs have now been made. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).'
The molding on the drivers side of the windshield suddenly detached and flew off during travel. This actually happened 2 years ago and we replaced the part ($200) and installed it ourselves. Well guess what happened again? The passenger side molding detached and flew off during travel this time. Both times this occurred at freeway speeds. Now I know for sure it's a faulty part and not a fluke. I am super frustrated that I have to cover the cost of this a second time. Also to have pieces of your vehicle flying off and potentially hitting other vehicles who are also traveling freeway speeds is a huge safety risk. Not to mention it makes the vehicle look really ugly. I am filling this form out at work and am unable to upload a photo, but if you google ford explorer windshield molding issues you will see exactly what I am reporting is not an uncommon occurrence.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving at an unknown speed, the windshield molding detached. The vehicle was taken to fritts ford (located at 8000 auto dr, riverside, ca 92504, (951) 687-2121) and was informed that the molding needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
I noticed the outside trim around the sides of the windshield appeared loose on the driver but mostly passenger side of my car. A few weeks later when I started driving over 10 MPH down the road, I heard a noise like something beating against my windshield. I noticed the rubber seal around the windshield and between the trim and the windshield had come off and was flapping in the wind against my windshield and car. The body trim is now loose as well. I had a little water even leak into the car. It was very distracting and almost caused my wreck. I had to temporarily tape the rubber trim down as it keeps coming loose and gets worse as you drive (which you have no choice when you are not close to home or can't get your vehicle in for repairs until weeks later).
While traveling at normal rate of speed, my windshield wipers come on at random, work on their own while positioned on off or not work at all.
Windshield wipers go off at random on their own or don't work at all.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. The contact took the vehicle to lafontaine ford (5103 s cedar street, lansing, mi 48911) for scheduled maintenance. While the mechanic was driving approximately 50 MPH, the sun roof shattered. There were no injuries. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, but the sun roof was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified and provided case number: cas-16709021. The approximate failure mileage was 118,000.
While driving at approximately 35 MPH, the rear window shattered spontaneously with no signs of impact. Outside temperature approximately 32 degrees, inside approximately 70 degrees. The tempered glass literally exploded. No other physical damage to the car apparent. After doing a google search, I found this is not unique to me, and that sunroofs and windows often shatter spontaneously due to manufacturer defects that can be latent for years. Specifically noted was ford; in particular, the f150. This car is a ford explorer. The entire window requires replacement.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving at unknown speeds, the passenger side windshield trim detached from the vehicle. In addition, the driver side windshield trim was hanging from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer (reuther ford, 1325 mcnutt st, herculaneum, mo 63048, (636) 931-9393) where it was diagnosed that the brackets fractured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and referred the contact to the federal safety agency. The failure mileage was 87,000.
Conditions: the vehicle was in motion. I was driving on a highway. There was heavy rain. There is trim molding on the driver's and passenger's side of the windshield of the 2013 ford explorer. While driving a few weeks ago, the driver's side molding flew off, leaving exposed a strip of weather stripping, which was covered with a blackish glue. As a result of the molding having flown off, the now unsecured weather stripping was repeatedly hitting the windshield leaving it covered with the sticky residue from the glue. While that on its own may not have been so bad, it was raining and the automatic wipers had engaged. This resulted in the weather stripping getting caught underneath one of the wipers and smearing the glue across the windshield rendering it completely impossible to see. The combination of the glue from the weather stripping completely obscuring my visibility, the wipers being rendered wholly inoperable, and the heavy rain was a devastating combination. I was on a highway, driving at approximately 70 miles per hour, with mild to heavy traffic, while it was raining, and in the span of less than five seconds: (1) the trim to my windshield flew off in traffic; (2) the glue on the weather stripping that was held in place by the trim began repeatedly flapping on the windshield; (3) the wipers, already engaged, got caught on the flapping weather stripping, and smeared the glue across the windshield; and (4) the wipers were left completely inoperable due to the weather stripping that they had gotten caught on. Essentially, in the span of less than five seconds, I went from being able to see and drive without issue to having to drive without being able to see what was in front of me.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. When starting the vehicle, the windshield wipers operated without warning and failed to stop until the vehicle was powered off. The contact called a local dealer (bonnell ford, 353 cambridge st, winchester, ma 01890) where a service appointment was scheduled for 09/27/2017. The manufacturer was notified of the issue and referred the contact to the federal safety agency. The failure mileage was 55,272.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving 65 MPH, the driver's side windshield panel separated from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 76,000.
This is my third attempt at this. My explorer has the exhaust problem you are seeing in the news. I have tried to work with the dealership, ford directly and now one wants to acknowledged. I have been chasing this for a few years. My kids and I are getting ill and with 100 degree temp and below zero climate we have to use the air. They also have a problem with their outer window pillars where they will come lose and randomly fly off on the freeway. Below is my conversation with ford directly who claim this is rare and does not cause safety risk, to see the dealership who needs to take the car apart at my expense to even try and locate the problem.
Two things: the window outer pillar mount randomly flies off of the vehicle. My glass guy has even traded out the whole part and again it has flown off. This glass guy is the one who does glass for the ford dealer here. 2 - the exhaust that comes through the rear air vent not only smells bad but makes me and my kids very ill.
My front windshield wipers will not turn off and it is in the off mode. I was driving.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving at various speeds, the steering became very difficult to control. When the contact turned off and restarted the vehicle, the steering resumed normal operation. The dealer stated that the VIN was excluded from the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v286000 (steering). While driving various speeds, the windshield would vibrate and the ambient lighting would default to white on the instrument panel, which hindered the contact's visibility of all the gauges. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000.
Windshield wipers will just come on sometimes when you start the vehicle. If you turn them on to clean windshield and turn them off they will still come on after you have turned them off. Really a pain to deal with.
My panoramic sunroof exploded!! I was sitting in my vehicle, parked in the driveway and heard a loud noise. I got out and checked the tires and around my vehicle. I saw nothing unusual so I got back in, turned the air off and that's when I discovered it was the sunroof. I heard crackling of glass. Got back out and stepped in the back passenger door and looked on top - it had cracked in the shape of an x with a small pop up right in the center. It was obvious that nothing had hit the glass because I was parked in my driveway and the glass was pushed upward instead of inward. I took numerous pictures of the vehicle sitting in my driveway right after this happened. Drove it to the nearest dealership, within a half hour, as per the service mgr. For pre approval of warranty coverage. It was denied twice. Ford's response for denial of warranty coverage : " as per section 3 of the warranty and policy manual, damaged glass (stone chips, scratches, etc.) is not considered a warrantable condition unless as related to another defective component. The loud noise as described by the customer has generally been found to be the time in which the glass is impacted in other similar cases. The point of impact to the glass is the place in which the glass is broken and bowed upward (bow upward due to interior cabin pressure is slightly greater than ambient pressure when windows are up and the HVAC system is running.) unfortunately, this broken glass is considered to be damage that can not be covered under the new vehicle warranty at this time." 23 days later...my $40k vehicle is still damaged and sitting in my garage b/c this is an ongoing issue with these panoramic sunroofs exploding. Ford can not keep up with the demand for replacement glass. I pray someone, especially a child is not injured or even worse killed by this defect.
At any speed exhaust fumes get into passenger compartment. With vehicle idling and climate control to off position, I let it idle 5 min. Then turned climate control to on position and nothing but fumes come out thru air vents. I bought this explorer 10/23/12 and it has been in the shop since 12/12/12. Ford sent a fix for this explorer and it didn't work. Fmc needs to call me asap. This is looking more and more like a buy back.
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