2020 Ford Explorer: won't start

Filed Oct 19, 2026 · Transmission · SC

I was driving to work on XXX. My explorer slipped out of gear while driving. I was a minute from work so I went and parked it. The vehicle wouldn’t shift out of gear or into park. The symptoms seemed to be tied to recall 26S48 / the federal safety agency Recall 26V402 so I had the car towed to a ford dealership. The service guy said it would be diagnosed in 1-2 weeks. It was finally diagnosed 3 weeks later. The service person told me I’d need a new transmission and it would cost 9800 to replace. I asked for the mechanics notes and diagnostic codes. They sent this: “Concerns verified, no crank no start the vehicle is stuck in park setting dtc P07E4. Found ssm 49685 and checked ground G210 and G214. Both grounds are not loose continued normal diagnosis. Completed work shop manual pinpoint test I. Found no issues with PCM or transmission harness wiring. Removed the transmission fluid pan for further testing. Found that the transmission fluid is black in color and is contaminated with metal debris. Found large chunks of steel within the transmission fluid pan. With further inspection found that the park pawl actuator rod has broken and has caused damage to the parking pawl causing the vehicle to hang in park. Dtc P07E4 sets because the vehicle cannot physically shift out of park. This failure has caused fluid contamination and has caused further damage to the transmission. Catastrophic failure is present. Transmission replacement is recommended along with replacing the transmission fluid cooler as fine metal debris may not be able to flushed from the cooler. -- [XXX]” I believe that the park pawl breaking is exactly the recall issue. I called ford corporate and they said they can’t do anything until the final remedy notice letter comes out at the end of this week 10/23 and can’t do any interim repairs until the recall is finalized. I texted the dealership to hold the vehicle until the letter is released. I’ve been out of a vehicle for a little over 3 weeks and frustrated. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

Filed Mar 15, 2023 · Transmission · AZ

Vehicle shut off at a stop light and was unable to be restarted. Vehicle had full power but would not start when pressing engine start switch. Vehicle was stuck in the middle of lanes blocking traffic and putting me in danger of being hit by other drivers. Police had to respond to block traffic until a tow truck could arrive. Dealer states the vehicle exhibited loss of communication to the PCM and there is a TSB #22-2145 for a neutral out condition. Vehicle is at dealer awaiting repair.

Filed Aug 4, 2021 · Brakes, Driver assistance · OH

Vehicle would not start and every warning lamp and alert triggered on the dashboard. Tried remote start which was successful, but vehicle shut off 5 seconds later and the above alerts/warning lamps repeated. Vehicle would not start and just repeated all of the warning lamps/alerts. Waited 20 minutes, car started without issue; however, when put into reverse WITH FOOT ON THE BRAKE the vehicle started to drive backwards WHILE FOOT WAS STILL ON THE BRAKE! No amount of pressure on the brake pedal stopped the vehicle. Had to depress and repress the pedal to stop the vehicle. Rear cameras failed to activate as well. Luckily no one was injured. This is the third time this has happened, the third time I have reported to the federal safety agency, and the third time I have reported it to my local dealership without resolve.

Filed Feb 4, 2021 · Fuel system · 5,687 miles · NY

I took my car to the bank and parked in the parking lot and while I went to the atm I left the car running I wasn't away from the car for more then three minutes and when I got back in the car it started sputtering and then just shut off. I tried to start it back up but upon doing so the vehicle wouldn't turn over. The engine sounded like it wanted to turn over but wouldn't. I tried this a bunch of times until the tow truck arrived( about an hour) but every time the vehicle still wouldn't turn over. Just continued to make the engine noise then would shut off.

Filed Jan 25, 2021 · Fuel system · 651 miles · NJ

Vehicle will not start when parked on driveway w/ nose facing street if there is less than about a quarter of a tank of gas in it. When tried to many times the dash reads cranking limit exceeded. Vehicle was towed to dealership - 2021 loaner was provided and the same issue happened. Dealership also advised they had another customer with a 2021 explorer have the same issue a week prior. Was told to park my car in street and not use driveway or to always have more than a quarter tank of gas. These are not acceptable answers

Filed Nov 24, 2020 · Electrical · 2,172 miles · AZ

This has happened over and over . . The car will not start. Sometimes it will just stop and will not start again. Sometimes it will happen in a parking lot. Sometimes it happens in the garage. I have had it towed to the dealership at least 4 times. They cannot find anything wrong with it. I can't be the only person this is happening to!

Filed Sep 17, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 5,761 miles · PA

Tried to start the car and would not start. The screen on dash board went crazy and everything was flashing. Head lamps came on and air blower for heat came on high automatically. Seemed like some kind of electrical problem. The dash was flashing everything and would not start the car. Waiting for the tow truck for 2 hours and I tried again and it started just fine. Brought the car home but can not duplicated the problem. There is something wrong with it. I take 5 boys for football practice and don't want this car to let me and those boys sitting in the dark..this is why I bought a new car so it would be more dependable. It would not allow me to start it and the whole dash was going crazy and flashing many things . Hope this helps.

Filed Jul 23, 2020 · Electrical · 15,000 miles · OR

Vehicle was parked. Vehicle locked into park and would not shift out of park or start, brake pedal was depressed fully. Dashboard message: drive mode not available plus scrolled through every other mode or feature and indicated 'not available.' but lcd screen showed message 'turn off ignition.' ignition was off. Vehicle thought ignition still on. Would not start. I disconnected negative terminal of battery and reconnected and car then started with no error or code messages.

Filed Jun 21, 2020 · Engine · 2,407 miles · NH

On sunday, june 14th, 2020 at 12:10 pm, I was headed east bound on a two lane state road with double yellow lines. My vehicle (new ford explorer st, 2407 miles on odometer) was on intelligent cruise control set for 37 MPH and in 'normal drive' mode. Without any warning, the engine began to shake violently and the car began to slow down. The engine appeared to be running but would not accelerate. The vehicle came to a complete stop about 300 feet from where the problem started. The engine was stalled and would not start. No warning lights or messages. Called aaa and they called local police. An officer directed traffic as I was blocking the right hand lane. There was no shoulder to pull off on. Road was in residential area with curbs. A flat bed tow truck arrived at 12:35 pm and towed the vehicle to my local ford dealer. Fault code showed a defective camshaft position sensor. There also is evidence that the timing belt has slipped. Scoring can be seen on top of #6 piston through borescope. The #6 spark plug shows impact damage from piston. Battery is draining and car is going into sleep mode. Service department manager stated the engine will likely require replacement. The dealership contacted ford engineering and established a case number. Dealership is working with ford engineering to determine the root cause of failure. A catastrophic engine failure of this type is extremely dangerous and life threatening. Three days earlier, a 140 mile round trip was made to boston without incident. If the failure had occurred on I-93 traveling at 70 MPH, the end result could have been disastrous.