The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the second-row driver’s and passenger's side seat belt buckle covers had detached, causing the air bag warning light to illuminate. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The contact related the failure to Customer Satisfaction Program: 21B11 (2nd Row Inflatable Seat Belt); however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 125,000.
2015 Ford Explorer airbags complaints
Page 2 of 4: complaints 11 to 40 of 84, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that he received notification of Customer Satisfaction Program (CSP): 21B11 (Second Row Inflatable Seat Belt); however, the part to do the repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. The local dealer and two unknown dealers were contacted several times and informed the contact the part was not yet available for Customer Satisfaction Program. The dealer later informed the contact that the Customer Satisfaction Program had expired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that they could not assist because the Customer Satisfaction Program had expired. The manufacturer referred the contact to the federal safety agency Hotline for assistance. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 45,000.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the seat belt and air bag warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed and the contact was informed that the seat belt wiring harness located in the second-row seat had failed. The wiring harness was replaced; however, the failure persisted. The contact was informed that the seat belt wiring harness needed to be replaced; however, the parts were on backorder. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the federal safety agency Hotline for assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 65,000.
The air bag system light came on. Dealer says repair requires splicing into passive restraint system wiring to repair. To me seems unacceptable as a method of repair as the passive restraint system saves lives. As a former highway patrolman for California I see what airbags do to save lives and the fact that ford refuses to help with a passive restraint system on a vehicle I just purchased seems as if they want my family endanger. And they want me to pay for a splice wire job which puts my family at a higher risk of injury or death. Ford has had vehicle for two weeks and their rectification to the issue is splice the wires se attached email from dealership
Air bag light comes on intermittently. Current mileage 62,094. Noted 21 prior complaints on your site. Brought to dealer who told me the problem was with a wire harness failure. None of the safety air bags will operate/deploy when this light is on. A faulty harness that had failed will put me and my passengers in serious jeopardy of injury or death in the event of an accident. This diagnosis cost me $149 only to find out it would cost hundreds of dollars more to have the problem fixed. Internet research reveals this problem was addressed in a 2016 technical bulletin 16-0001; Code B141B. We purchased this vehicle as a certified pre-owned vehicle after Ford issued the technical bulletin. No mention of Ford's internal bulletin was made by the dealer at the time of my purchase. Ford has been aware of this problem for years. According to the dealership technician there is no formal recall to have this manufacturing defect corrected by Ford at no cost to the purchaser of the vehicle. Didn't fully functional air bags come as part of my certified pre-owned purchase? I expect the manufacturer's safety equipment to be fully functional. Please review 2015 Explorer Owner's Manual as follows: Child Safety (pages 18-37), Safety Belts (pages 38-48) Personal Safety System (page 49) and Supplementary Restraints System (pages 50-61) with particular attention to page 49 bearing in mind that NONE of these safety features work when the air bag light is on. What good are safety features that are disabled by a manufacturing defect in the wiring harness? Ford has not only disappointed its customers, it has put them in serious jeopardy when using their product. Your rating system notes Crash, Fire, Injuries and Deaths. Do not wait for a positive notation in any of these categories before you act on safety recommendations, including a mandated recall, which is your primary tool for preventing future civil transportation accidents.
Airbag light on. Caused by fraying wires/bad connector under 2nd row passenger seat. Ford is aware of the incident and has made a solution at the owner’s expense.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the second-row rear inflatable seat belt connector caused the air bag warning light to illuminate. The contact related the failure to TSB-21B11 (2nd Row Inflatable Seat Belt). The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the cable was re-routed under the seat and re-enforced with electrical tape; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 75,000.
Air Bag system wire harness and components continually fail resulting in inoperable airbag system. Risk of injury to driver and passengers as airbags will not deploy while SRS Error light is occuring.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at 55 MPH, she was crashed into head-on by another vehicle which sent the vehicle backward into a guardrail. The air bags did not deploy upon impact. The contact's right shoulder hit the steering wheel and her head hit the pillar on the driver's side door. The contact sought medical treatment after the accident and received an X-ray on her right shoulder; the results showed no broken bones. The other driver was transported to the hospital by ambulance for leg pain. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent tow yard where it remained in their possession. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and she was given a case number; she was then referred to the federal safety agency Hotline for assistance. The vehicle had yet to be destroyed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 157,000.
My SRS air bag light came on intermittently and is now on all the time. A internet search showed many years of explorer also have this problem. It appears MANY owners are having this same safety problem and Ford is charging full price for repair. CLEARLY A SAFETY ISSUE WHEN AIR BAGS ARE NOT WORKING. A RECALL IS NEEDED!
Driver side air bag light on.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and was referred to an authorized dealer. The local authorized dealer was contacted and made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not yet diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
Our instrument panel airbag light turned on intermittently since 2026. Ford was unable to diagnose an issue until march 27, 2021. The warning light has remained illuminated while in the repair shop. They found a fault code and it is attributed to tsb 16-0001. We are now responsible for an almost $1,000 repair bill ($150 diagnosis charge and $800+ repair). The repair is due to faulty wiring connections. Our airbags are now supposedly inoperable.
Our air bag deployment light stays on all the time. I took the vehicle to gordie boucher ford in janesville wi for repairs. The entire air bag system will not work if this light is on. Ford knows about this problem, it is well documented if you search the internet. A common problem that requires a wiring harness to be replaced due to a frayed wire. The cost to repair this is $1200. I did have the repair done because without it I would have no working airbags on my vehicle. This is clearly a safety issue that ford is aware of and should be immediately recalled. I did request the old wiring harness if that is something that you would need to help get this safety recall started. I would like to be reimbursed for my expenses.
