Frustrated New Member

[smbassett]

In June I bought a new 2020 Explorer. My 5 year old granddaughter told me to get a blue one. I found the perfect Explorer - close to home and Atlas Blue. I needed 3rd row seating for my soon to be 3rd grandchild. I’m fortunate enough to get to take them to school and daycare so I wanted a safe, dependable and reliable Ford (we’re a Ford fam). 3 days after I’d had it home - several lights and alerts came up. Pre collision unavailable and power train malfunction. Took to dealer and they reset everything and updated computer. This continued off and on with the alerts - Ford Pass kept posting (50+) messages with errors. When I’d restart - codes gone sometimes. Dealer still couldn’t find anything major wrong. Then it started shifting from drive (55mph) to park while going down the road. Talk about scary!!! Finally had to be towed because wouldn’t go into any gear. Replaced broken part in transmission and said good to go. Wrong! Alerts came right back like before. Fast forwarding 4 months. My Explorer has been at the dealership over 60+ consecutive days. They’ve replaced many things numerous times. It’s a guessing game at this point. They can’t get it fixed after talking with numerous Ford engineers. On one of their test drives after a repair - it shifted from drive to park and they had to have it towed. After many attempts to fix - one of the engineers suggested trying a modification using JB Weld. Still waiting on that to dry before it goes back together. The dealership is so tired of working on this mistake and my patience has finally run out. I’m in touch with our Attorney General. My Explorer is a lemon and Ford keeps rejecting replacing it or buying it back - told me today it was rejected for buy back for 3rd time. No reason given except it doesn’t qualify under Iowa lemon law. It checks every single box!!! It now has 3000 miles on it - 1000 put on by dealership test driving it. I will never feel safe driving it! That feeling when it decides to shift to park while going down the road is incredibly horrifying! So much for the reliable car I needed.

 

[BrianT]

In June I bought a new 2020 Explorer. My 5 year old granddaughter told me to get a blue one. I found the perfect Explorer - close to home and Atlas Blue. I needed 3rd row seating for my soon to be 3rd grandchild. I’m fortunate enough to get to take them to school and daycare so I wanted a safe, dependable and reliable Ford (we’re a Ford fam). 3 days after I’d had it home - several lights and alerts came up. Pre collision unavailable and power train malfunction. Took to dealer and they reset everything and updated computer. This continued off and on with the alerts - Ford Pass kept posting (50+) messages with errors. When I’d restart - codes gone sometimes. Dealer still couldn’t find anything major wrong. Then it started shifting from drive (55mph) to park while going down the road. Talk about scary!!! Finally had to be towed because wouldn’t go into any gear. Replaced broken part in transmission and said good to go. Wrong! Alerts came right back like before. Fast forwarding 4 months. My Explorer has been at the dealership over 60+ consecutive days. They’ve replaced many things numerous times. It’s a guessing game at this point. They can’t get it fixed after talking with numerous Ford engineers. On one of their test drives after a repair - it shifted from drive to park and they had to have it towed. After many attempts to fix - one of the engineers suggested trying a modification using JB Weld. Still waiting on that to dry before it goes back together. The dealership is so tired of working on this mistake and my patience has finally run out. I’m in touch with our Attorney General. My Explorer is a lemon and Ford keeps rejecting replacing it or buying it back - told me today it was rejected for buy back for 3rd time. No reason given except it doesn’t qualify under Iowa lemon law. It checks every single box!!! It now has 3000 miles on it - 1000 put on by dealership test driving it. I will never feel safe driving it! That feeling when it decides to shift to park while going down the road is incredibly horrifying! So much for the reliable car I needed.

I feel your pain, I had a very similar experience with a GM Trailblazer. Mine would shift into neutral when it felt like it, and lots of other things going on with it.
In the 18 months I had it (2000/ mid 2001), it was in the dealers for around 5 months, they never found the problem and GM would not buy it back.
One day it just stopped as I was passing a Ford dealer, the same one as im using today.
They towed it in and gave me $18000.00 trade in for it, I still owed around $29000.00 on it. I worked a deal out on a Explorer LTD. I have purchased or leased over 20 vehicles since then and never even considered a GM.
About a month after doing the deal, the Ford service manager called me and told me they had found the problem with the Trailblazer, it was a bad GROUND.

Hope you get it sorted out
Brian

 

[themishmosh]

For sure I wouldn't want that car..."fixed" or not. Read some of the buyback threads. Maybe you can get a few tips others have used.

 

[MakinJeepsWeep!]

I hope they fix you up!

