2021 Ford Explorer Electrical System Problems

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 #

Car turns on but the engine will not turn over due to the electrical. And locks the car and not able to check or fix anything. If I was driving in the busy roads it would have been very dangerous as it stopped suddenly after starting the last time.

Recall Action Soon Issue Since 06-20-2025 Unrequested second-row seat movement For More Information Telematics Generated Issue

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while at a stop sign, the vehicle lost automotive power and failed to restart. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed; however, the cause of the failure was undetermined. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 74,000.

My vehicle is having the blue screen & message to contact my dealer when in reverse. I understand there is a recall for this. I contacted ford to see why I haven't received a notice & am being told that it only affects certain vehicles yet I'm having the exact issue. It is a safety hazard due to low visibility behind the vehicle when in reverse.

Sun shade sagging. Causing loss of visibility.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while his wife was driving and was at a traffic light, the light turned green and the accelerator pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated that there was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the instrument cluster was dark, and the vehicle failed to restart. The contact stated that his wife waited for approximately 15 minutes in the middle of the road. The contact’s wife was able to restart the vehicle and drove a local dealer. The vehicle had experienced the failure in November 2024 and the same dealer replaced the battery and replaced all four tires. The contact stated that the vehicle was diagnosed, and the dealer determined that the 12-Volt battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact's wife stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power with a system shut-down message displayed. The contact also stated that the vehicle inadvertently shifted into park. The vehicle was able to restart after 30 minutes. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the tires had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,469.

While driving down the interstate, the tires (rear passenger?) suddenly locked/stuck. This caused vehicle to lose control, 360, and slam into the guardrails. Prior to this incident, when the car was turned on, it stalled a bit like it was about to turn off. This lasted for a few seconds, but returned to normal. So may be a component of electrical and/or directly related to the rear tire. There were no warning messages. Driver was thankful injuries did not occur. Could have flipped, or slammed into other cars, trees, etc. This is a serious issue. While the vehicle was being loaded onto the wrecker, in neutral, the rear passenger tire was visibly stuck. This was observed by owner, husband, police officer and tow company. When offloading from the tow truck, the tire made a loud pop and movement returned to normal. Vehicle is currently at the shop (ford dealership). Will have more information next week from their diagnostic studies. It is available for inspection upon request.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that occasionally the front driver’s and front passenger’s side windows failed to respond while depressing the switch. The contact stated that the failure was recurring and was previously repaired by the dealer. The vehicle was taken back to the same local dealer and remained at the dealer for the repair. Additionally, the contact stated that the local dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 18,600.

[XXX] after driving less than 10 min. warning signs flashed on screen. I immediately pulled off the road where the vehicle completely shut down and realized my 2021 Ford Explorer was on fire. Bystanders attempted to put the fire out with fire extinguishers but were unsuccessful. My passenger and I opened our doors, I exited and attempted to open trunk to remove wheelchair but could not (because door is electrical). My passenger flung himself onto the ground until bystanders came with a rolling office chair to remove him away from the burning vehicle. Had the bystanders not been there I do not know how I would have been able to move my passenger (25 year old, 200 lb male) away from the burning vehicle. Fire Marshall could not determine cause of fire because vehicle was completely melted/too damaged. Ford Motor Company reviewed photos I sent to them but claims they could not determine cause of fire. The vehicle was properly maintained with routine oil changes. There were no issues with the vehicle prior to this incident. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

My digital dash would get wavy and flickery with lines through it almost like the LEDs in the screen we're going bad. They made lines going across which made it hard to read the speedometer. Since I brought this up it's been two or three times that I've tried to have them look at it and they finally saw what was going on and they decided that they were going to replace the instrument cluster in the dash and since they replaced it it has been fine. Also I am on battery number for due to the vehicle going in battery saver mode every time the battery starts to go bad and Ford has yet to figure out what is going on with my vehicle that is causing me to have bad batteries and causing it to go in the battery saver mode to preserve power within hours of the vehicle having been driven.

11/9/23 our still under warranty, 2021 Ford Explorer Platinum with 20,152 miles on it died at stop sign and would not start. Locked in park and had to be towed to dealer who worked on it for one week and claimed it was fixed. Same problem second time a few days later and dealer claimed it was lose wires and returned to us on 11/28. This last time (happened at a very dangerous onramp location and I thought I was going to get hit by another car while waiting for the police to arrive) they have had it since 12/4 and can not diagnose or fix the problem despite claiming to have done numerous things. Ford (Detroit) CS has been of zero help and will not loan us a car or rent one for us to use. We are supposed to be leaving in a few days for our Florida residence for 4 months without our car being fixed. We have had the car a total of 10 days out of the last 51 and with the holiday weekend being tomorrow and Monday it will be 53 days. I have read about numerous Ford Explorers having this same problem and never getting fixed correctly, only to have repeated software issues. How much is enough for a consumer to finally have protection. Lemon Law has expired and I can not find any information for consumers in our current situation. Please advise. We are [XXX] and this is very stressful to say the least. Thank you! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V626000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

The vehicle was self accelerating and applying forward propulsion. It was behaving as if the cruise control was on, cruise control was verified off. When braking was applied an alert was posted on the dash stating Braking applied, power reduced and the engine would rev higher. Upon stopping the vehicle and letting off on the brake the vehicle would accelerate as if the gas pedal was depressed. Upon parking the vehicle the engine would rev up to 6k rpm and if I let go of the brake the vehicle would accelerate. Turing off the vehicle and turning the vehicle on did not reset the issue. I verified no inadvertent pressure was being applied to the gas pedal and have video demonstrating the failure. The videos I have are too large to upload via your limitations on this page.

I was sitting at a stop light and when the light turned green I pushed on the gas pedal and I had NO POWER! However, all of my auxillary power worked. Everything inside the car still had power, from my dashboard to my Apple CarPlay but my engine would not turn on. The check engine light did come on but not until it had been sitting there for 20-30 minutes. The Auto Start/Stop was activated so I don't know if there was an issue with that and it just never turned back on. The alternator belt was still intacted. Had it towed to repair shop (took about an hour) when it got to repair shop it started and shop couldn't find anything wrong. It has started every time since. I am afraid to drive it because I don't know if or when it will happen again.

When starting the car, the digital screen either turns to blue or black as non-functional. The radio is not able to operate during this time. While in park, the screen is black. While in drive, the screen is either black or as shown I photo, the camera shows the parameters

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the audio connection failed to function as intended. The contact stated that there was no audio power. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the radio audio connection was in the rear hatch of the vehicle and that water had been leaking into the rear hatch of the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and agreed to assist with sixty-five percent of the repair cost. Additionally, the contact was advised to report the failure to the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was 33,000.

Screen is blue by reverse

Every 6 months, the rear cameras, cross traffic sensors and blind spot warning go out and completely stop functioning. I take it to the dealer tland they keep it for 1-2 weeks and eventually replace a fuse and send it home. This has happened four times. No one will actually correct the root cause ti the issue. It's going on its third week in the shop this time.