Airbag warning light on 2015 explorer came on (has been some time). Took to dealer several years ago and was told it was a known issue, would require tracing down wiring costing thousands of dollars and was not worth us doing. I don't understand how a dealer (ford) can dismiss this safety issue
Frayed wiring under the passenger side second row seating. This is causing the airbag light to be on and will not allow that airbag to deploy in an accident. Ford is aware of the problem and that it is a common issue that they do not know what causes it. Completely unacceptable for a family vehicle to have this issue and the manufacturer not take care of it. We do not believe this vehicle I safe to transport or have passengers in the back seat now.
Air bag light came on on the display. Took it in for diagnostics and it was determined to be a wire harness that needs replacing, until almost 900 dollars is spent to have the wire harness replaced all airbags in the vehicle are inactive. This is an issue numerous ford explorer issues face and it is pretty close to being held hostage by ford. Seats and carpeting have to be removed for the wire harness to be accessed, this is a design flaw at best as users can't really access it so how could they harm the system? It is absurd that to have working airbags in our vehicle we have to spend anything if we didn't commit any error, nor is there any real protection if it were to happen again. This is quite a large safety concern, I've seen countless complaints online with this issue and was told by the service advisor at ford 'we have people come in for this all the time'.
Air bag light came on around 58,000 miles. Got it diagnosed by mac haik ford pasadena. Dealer said it was an issue in the airbag wiring harness under the rear seats and falls under tsb 16-0001. The air bags throughout the car will not deploy because of this major safety issue.
Air bag light came on and would not shut off..went to dealer ... It was defective wiring plug under 2nd row seat...$1059.00 to repair. The air bag will not work without it. This is a common problem with many years of ford explorer. They should have to pay for the repair. It is a safety problem !!!! Light stays on whether the car is moving or not
The air bag light came on. After doing extensive research I see that this is a common issue because of the wiring and faulty connectors. After wiggling wires the light goes off. It eventually comes back on, then repeat the process.. This is a safety issue because the airbags will not deploy with the light on.
Airbag warning light turned in and will not turn off. Took the vehicle to the dealer who stated the issue is a shorted connector for the rear and that the airbags would fail to deploy. The light turns on as soon as the vehicle is started and never turns off. The light has been on for about three months but no technicians have been available to find the cause.
When the 3rd row seats are moved by the power button, the air bag light on the dash comes on. There is an electrical short.
Air bag light constantly stays on. Windshield pillar came flying off at 70 miles an hour.
My air bag light is on and won;t go off so I took it to a ford dealership and they told me that the back air bags wire were loose and it would cost me $600.00 to connect them back.
I bought this veh. In 2016 when it had 17,000 miles on it. Within 2 weeks I got a warning light for the air bag system. Took it to the dealer and was advised that the sensor giving trouble was in the seat belt airbag for the rear passenger seat. I was repaired under warranty for technical service bulletin tsb-0001 published january, 2016. I have had trouble off and on ever since with the airbag warning light. It would stay on for a little while and then go off. I had the dealer check it and they could not find a problem without the light being on. This week it stayed on so I had the dealer check it. It had the code b141b which was the same code repaired in 2016. Since the repair was warranteed for 12 months the dealer wants $797 to fix the current issue, which is the same one from 2016. I very seldom use the back seat as I have no children in my house. I would rather not spend that money, since I am retired, but if I don't get it fixed all of the other air bags in the vehicle will not work. I confirmed with a service advisor that none of the airbags in the vehicle would deploy if that light is on. I asked him if there was a way to by-pass it in the system so the light would go off and he said it is a fmvss that could not be modified and must be fixed the right way. I feel like I am being held hostage in an unsafe vehicle unless I pay the $797 to get it fixed (again).
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. The contact stated that the airbag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the rodeo ford located at (13680 w. Test drive, goodyear, az 85338, (623)298-3900) who noticed and informed the contact that there was a pinched wire underneath the rear seat of the vehicle, which would cause the airbag to fail to deploy in the event of a crash. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue however, no additional assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 50,000.
Slowly pulling out of narrow parking lot exit lane, through opened gate. Rapid unexplained acceleration, seemed to launch car across one way city street into restaurant building. Passenger seat belt (fastened, left bruises) released upon impact; passenger dash board airbag did not deploy; drivers' airbag weak. Passenger hospitalized from lower airbag, broken leg, severe laceration.
The air bag warning light turns on for no reason
Airbag light staying on. Dealer diagnosed rear seat issue and $911.00 to repair. Ford issued tsb 16-0001 due to it being a common problem. Due to the high cost of repair some customers do not have the repair completed resulting in an unsafe situation. Since this involves an important safety issue a mandatory recall should be required so the manufacturing defect can be resolved.
The airbag warning light came on without warning or incident (no accident or impact, just started my car one day and the light stayed on). Per research done online with same warning light, make and model of vehicle, issue appeared to be with the rear/2nd row seat belt airbags disengaging and this causes none of the airbags to work in the vehicle in the event of a crash. At the time the light initially came on I had about 72k miles on my car, and it appears this is about the same mileage of all other explorer owners with this issue. I took it in for service for the light and incurred repairs totaling just under $1,000 to have the parts replaced and the airbags function again. The fact that I did nothing (other than turn on my car when it was approaching the 70-75k mileage mark) to cause malfunction of the airbags but had to pay $1,000 to fix it and have airbags work in my car in the event of an accident is disappointing. Ford needs to issue a recall for this, it's unacceptable to have owner and passenger safety compromised through no fault of the owner, and have to incur costly repairs to make this right. I kept my receipts available to prove cause and cost of airbag light issue.
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