The vehicle stopped while I was driving and wouldn’t accelerate when trying to push the gas pedal. The warning wrench light then appeared and said power train. Once I pulled over and cut the car off and back on it drove normal for a few miles and broke down again. My safety was impacted because the vehicle literally stopped while I was driving on a busy road.
2015 Ford Explorer transmission complaints
Page 2 of 4: complaints 11 to 40 of 86, newest first, as owners wrote them.
When driving the vehicle, my check engine light will come on, the car will shake, start to slow on its own, the steering wheel locks up. If I am on the highway, I better be able to steer the wheel quickly to pull over or else I will be in the middle of the highway. All of this happpens within a minute. The car forces you to turn it off or it will shake uncontrollably. Once you turn it off you have to remove the key, open a door and then start the car again and it drives like nothing is wrong with it. It is like there is a default in the computer system that is powering the vehicle. This has happened to be four times. It’s very scary and extremely unsafe
Last year the water pump needed to be replaced at 99,500 miles. It cost upwards of $2,000 to be replaced. Fast forward now, a year later the check engine light is on, the car is not accelerating properly and it is back in the shop. The shop called and said it is not as simple as fixing the sensors. They have to look further and thinks it may be the timing chain which would be another $2,000. When it was in the shop a year ago fixing the water pump they said the timing chain at that time looked good. I am so frustrated that the water pump is not a part of a recall since our shop said they are seeing this all the time with Explorers with about 100,000 miles.
The Gear Shift Selector would not register when the Gear Shift was in Park. This condition prevented turning the engine off. A costly repair was paid for and it has since been noted this is a common complaint on Ford Explorers. Another failed Ford design for which they should be held accountable. The complete Gear Shift Assembly was replaced May 12, 2017 53,86 miles
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the front windshield wipers activated independently. The contact removed the fuse to stop the windshield wipers. The vehicle was not diagnosed. On another occasion while starting the vehicle, the vehicle lost power steering functionality with the steering assist fault message displayed. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle and the message disappeared and the power steering functionality returned. The vehicle was not diagnosed. On another occasion while the contact shifted the vehicle into park(P), the vehicle delayed recognizing that the vehicle was in park(P) and failed to turn off as needed. The manufacturer was contacted but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 170,000.
Without any warning, the engine and power system failed while on the highway. There was no system warning lights preceding the event, and the vehicle had be well maintained. We were lucky to have been able to get off the road by safely coasting. Once towed to the mechanics, we were told that a rod had failed and entire would need to be replaced.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, an abnormal noise was heard coming from the rear of the vehicle. The contact stated that the noise occurred for several days however while driving 55 MPH, there was an abnormal clunking sound heard as the vehicle jolted forward. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal was depressed, and a grinding noise was heard as the vehicle was parked. The grinding noise stopped after the vehicle was placed in the park. The contact inspected the vehicle and found no objects. The vehicle was driven to an independent mechanic who diagnosed the failure as a rear axle bolt fracture. The contact was informed that the driveshaft and bolt needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The independent mechanic advised the contact to call the manufacturer for assistance. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and stated that the vehicle was not included in a recall. The contact related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 22V255000 (Power Train) however, the VIN was not included. The contact called a Ford dealer and was awaiting an appointment for a diagnostic test. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.
Body: windshield Trim detached last year and flew off at highway speeds. Didn’t cause damage to my own vehicle but could have bounced off someone else’s. Drivetrain: non serviceable (unable to do a fluid change) on my power train unit. Due to this it started leaking at the front seal and others reported failure during driving. The fix would be to add a drain plug and make it a serviceable unit.
smell coming into cabin for explorer from vent, leak under vehicle, ford dealer says he didnt see a leak transmission shifted fine but he shut the vents off when he test drove the car to check for noise. took to dealer 3 times. PTU problem needs to be fixed on Explorer, money is tight and with inflation on the rise, i would think Ford wold do better helping customers with their problems, they need a way to work to pay the payment bc they want the car/truck/suv. DO BETTER.HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while shifting to park(P), the message that the transmission was not in park(P) was displayed. The contact stated she shifted back to drive and then to park until the shift selector recognized that the vehicle was in park. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the shifter assembly replaced. The vehicle was repaired. Upon investigation, the contact associated the failure with the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 15V464000 (Parking Brake) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 46,382.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle overheated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the water pump was leaking coolant. The mechanic informed the contact that the water pump and timing chain needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 139,000.
I purchased this vehicle in May 2021. Within a week after purchasing, the power steering went out completely. When this happened, an indicator came on the dash that said "Steering Assist Fault-Service required". Another indicator came on as well that said "Service Advancetrac". Not only did the power steering go completely out, but the selector that allows me to change modes from grass, snow, sand, normal conditions was not working either. It was no longer lit up and would not respond when I tried to change it. This exact same scenario has actually HAPPENED 6 TIMES NOW in the past year, with the most recent happening on June 21, 2022. Each time, it happens when I am going to a relatively slow speed (under 25 mph) and it is VERY difficult to get it off the road due to the power steering being out. I am only reporting now because I didnt' know how to report it, or that it would do any good at all to do so. When this happened that very first time a week after I purchased it, the dealership said that I would need to have something with the steering replaced. I complained that I had only had the vehicle for 1 week, so they took it back to repair it. The repair apparently didn't fix it becuase it keeps happening. I transport my children in this vehicle daily. If the power steering fails again at a higher speed, a collision is very likely. I do not know why the Advancetrac selector goes out as well when this happens, but it happens every time. Each time this happens, I have to get it to the side of the road, turn off the vehicle, let it sit for a few minutes, and it is usually back to normal when I start it back up. When this happens, there are no indications prior to it that something might be wrong. It is completely random when it happens.
