2021 Ford Explorer: grinding or squealing brakes

Filed Jul 15, 2026 · Transmission · PA

Driving down road and lost power with grinding gears. Vehicle displayed warning on instrument panel briefly. Had to stop in middle of road and shift to park then drive to resume.

Filed Apr 16, 2026 · Brakes, Electrical · NJ

While I drive my vehicle down the road the car all of a sudden sounds like you throw it in park, it screeches and grinds in the front and will not let you push the gas pedal down even when on the highway. This causes sever risk to the people around me as well as my children who drive in this car… ford has an open recall for this which my vehicle falls under year and build wise. But does not correlate with my vin #

Filed Dec 18, 2025 · Transmission · 77,000 miles · IL

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the vehicle was repaired under the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 23V675000 (Power Train); however, the repair failed to prevent a failure shortly after the vehicle was serviced. The contact stated that after shifting from reverse(R) to drive(D), there was an abnormal grinding sound coming from the vehicle before the vehicle lost automotive power. The vehicle was towed back to another local dealer, Sutton Ford (21315 Central Ave, Matteson, IL 60443); where it was diagnosed with a fractured rear axle bolt. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 77,000.

Filed Feb 15, 2024 · Transmission · UT

While making a left turn on a city street there was a loud bang noise and a sudden shift of the rear of the car. The bang noise was immediately followed by a loud grinding noise (sounded like metal on metal). There was a sudden loss in power, and I was only able to drive the car a short distance to get to the side of the street. When the car was put in park, the car rolled downhill without resistance. The car was towed to a Ford dealer for repairs. The dealer's repair shop drained the fluid from the rear differential and found "large chunks of metal." The repair required the replacement of the rear differential. Had this event occured on a busy street, it could have resulted in a vehicle accident. The loss of vehicle control when the vehicle was placed in "park" could have also been a safety risk. This event is similar to the Ford recall of the Explorer for a rear axel bolt fracture (the federal safety agency recall 23V‑199 and 22V‑255). My vehicle VIN # has not been added to the recall list, therefore, Ford has refused to consider reimbursement for the cost of the repairs. I would like the federal safety agency to consider adding my VIN# to the recall for this design defect.

Filed Aug 25, 2022 · Transmission · MS

Our 2021 Ford Explorer Limited was purchased in December of 2020. It currently has been driven only 6,900 miles. Our apparent transmission problem has occurred three times so far. 1. On 27 June 2022, I experienced the first problem. While turning left on to a four-lane city street, which is largely flat in that area, a loud grinding/ringing sound occurred. Right in the middle of the four-lane street, the transmission dropped into neutral. It scared the crap out of us. We could have been hit by oncoming traffic. I brought it to a stop, then shifted to park and then into drive. We drove away normally as if nothing happened. 2. On 28 July 2022, after having the "bolt failure" recall completed (22S27/22V255/22N06), the transmission again made the loud grinding/ringing sound immediately after accelerating from stopping at a city street intersection. The road grade has a slight incline in the direction we were traveling. The vehicle dropped into neutral, then the newly programmed "auto braking" brought us to an abrupt stop in the middle of this intersection! Again, a scary situation. 3. Today, 25 August 2022, while backing out of our garage today, which has a slight downward driveway, the vehicle did an abrupt stop while halfway out of the garage. The message was "Hill Start Assist Warning." The message on my phone was "The Hill Start Assist System has detected a failure." This is the first and only time that this problem has happened. I think it is related to the problems mentioned above. It is a good thing I was not backing out into a busy street.

Filed Feb 3, 2022 · Transmission · 7,500 miles · FL

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the transmission would suddenly downshift or upshift erroneously. Additionally, while operating the vehicle a grinding sound was present while the transmission was shifted into drive with a chemical odor inside the cabin of the vehicle. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 7,500.