2020 Ford Explorer — Problems & Complaints
NHTSA has 1,233 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.
Ford Explorer — Complaints by Model Year
Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.
2,237 complaints
1,680 complaints
1,808 complaints
2,460 complaints
1,710 complaints
732 complaints
299 complaints
1,233 complaints
445 complaints
269 complaints
111 complaints
21 complaints
104 complaints
0 complaints
What Owners Complain About Most
Recent Owner Reports
On December 26, at approximately 7:08 p.m., I was driving on the Belt Parkway during a snowstorm. I was traveling in the middle lane and began to safely change lanes to the right. During the lane change, the vehicle’s four-wheel-drive system suddenly displayed an error and appeared to malfunction. Immediately after this occurred, I lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle vee…
When parked with the vehicle running a passenger exited the rear seat behind the driver. When they closed the door the drivers seat moved all the way forward and the seat back also moved forward pinning the driver to the steering wheel. After a few seconds the driver was able to move the seat back from the steering wheel. Not sure if there is a setting for the electric sea…
Vehicle did not want to shift above 35 mph. When letting off gas - harsh downshift (with no break lights) at 25mph. Diagnosed transmission problem - repaired- Ford dealership rebuilt transmission. No warnings or messages prior to failure.
Adaptive headlamp assembly on my 2020 Ford Explorer Platinum AWD has failed twice in 2-years. First, upon receiving the vehicle, the passenger side had to be replaced (dealer was unable to fix the problem, so had to replace the whole headlamp assembly which requires a complete removal of the front bumper). Now the driver side headlamp has failed - and I haven't even had the ca…
I HAVE A 2020 EXPLORER PLATINUM. I HAVE OWNED IT FOR LESS THAN 30 DAYS. MILEAGE AT TIME OF ACCIDENT IS 6853. I WAS TRAVELING ON A TWO LANE COUNTRY ROAD, THERE WAS ABOUT ONE INCH OF FRESH SNOW ON THE ROAD. I WAS DRIVING 20MPH. I CAME TO AN S CURVE THAT I WAS FAMILIAR WITH. I SLOWED TO 10MPH. I BEGAN MY TURN TO THE RIGHT, I LOST ALL STEERING, WAS FIGHTING WITH THE WHEEL, T…
Recalls & Crash Tests
Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2020 Ford Explorer, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.
Problems Checker
Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.