The cars timing chains are being stretched way to early in the mileage. I have a repair that will cost over $3500 to replace the VCTS, guides, chains, tensioners, solenoids and water pump. All of this with under 75,000 miles on the vehicle. This same issue is also on the ford f-150's that has the same issue and the exact same motor is in the explorer but for will cover the f-150 issues and not the explorers.
I was pulling out on busy road and once i entered the road the car started to shutter. The vehicles power train management. System error flashed on the dash and I lost all power to the engine. I put my foot to the floor and nothing happened. Lucky I was nearly able to get over to the side of the road. I then put the vehicle into park and the engine started to shake violently. I then shut the car off to make sure the engine did not get any further damage. Once turned back on everything seemed normal. This was ver scary. Ford needs to address this issue as it seems to be more common after doing research.
Vehicle placed in park, driver exited vehicle, vehicle disengaged from park and advanced forward. Vehicle stopped by crash. Ford customer relations was notified and documented concern. Driver injured attempting re-enter vehicle to apply brake. Powertrain assembly or shift linkage possible result of issue.
Driving on highway at 65 MPH. All the sudden a "Terrain Management" fault error with a wrench icon appeared, and car lost speed and was vibrating. Turned the car off and then on and the fault cleared. The error message is not explained in the user manual and no suggestions how to fix it.
Power train and control is bad
When stopped for the at least the duration of a stop light, while in drive with brake pedal compressed, car will sometimes drop in rpms and also attempt to accelerate forward.
Sudden failure of the power steering system requiring complete replacement of the power steering system. Also disables the ford advance trac system. Occurred while in motion at slow speed w/ max speed of 20 MPH. The dealer indicated that the computer module failed and required the whole system to be replaced. Occurred in the parking lot. Not the first instance of sudden failure, but usually stopping and restarting the car cleared similar error, no obvious signs of war or leaks/other damage. Previous correctable instances occurred in similar conditions.
Down the road from my house the power takeoff unit had a catastrophic failure while driving forward (on private drive) grinding sound could be heard coming from the unit in drive but not reverse or neutral. My complaint with this is that this is a known issue with ford and they have not issued a recall, the jerking that this failure caused had I been on a public road/highway going a higher speed could of caused a major accident therfore I believe this to be a major safety issue.
When putting car in park it will alert transmission not in park have to turn car on and off and on park until it finally goes in to park
Ptu is leaking. The fluid is bad and needs seals installed. I smelled gas and hot motor. Type smell. This happened to another 2015 ford explorer owner by friend - it was not discovered as early. This is a hazard to the driver. Sounds like it's an issue for many explorer owners. Should be recall? Would I be reimbursed?
While driving on the highway and towing a trailer the vehicle suddenly lost power and dramatically slowed down. It was almost like slamming on the brakes. The information window showed "terrain management fault". The engine was barely running and was running erratically. I was able to get pulled over and stopped the engine. When I tried to restart it the "terrain management fault". Appeared again and the engine was again barely running. After a few stops and starts the message cleared and the engine began to run normally. The ford dealer found a bad throttle body assembly was faulty. The repair was not covered under warranty.
Wife drove to grocery store parked went in store came out to truck started it put in reverse in there was no power steering. Traction control light is o ABS light is on and brake light is also on . Vehicle is no longer under warranty. Looked up the problem on internet and lots of same problems with this.
The car does not go in to park. It is an automatic trans. You have to play with the shifter for the car to go into park and secure the vehicle.
Purchased used card march 2019.after a few months started noticing when parking car even and uneven terrain cannot get parking brake to engage and the gear would not set to the p of park and be able to stop the car. It was a situation that happened occasionally, but now it has become more frequent.
Ptu leaking with 22395 miles and 5 years and 3 days in service. Out of warranty by 3 days
While driving, ford explorer dash wrench light indicator turns on then suddenly you loose power and control and braking, technical disabled. You have to come to a rolling stop. Then turn on car again to remove wrench light.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. The contact stated that there was fluid leaking from the power take off unit. The vehicle was taken to jim tidwell ford (2205 barrett lakes blvd, kennesaw, ga 30144), to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the power take off unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 108,000. *ln
My wife pulled out of the driveway into traffic going to work one day. When she pulled out the car shifted hard then went into neutral. My wife's quick thinking to pull of the side of the rd saved her from getting rear ended. She put car in park then shifted to go again. At that moment is when the car started hopping as she drove down the rd. She pulled over to call me. I instructed her to go home and not to work. I got home hours later from work I then drove our 2015 ford explorer. It shifted hard then started to hop I took it home and did a visual inspection on the fluid level tires and shocks. I didn't see anything abnormal. The next day I took it to ford dealer they drove it at 96000 miles said they couldn't duplicate it. Fast forward we have 105000 miles on it problem persistently getting worse we took it back to village ford. They drove it and suspected the transmission. The next day they called saying it was the transmission and it would be 5500.00 $ to fix it. They couldn't put it on a diagnostic machine before warranty was out but they could when out of warranty. Now I find myself spending 4500.00 dollar auto repair that could've been detected if they would've diagnosed it prior to now. Reggie the service manager and the service team at village ford failed me
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