 

[Spacey]

I would start the Lemon process to get them to buy it back

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum smbassett.
Sorry to read about the issues you've been experiencing. The Iowa Lemon Law seems to be much like many of the other states.
To qualify as a “lemon” under the Iowa Lemon Law, one or more of the following must be true: The vehicle has been in the shop three or more times for the same problem and the problem still exists; ... The vehicle has been out of service for any number of problems for 20 or more days, and a problem still exists.

iowa lemon law - Google Search

www.google.com

If you haven't hit the 3 times qualification yet, it sounds like you will very soon.
In the 5th gen Forum, some of those warnings were caused by a faulty wheel sensor. Don't know if that would apply here. There is obviously something wrong because it keeps setting codes. The transmission in the 2020 Explorer has been the sources of many issues here.

Peter

 

[Mikey*TX]

Uhhhhhh ........ This has a familiar ring to it.

 

[blwnsmoke]

Welcome to the Forum smbassett.
Sorry to read about the issues you've been experiencing. The Iowa Lemon Law seems to be much like many of the other states.
To qualify as a “lemon” under the Iowa Lemon Law, one or more of the following must be true: The vehicle has been in the shop three or more times for the same problem and the problem still exists; ... The vehicle has been out of service for any number of problems for 20 or more days, and a problem still exists.

iowa lemon law - Google Search

www.google.com

If you haven't hit the 3 times qualification yet, it sounds like you will very soon.
In the 5th gen Forum, some of those warnings were caused by a faulty wheel sensor. Don't know if that would apply here. There is obviously something wrong because it keeps setting codes. The transmission in the 2020 Explorer has been the sources of many issues here.

Peter

I think you missed the 60 consecutive days in the shop.

 

[blwnsmoke]

In June I bought a new 2020 Explorer. My 5 year old granddaughter told me to get a blue one. I found the perfect Explorer - close to home and Atlas Blue. I needed 3rd row seating for my soon to be 3rd grandchild. I’m fortunate enough to get to take them to school and daycare so I wanted a safe, dependable and reliable Ford (we’re a Ford fam). 3 days after I’d had it home - several lights and alerts came up. Pre collision unavailable and power train malfunction. Took to dealer and they reset everything and updated computer. This continued off and on with the alerts - Ford Pass kept posting (50+) messages with errors. When I’d restart - codes gone sometimes. Dealer still couldn’t find anything major wrong. Then it started shifting from drive (55mph) to park while going down the road. Talk about scary!!! Finally had to be towed because wouldn’t go into any gear. Replaced broken part in transmission and said good to go. Wrong! Alerts came right back like before. Fast forwarding 4 months. My Explorer has been at the dealership over 60+ consecutive days. They’ve replaced many things numerous times. It’s a guessing game at this point. They can’t get it fixed after talking with numerous Ford engineers. On one of their test drives after a repair - it shifted from drive to park and they had to have it towed. After many attempts to fix - one of the engineers suggested trying a modification using JB Weld. Still waiting on that to dry before it goes back together. The dealership is so tired of working on this mistake and my patience has finally run out. I’m in touch with our Attorney General. My Explorer is a lemon and Ford keeps rejecting replacing it or buying it back - told me today it was rejected for buy back for 3rd time. No reason given except it doesn’t qualify under Iowa lemon law. It checks every single box!!! It now has 3000 miles on it - 1000 put on by dealership test driving it. I will never feel safe driving it! That feeling when it decides to shift to park while going down the road is incredibly horrifying! So much for the reliable car I needed.

If you haven't followed the process in the back of your manual, I would do that. I'd also file with the BBB as they handle many LL issues and get them resolved.

 

[MakinJeepsWeep!]

Also with these thing having so many tons of wires and computers this can all boil down to literally 1 short, or one bad ground wire. I really hope they get you set up, just dont let this make you lose your faith in a good old Ford just get a good Old Ford.

 

[smbassett]

In June I bought a new 2020 Explorer. My 5 year old granddaughter told me to get a blue one. I found the perfect Explorer - close to home and Atlas Blue. I needed 3rd row seating for my soon to be 3rd grandchild. I’m fortunate enough to get to take them to school and daycare so I wanted a safe, dependable and reliable Ford (we’re a Ford fam). 3 days after I’d had it home - several lights and alerts came up. Pre collision unavailable and power train malfunction. Took to dealer and they reset everything and updated computer. This continued off and on with the alerts - Ford Pass kept posting (50+) messages with errors. When I’d restart - codes gone sometimes. Dealer still couldn’t find anything major wrong. Then it started shifting from drive (55mph) to park while going down the road. Talk about scary!!! Finally had to be towed because wouldn’t go into any gear. Replaced broken part in transmission and said good to go. Wrong! Alerts came right back like before. Fast forwarding 4 months. My Explorer has been at the dealership over 60+ consecutive days. They’ve replaced many things numerous times. It’s a guessing game at this point. They can’t get it fixed after talking with numerous Ford engineers. On one of their test drives after a repair - it shifted from drive to park and they had to have it towed. After many attempts to fix - one of the engineers suggested trying a modification using JB Weld. Still waiting on that to dry before it goes back together. The dealership is so tired of working on this mistake and my patience has finally run out. I’m in touch with our Attorney General. My Explorer is a lemon and Ford keeps rejecting replacing it or buying it back - told me today it was rejected for buy back for 3rd time. No reason given except it doesn’t qualify under Iowa lemon law. It checks every single box!!! It now has 3000 miles on it - 1000 put on by dealership test driving it. I will never feel safe driving it! That feeling when it decides to shift to park while going down the road is incredibly horrifying! So much for the reliable car I needed.
[/

I think you missed the 60 consecutive days in the shop.

