2021 Explorer ST Gauge Screen Flicker

[LiveTrash]

Has anyone noticed a slight flickering on the gauge cluster display screen? I notice it on the "Normal" driving mode screen and definitely notice it the most on the "Eco" driving mode screen. It is not noticeable at all on darker screens like the "Sport" driving mode screen.

For some reason, it is more apparent when I am not looking directly at the screen, but instead at the road or elsewhere. It seems when observing it through my peripheral vision, the flicker is more obvious. It is most noticeable during the day (when the auto brightness is on high) and the manual brightness setting it set to high. It is slightly less obvious if I set the brightness to low, but still noticeable.

It almost seems as if the screen refresh rate is set to a certain frequency that it is creating a flicker. I've noticed this in lower end displays on certain electronics and am disappointed to see that it is happening on my car's display.

 

[peterk9]

There have been no other such reports. It doesn't appear to be normal. I'd have the dealer check it out. It also wouldn't hurt to see if another person notices the same issue with your display.

Peter

 

[Dale5403]

I've never noticed any flicker on my 2020 ST. Most of the time I'm using normal or ECO mode.

 

[carsnathan1999]

Yes! I too am having this issue. Seems to happen more often after parking in sun for a while and the dash gets hot. It is quite difficult to look at the gages when it does this.

I've played with brightness, restarting car, lightly dapping the dash. Nothing. Other times works great.

This is intermittent issue for me though and I feel like I'd waste time at dealer. Please update if you go and they find something!

 

[Rick]

Try capturing it on video to present to your dealer as evidence.

 

[Sfd295]

Mine just started doing this. I'm going in for service in a few weeks. I believe it has something to do with heat buildup behind the dash. I notice it most in hot weather and when the car has been running for a while, especially when the heated steering wheel is on. I pulled the trim piece above the steering column out and the heat back there was impressive. LCD and LED screens don't like heat and will often flicker when they are pushed too far. Installing a small silent running fan may help mitigate this but I'm not sure. Let's see what the dealer says.

 

[peterk9]

^^Welcome to the Forum.

Peter

 

[LiveTrash]

Yes! I too am having this issue. Seems to happen more often after parking in sun for a while and the dash gets hot. It is quite difficult to look at the gages when it does this.

I've played with brightness, restarting car, lightly dapping the dash. Nothing. Other times works great.

This is intermittent issue for me though and I feel like I'd waste time at dealer. Please update if you go and they find something!

Update:

I have it booked in next week to the dealer. It was happening one day as I was leaving for work and I went straight to the dealer to have them observe it. He sat in the car and told me that yes, he also sees the flickering and can see how it would be annoying.

He checked other Explorers and STs on the lot to see if they were exhibiting the same behavior, which they were not.

He told me that it does not appear to be a normal condition and wants to have it in so a technician can look at it closer. He is aware that it is an intermittent issue.

As mentioned in a post above, I also thought that the heat may have had something to do with it as well, which it may, but I've noticed it on slightly colder days recently.

We'll see what the technician has to say after I drop it off.

 

[LiveTrash]

Update #2:

Dealer called and said that they are going to replace the gauge cluster screen. Part is on order and will take about 2 weeks. I've had the car back for a couple of days now and no flickering yet, likely due to the colder temps. I don't believe the tech who inspected the vehicle was able to observe the flickering, but since I had it in when it was doing it, and the assistant service manager personally observed and acknowledged it, they didn't seem to have an issue putting in the warranty claim to get things rolling.

I'll update again once the vehicle is back in for service and the work has been completed. Hopefully by then the warmer days will be here and it can be put to the test right away to see if the issue is resolved.

 

[Heligrin]

Update #2:

Dealer called and said that they are going to replace the gauge cluster screen. Part is on order and will take about 2 weeks. I've had the car back for a couple of days now and no flickering yet, likely due to the colder temps. I don't believe the tech who inspected the vehicle was able to observe the flickering, but since I had it in when it was doing it, and the assistant service manager personally observed and acknowledged it, they didn't seem to have an issue putting in the warranty claim to get things rolling.

I'll update again once the vehicle is back in for service and the work has been completed. Hopefully by then the warmer days will be here and it can be put to the test right away to see if the issue is resolved.

Saw this on an ST I bought today. Didn't see on another ST. But today I don't see it and it's warmer!

 

[LiveTrash]

Saw this on an ST I bought today. Didn't see on another ST. But today I don't see it and it's warmer!

It almost bothers me more how inconsistent it seems to be rather than the fact it's an issue to begin with.

Was it sitting in direct sun for the day before you left with it? That's when mine seemed to be doing it. It would only ever flicker when I would leave work on warmer days. All days after I took it to the dealer have been cooler and despite it still sitting in direct sun, it hasn't been warm enough. It hasn't flickered since then. Despite this, it's still going in for replacement.

 

[xeppy]

I have been going back and forth with Ford for almost a year now on my new 2021 Ford Explorer ST that has had a flickering dash. First brought it in after 10 days and less than 400 miles to have it looked at. They kept saying it was normal, or there would be a software update that would hopefully fix it later, then finally this February they started to take it more seriously and replaced the dash but it still did not resolve the issue. I requested a buyback and they are denying it saying that it is a "normal but undesirable characteristic".

