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Problems with 2013 Ford Explorer POWER TRAIN

On average, the 2013 Ford Explorer starts to “feel” problems with the POWER TRAIN and its various aspects after 54 685 miles.

Recently reported POWER TRAIN problems on 2013 Ford Explorer

36,000 miles on my 2013 ford explorer. started up my car and went to back up and i had no power steering. my car was built after the cut off of the re-call and will be having it looked at and fixed on monday. ford needs to extend the re-call to later models as this problem is effecting a lot more fords then they thought. this is out right wrong of ford.

Bought a used ford explore xlt with 32k miles. as i have been driving the suv i am noticing that whenever i fully press down on the gas peddle to increase my acceleration whether i am merging onto the freeway, changing lanes or scaling a hill, the cabin is filled with a strong emissions odor. which worries me because i normally have children in the vehicle. as i let up on the gas peddle the odor dissipates. i have noticed this odor when i have my max a/c function on which is using recirculated air.

Vehicle emits bad odor upon hard acceleration or any other activity which puts a strain on the engine. dealer deodorized the exhaust system with some perfume like substance which stopped the smell, but probably not the gas, for a while which soon wore off and returned. ford does not claim to know anything about the issue. i'm concerned about carbon monoxide and have thought about putting in a sensor to record the levels. there is something wrong with the exhaust system.

Fuel throttle body error p2111 has happened 5 times in 3 days, causing great distress to me and my family. this is a potentially deadly defect and it seems many others are having the same issue. what occurs is that a wrench appears on screen with the error message "terrain management system fault" and the vehicle goes into "limp mode," even at highway speeds, causing the accelerator pedal to become unresponsive.

My 2013 ford explorer xlt 3.5l transmission started leaking fluid before 27,058 miles on june 14,2016 and as of today march 3,2018 at 44,678 miles the transmission is still leaking. the problem was brought to my dealership's attention during a repair of blistering paint on the hood. dealer stated they fixed leaking oil pan rather than leaking transmission. as of today vehicle has 44,678 miles and transmission has shown several problems when in operation: gears take too long to transfer power from 2nd to 3rd, 4th to 5th, severe over revving of engine, jerking feeling coming from transmission while transitioning through those gears, abnormal loud sounds emitting from transmission during these gear changes, leaking and dripping of transmission fluid onto hot transmission case, burning of transmission fluid and vapors entering vehicle cabin, and passengers complaining of noxious oil smell within the cabin.

While driving approximately 40mph preparing to merge onto freeway i lost acceleration power and vehicle decelerated to 5mph nearly causing accident. after turning car off and back on it resumed normal operation. later that day my wife experienced the same problem. we had vehicle towed to ford dealership and after two days they were prepared to return the vehicle because the problem did not present during the test drives. after refusing to take it back until they figured it out the next day we were told that the throttle body was "bad". 2 days later the vehicle was "fixed" and returned to us. the very next morning we had the same problem with vehicle losing propulsion and decelerating rapidly. after taking it back to the the dealership we were told that the "new" throttle body that was installed was also "bad". after another 2 days we picked up our car and have not had any problems so far.

When i put the car in park, the message "shift to park" is illuminated on the dash - when the car was in fact in "park". i have to repeatedly shift the car in and out of "park" or turn the car on and off to get the message to go away. the dealership replaced the gear shift which cost me $390.33.

Info display on dash would always state "shift into park" even after turning off the engine with car already into park position--ford dealer had to replace shifter control at a cost of $462.54--was told by service tech they have the part in stock--and have seen this problem before on newer cars--was told part cannot be fixed.

I noticed right after buying my car that it would sometimes be in park, but the car would tell me to shift to park. i talked with the sales guy at the dealership, he said he would look in to it. it happened a few times. then one time, i shifted to park in a rain storm and released the brake. i looked in to the passenger seat to grab my things and the car rolled in to my house causing damage to the house and to the car.

During acceleration, there is a noticeable, exhaust smell in the cabin of the vehicle. the smell does not dissipate unless you open the windows or turn the a/c on high to clear the air.

For the 2nd time in less than 9 months the truck began to sputter when accelerating and shook violently until it finally died. the cabin filled up with a strong fume smell. first time was ~25k miles and this time was ~30k miles. *tr

Exiting from parking lot and speed of about 15 mph on a straight road, no pot holes, at about 100 ft from the parking exit, it hit an electric post. left front suspension, fender, wheels,pillars, rocker & floor, radiator support, front lamps, hood,steering rock, cradle, transmission transfer case, front door and many more damage. all are in left side. i checked the vin but it is not on recall for power steering problem however i suspect power steering was the caused of accident. it is a major damaged and the insurance is not yet decided if repair or total wreck. i asked the ford dealership to see on the diagnostic computer of the vehicle but up to now they have not yet check. *tr

Parked on slight incline in driveway, did not use parking brake, after about two hours i came back and noticed that my vehicle had rolled into the vehicle behind me, a total distance of about 3 feet, my tire tracks were visible in the snow, which is how i identified that my vehicle rolled backwards and was not hit from the vehicle behind mine. *tr

I was leaving to run errands i start the car & seen i forgot something so i left it running opened door & it rolled back into our carport pole while in park. it has been giving a shift to park warning for about a month when the car is in park and turned off this is the 3rd time we have had trouble since we bought june 6. here's maintenance july 7,2104 front wheel bearing august 6,2014 the molding came off windshield passenger side while driving & the drivers side was loose. september 23,2014 rolling backwards while in park. we also have a picture of the warning shift to park. *tr

When i shift into park, the computer starts peeping and telling me to shift into park. the dash says its in park, and it wont go any further, but it won't stop beeping till i mess with putting it in and out of park several times. i use my parking brake "all" the time because i can't trust that it is really in park or not. when i called the dealer they said they had a couple in the shop that were having the same problem and they were replacing something on it and if it solved the problem, they'd let me know. i haven't heard anything and am still having the problem.

