2015 Ford Explorer Complaints

POWER TRAIN — Filed 05/01/2026

Vehicle transmission develops shutter overtime, which causes speeds to fluctuate and can be a safety hazard to the driver or other drivers. As you accelerate from a stop or low speeds the vehicle shutters causing it not to get up to speed as normal causing a safety risk along with extra wear and tear on the motor!

BACK OVER PREVENTION — Filed 01/15/2023

The contact’s daughter owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The owner received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V695000 (Back Over Prevention). The contact stated that while in reverse(R), the rear-view camera went blank periodically, and after two weeks, the image went completely blank. The contact stated that on several occasions, there were children and people standing in the rear of the vehicle and it could have caused an accident. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was diagnosed, and it was determined that the rear-view camera needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was unknown.

BACK OVER PREVENTION — Filed 10/13/2025

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V695000 (Back Over Prevention); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that the rearview camera was inoperable. The dealer was made aware of the failure but confirmed that parts were not yet available. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

BACK OVER PREVENTION — Filed 07/07/2026

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V695000 (BACK OVER PREVENTION); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated while reversing, the rearview camera image was inverted. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 100,000.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM — Filed 01/20/2026

Ford has had this recall open since October of last year. My car has a faulty backup camera that is not working. It’s been 9 months since it came out and there still no forward motion except for mustangs for this recall to be fixed.

STRUCTURE — Filed 01/24/2024

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the exterior A-pillar and B-pillar trim appliques loosened and detached from the vehicle on multiple occasions. Due to the recurring failure, the contact applied duct tape to secure both trims. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure); however, the part to complete the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time to provide the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 90,061.

STEERING — Filed 09/01/2025

Total loss of Power Steering ! Warning light display: "Steering Assist Fault", "Service AdvanceTrac", turn signals unable to lock and release. Hard Fault codes present: U3000 96-C8, C200D, 49-48 C1B00, 64-48. This problem started somewhere in the last quarter of 2025, it started with intermittent and sudden loss of power steering, while driving, which is very much a safety issue, especially when my wife does not have a lot of strength in her arms while trying to maneuver a vehicle with manual steering only. It has happened to me as well. It used to be that when you get to a save pull over point, shut vehicle off and do a restart, it would reset back to normal operation, most of the time, until it would go into fault mode again. As of about XXX, 3 weeks now, the (EPAS) steering, has been in permanent fault or fail mode and will not reset. With all my research on this, I can't believe Ford has not extended model year and or VIN's, from the previous recalls on this very same issue that the Explorer has. Again, based on research, it appears the complete steering rack would need replacing. That is a very very expense repair, that is just not in our budget. So we still drive it, because we have to, I try to drive it mostly other than my wife, but it is still a bit scary. We have had this vehicle since new, it now has 112000 miles. Thank you for reading and accepting my compliant on this issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

STEERING — Filed 05/09/2026

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the power steering feature was intermittently inoperable. There was no warning light illuminated. A technician attempted to diagnose the vehicle, but no diagnostic trouble codes were retrieved. The contact was informed that the failure could not be duplicated. The contact stated that the failure had progressively worsened, causing the power steering to become inoperable. The dealer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 123,000.

BACK OVER PREVENTION — Filed 06/17/2024

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while reversing, the rear-view camera displayed a distorted image. In addition, the contact stated that the rear-view camera displayed images with lines and an inverted image. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, and the failure was confirmed to be consistent with an unrepaired recall repair. In addition, the contact was informed that parts were unavailable to repair the vehicle. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign number: 25V695000 (Back Over Prevention); however, the parts were unavailable. The contact stated that the failure was a persistent failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

BACK OVER PREVENTION — Filed 05/01/2026

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while his son was reversing, the vehicle crashed into a stop sign. The contact stated that the back over prevention camera was inoperable during the crash. There were no warning lights illuminated. There were no reported injuries. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V695000 (Back Over Prevention). The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 155,000.