This is the most insane thing I have ever heard. I have videos of both after the dash replacement and before. I will certainly stay away from Ford products in the future but wanted to share for those considering getting any Ford with a digital dash. Who wants to spend almost $60k on a vehicle with a dash that flickers and is honestly dangerous and distracting during night driving.

2021 Explorer ST Flickering dash after replacement
2021 Explorer ST Flickering dash prior to replacement

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum.
I doubt that it would be a "normal" characteristic. Given all the members here that have a 6th gen vehicle, Explorer and Aviator, this is the first report of this issue. I wonder if it could be the switch that controls the brightness that is the issue. Or perhaps it is in the connector(s) or control module(s) and not the dash itself. Have you tried adjusting the brightness up/down several times to see if goes away?

Peter

 

[xeppy]

Hey Peter, thanks!

I have tried absolutely everything. I have tried messing with the brightness, covering/applying light to the ambient light sensor, different weather conditions, anything I could think of. Ford has as well, they spent two days with some kind of virtual headset that was streaming to a Ford corporate tech and checked every reading top to bottom. They updated the software and then finally after a lot of back and forth replaced the entire gauge cluster to no avail. They even flew out a master Ford mechanic to look at it and their claim is that they compared it to other 2021 STs on the lot and they all do that. I find that very hard to believe everyone driving an ST right now is having this extreme of flickering in their dash. There are a few others I have found on another forum with the same issue, for some the dash replacement resolved the issue but for one other they had their dash replaced and still having the issue as I am.

It certainly is sporadic in the degree of which it flickers but since they replaced the dash it has been fairly consistent in the level of flickering shown in the video. At this point I just want out of this vehicle as during their many repair attempts they have lightly damaged the carbon fiber trim near the start/stop button and replaced the center dash crooked so the bezel at the bottom is ****eyed...

The entire situation has been frustrating to say the least.

 

[peterk9]

Let's see if anyone else reports this now that you have brought it up. No issues with mine in the Aviator.

Peter

 

[Heligrin]

It almost bothers me more how inconsistent it seems to be rather than the fact it's an issue to begin with.

Was it sitting in direct sun for the day before you left with it? That's when mine seemed to be doing it. It would only ever flicker when I would leave work on warmer days. All days after I took it to the dealer have been cooler and despite it still sitting in direct sun, it hasn't been warm enough. It hasn't flickered since then. Despite this, it's still going in for replacement.

Yea. It was parked in the front of the dealer lot. The tech saw it and we will most likely get it replaced as well

 

[EXP Dave]

Has anyone noticed a slight flickering on the gauge cluster display screen? I notice it on the "Normal" driving mode screen and definitely notice it the most on the "Eco" driving mode screen. It is not noticeable at all on darker screens like the "Sport" driving mode screen.

For some reason, it is more apparent when I am not looking directly at the screen, but instead at the road or elsewhere. It seems when observing it through my peripheral vision, the flicker is more obvious. It is most noticeable during the day (when the auto brightness is on high) and the manual brightness setting it set to high. It is slightly less obvious if I set the brightness to low, but still noticeable.

It almost seems as if the screen refresh rate is set to a certain frequency that it is creating a flicker. I've noticed this in lower end displays on certain electronics and am disappointed to see that it is happening on my car's display.

I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me. If you take yours in to the dealer, please let us know if they have a fix for that. Thanks,

 

[Pedro504]

Has anyone noticed a slight flickering on the gauge cluster display screen? I notice it on the "Normal" driving mode screen and definitely notice it the most on the "Eco" driving mode screen. It is not noticeable at all on darker screens like the "Sport" driving mode screen.

For some reason, it is more apparent when I am not looking directly at the screen, but instead at the road or elsewhere. It seems when observing it through my peripheral vision, the flicker is more obvious. It is most noticeable during the day (when the auto brightness is on high) and the manual brightness setting it set to high. It is slightly less obvious if I set the brightness to low, but still noticeable.

It almost seems as if the screen refresh rate is set to a certain frequency that it is creating a flicker. I've noticed this in lower end displays on certain electronics and am disappointed to see that it is happening on my car's display.

I began noticing the exact same flickering issue a few months ago.
For me, it's most apparent when the screen is in my peripheral vision.
Perhaps my Explorer exists in the Matrix! That would explain all the glitches.
Like the multitude of oddities my Explorer exhibits, I've taught myself to ignore this one too.

 

[Jacob4mcanada]

I have a 21st with the flicker issue only in eco mode. I'm getting a sense that in eco mode the voltage is reduced to the screens so they consume less. It's hard to explain why the sink screen does not have that effect but it's possibly related to the fact that they may be operating on different frequencies and obviously have different voltage and current draw.

This is definitely sporadic and I have only seen it happen once about a month ago. I dim the screen down to 50% and I notice a change immediately. I'm taking into the shop in 2 weeks with a laundry list of complaints. I'll report back findings and hopes that it helps somebody. New line new line at the very least the dimmer does make a difference.

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum Jacob.
Going into Eco mode only changes the shift pattern of the transmission and reduces acceleration somewhat. It does not affect the electrical system in cutting electrical power usage.

Peter