2016 Ford Explorer: key fob or push-button start problems

Filed Aug 31, 2023 · Locks · 141,000 miles · TN

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that on multiple occasions, the door locks failed to open. The contact stated that the rear driver’s and passenger’s side doors failed to unlock as needed. The contact used the key fob remote to attempt to unlock the doors, but the doors failed to unlock. Additionally, the contact stated that she attempted to manually unlock the doors, but the doors failed to unlock from the inside or the outside. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the door lock mechanism had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The contact stated that the front driver’s side door failed to unlock, and the lock was stuck in the locked position. The contact attempted to manually unlock the front driver’s side door, but the door failed to unlock. The contact stated that she was concerned that during an emergency, she would be stuck inside or outside of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it remained. The vehicle had not yet been repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was advised to contact the federal safety agency Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 141,000.

Filed Sep 14, 2016 · Electrical, Steering · 10,900 miles · LA

This is the second time this happened to me while driving my 2016 explorer limited. My car has every option available. A few months ago as I was turning onto the highway a "lane keeping sys malfunction" alert came across my display and my steering locked in place. I could not turn my steering wheel at all. I had a sketchy vehicle for my first vehicle and knew that I needed to put the car in park and turn it off for a few seconds and restart the car. Doing this freed my steering wheel and I was able to drive to the dealership. The dealership ran diagnostics and came to the conclusion that the sensitivity was set too high. Ffw months later. 9/13/16 I am driving back at about 65 MPH, from a dr. Apt on a busy road and the car tells me my steering is malfunctioning to service my vehicle. My game plan was to pull over safely and run a vehicle health report and call the dealer. Seconds later I get the same message along with lane keeping malfunction & my steering locked. I had to come to a complete stop on the middle of a busy hwy with a car coming at my rear and throw it in park and kill my engine and restart my car for the steering to unlock. I spoke with the service dept. After they ran diagnostics and my vehicle is "spitting out codes like crazy" and was told it may be a module in my computer that controls steering & lane keeping systems or my key fob is not being detected by my computer and is not sending an alert and my car thinks it is being stolen. Crazy. Definitely not safe. This is my daily driver. I have 4 small children. I live in my car. Please research this and issue a recall. This is not safe at all. Thankfully I was not on an interstate going 70+ MPH. Also my car was purchased dec 2015 and was a dealer trade from a tx dealer.

Filed Jun 13, 2016 · Engine · 8,500 miles · MI

Greetings, I was driving my 6 month old leased 2016 ford explorer on I-696-east near east pointe, michigan. I was traveling at about 70 MPH, when the car slowed down and then stopped. The motor was running but it would not move. I had to find a way to get over.it was dangerous. Mdot courteous care came to assist. We could turn the car off and on but again,the car would not move. It is a push button start. I could have been killed. The traffic was very active. I had a 3 year old toddler daughter who needed to be picked up. I see that there have been similar complaints. Ford should be charged. The car also should be recalled now!-c.j. Cylar

Filed May 7, 2016 · Electrical · 4,642 miles · SC

While placing groceries into the trunk today the lift gate began to close spontaneously on my daughter and I. We were fortunate enough to jump out of the way before it closed. We tried to push on it but it continued to descend. The mileage is 4642. I have had 5 other issues with the lift gate spontaneously opening after I have walked away from the car. Thankfully I have been alerted to it when I hit the lock button on the key fob and get the open door signal. I have only been able to use the "hands-free" lift gate three times since I purchased the vehicle in february.

Filed Apr 15, 2016 · 2,200 miles · IN

I am the owner of a 2016 ford explorer xlt with the foot activation liftgate feature. While loading a large item in the rear cargo area of the parked vehicle, the foot activated closure function was unexpectedly triggered and the liftgate proceeded to close on me. The liftgate did not stop once it hit me. I had to apply extreme cross force pressure to stop the closing process and trigger the safety stop mechanism. Had this malfunction occurred while my 4 year old child was retrieving or placing an item in the vehicle, her head or neck would have been crushed. Further testing and trying to shut the liftgate on myself via the key fob or the tailgate button did not produce the same result. The safety stop detected my presence upon initial impact, and re-opened, as expected. I am furious that this unexpected closing via accidental activation via the foot sensor issue has not been addressed, even though a quick internet search pulls back many owner complaints of this same issue. The complaints go back several model years. This feature is commonly installed on all dealer stock vehicles, so ford should address the inconsistency of the foot activation sensor, or at least incorporate a setting that allows the owner to disable this function via the vehicle settings. Safety needs to exceed any value of a convenience feature.