In June I bought a new 2020 Explorer. My 5 year old granddaughter told me to get a blue one. I found the perfect Explorer - close to home and Atlas Blue. I needed 3rd row seating for my soon to be 3rd grandchild. I’m fortunate enough to get to take them to school and daycare so I wanted a safe, dependable and reliable Ford (we’re a Ford fam). 3 days after I’d had it home - several lights and alerts came up. Pre collision unavailable and power train malfunction. Took to dealer and they reset everything and updated computer. This continued off and on with the alerts - Ford Pass kept posting (50+) messages with errors. When I’d restart - codes gone sometimes. Dealer still couldn’t find anything major wrong. Then it started shifting from drive (55mph) to park while going down the road. Talk about scary!!! Finally had to be towed because wouldn’t go into any gear. Replaced broken part in transmission and said good to go. Wrong! Alerts came right back like before. Fast forwarding 4 months. My Explorer has been at the dealership over 60+ consecutive days. They’ve replaced many things numerous times. It’s a guessing game at this point. They can’t get it fixed after talking with numerous Ford engineers. On one of their test drives after a repair - it shifted from drive to park and they had to have it towed. After many attempts to fix - one of the engineers suggested trying a modification using JB Weld. Still waiting on that to dry before it goes back together. The dealership is so tired of working on this mistake and my patience has finally run out. I’m in touch with our Attorney General. My Explorer is a lemon and Ford keeps rejecting replacing it or buying it back - told me today it was rejected for buy back for 3rd time. No reason given except it doesn’t qualify under Iowa lemon law. It checks every single box!!! It now has 3000 miles on it - 1000 put on by dealership test driving it. I will never feel safe driving it! That feeling when it decides to shift to park while going down the road is incredibly horrifying! So much for the reliable car I needed.

update - Ford is buying it back. Finally!

 

[bcarlson]

Your Explorer clearly seems to have major issues. Assuming you are accurately describing all the problems, do your self a favor and carefully read your state’s lemon law criteria, because there is something missing from the picture.

There are definite timing and documentation requirements for the lemon law, and Ford is apparently saying you don’t meet them. You need to stop guessing and read the criteria. You can only fight them with facts, and the facts must be relevant to the lemon law.

Bruce

 

[smbassett]

Your Explorer clearly seems to have major issues. Assuming you are accurately describing all the problems, do your self a favor and carefully read your state’s lemon law criteria, because there is something missing from the picture.

There are definite timing and documentation requirements for the lemon law, and Ford is apparently saying you don’t meet them. You need to stop guessing and read the criteria. You can only fight them with facts, and the facts must be relevant to the lemon law.

Bruce

They’re buying it back - they called Tuesday!

 

[MakinJeepsWeep!]

Thats amazing buddy! Good luck on your next one! A family member is very happy with the 150 the just got.

 

[Mikey*TX]

I'm on my third. No biggy. The Explorer messes up, Ford buys it back. It helps to have a dealer that has one's back.

 

[Rapid Red]

Similar problem with mine in first week. Dealer kept it until they got to bottom of the problem which was a bad ground. Good luck with the new one!

 

[smbassett]

I'm on my third. No biggy. The Explorer messes up, Ford buys it back. It helps to have a dealer that has one's back.

Week after they said they’d buy it back and still no word. How long of a process is it?

 

[peterk9]

Week after they said they’d buy it back and still no word. How long of a process is it?

Buy back timeline

My limited was approved for a buyback (surprisingly even though it has 20k miles) and I looked at the couple posts about buy back procedure but I am not seeing anyone giving a timeline. I was hoping for some suggestions on what to look out for or avoid and how long I might expect the process to...

www.explorerforum.com

Seems it could take a while although I guess every situation could be different.

Peter

 

[AndoAv8R]

Not to hijack but just a random question, when something like that is bought back, does Ford (or any manufacturer) typically try to fix the problems then resell as a used preowned or just tear down the whole vehicle and use what they can for other vehicle?

 

[peterk9]

I don't know if there is a single answer to the question. One member had his Explorer bought back and then found it on the used vehicle lot at the same dealership. I'm guessing that some might go back to Ford or auctions.

What Happens to Lemon Law Cars After They're Bought Back?

The answer is likely not something you want to hear, and a reason to be very careful when you're buying a used car

www.roadandtrack.com

Peter