On 16 july 2014, i was driving and my vehicle just stopped while i was driving it, ford claims that this is a safety device to protect the transmission, but this is a serious health and safety issue for people and their lives. i could have easily gotten hurt or caused a serious traffic accident if i was on a different road or on the interstate. ford claims that because of the grille design that they have ont he vehicle it causes major issues to the air condensor and transmission cooler, because any and everything...debris, rocks, insects, birds... can cause the condensor/cooler to be damaged which will cause the customer to have to constantly pay out of pocket expenses. this is a major safety concern. *tr

Upon moderate or hard acceleration, a strong burnt or exhaust smell enters the cabin. *tr

Every time i give an 'open throttle', or hard acceleration on my vehicle there is a foul smell that enters the cabin via the air condition vents. i had the issue looked into by my ford dealer after the problem started. the dealer acted like they have never heard of the complaint but after reading various threads on the internet it appears a lot of other people have had the same issue. after some research i've learned that the smell is actually exhaust fumes entering the cabin. ford acknowledges the issue but states the amount of exhaust fumes are not enough to become toxic. i am very concerned of this issue and ford needs to fix the problem. *tr

Steering power support stopped without warning during a turn at lower speed. car became almost impossible to control (turn or steer). fault lights included stability, traction, and environmental control errors came on as the steering power support terminated. fuse and mechanism were undamaged. turning the car on and off did not remove the fault. vehicle did this another 3 times, including one at high speed of 70 mph on highway in fat left lane. had to allow for vehicle to merge across 4 lanes of interstate traffic to shoulder and eventually slow down. all components of vehicle then turn off and multiple attempts to turn off and on vehicle are required with prolonged terms of vehicle being left off. *tr

On a night with light rain, after traveling 1.5 hrs with cruise control on, i pulled off interstate exit to make a phone call. i did not turn engine off. after call i proceeded to get back on interstate, while merging back onto interstate i accelerated hard to attain merging speed, when i merged safely in front of semi the engine shook violently and lost power. to avoid being hit, i jerked vehicle into emergency lane. the check engine light was flashing and the car placed in limp mode. i turned the vehicle completely of and restarted the engine and every thing appeared to have returned to normal. i later read that night that the f150 with same engine was having similar problems. i took the vehicle to ford the following monday. the service advisor informed me that ford has been having the same problem with my engine that is in the ford f150 in humid areas. he stated that large amounts of condensation forms in the intercooler when driving for long periods without utilizing turbo, then next time you accelerate hard the turbos suck all the condensation into the engine causing a misfire and puts engine into limp mode. after a week of them contacting ford engineers and running test, they told me they cannot repeat problem and the engine did not store any codes in the ecm from the problem. ford also told the dealer that i'm the only person with a 2013 explorer with the 3.5 ecoboost engine that has ever reported problem. since then i have read about two lawsuits which have been filed against ford involving the ecoboost engine and included the 2013 ford explorer sport. apparently this statement is not true. this is a very serious safety issue for me and my family. the ford company is apparently denying the issue exist, leaving me to drive a vehicle that can potentially put my family others with the same vehicle in harms way. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr

I started driving and engine started revving up, took foot out of gas pedal an vehicle continued revving up to 3,000 rpm in slow speed. change transmission to "n" and vehicle continued at 3,000 rpm. changed back to "d" and did not changed, once again change to "n" and back to drive and rpm came down. *tr

Driving vehicle and cross traffic system failure turns on, advancetrac system failure, stability control failure and traction control failure occur. vehicle begins to decelerate and transmission goes from an illuminated "d" to blank. very hard to maneuver vehicle. vehicle struggles to gain speed afterwards. the only resolution i have found is to pull over if possible and turn on vehicle and restart. this has happened 4 times in the past two weeks. *tr

Under heavy acceleration exhaust fumes enter the cabin. this is well documented on the ford explorer forums. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=323597. a recall is needed or they need to buy these back! *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. the contact stated that while traveling 65 mph, the steering wheel seized. the contact was able to maneuver the vehicle to the side of the highway. the contact took the vehicle to the dealer and was told that the problem could have been with the steering, axle or the transmission. the dealer did not have specifics pertaining to the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the vin was not available. the failure and the current mileages were 2,000. *tr

I drove my recently acquired and new ford explorer sport for first time on the highway on march 4, 2013. when accelerating to pass a truck, i lost control of front end to point of swirling and near collision with the truck. i don't consider this a fluke as same happened a while later during same highway trip. i'm very familiar with high horsepower passenger vehicles and sports cars for that matter. i am also very familiar with higher and allowable speeds having driven and handled sport cars and passenger vehicles on german autobahns while living in europe. it is my experience and belief that the combination of characteristics (weight balancing in combination with significant horsepower, possibly large tire size, traction and four wheel/front wheel drive aspects, thrust etc.) make this vehicle, the ford explorer sport, extremely dangerous on highway while accelerating at allowable speeds. a local dealerships' expert (read: dealer is an independent contractor) in indiana confirmed my observations and beliefs and used term "squirlyness" to describe vehicles' handling when accelerating at highway speeds. ford indicates that vehicle operates as designed, i content the design is bad, causing this ford explorer sport version to be very dangerous. in my mind it is entirely foreseeable that accidents will happen to unsuspecting drivers of this vehicle based on the vehicle characteristics. obviously this is something that will not be admitted to by ford due to pre-emptive liability assumption in case of accidents. i offered ford to take this new vehicle back. once again i understand that they would not as this would imply admittance of safety concerns regarding the ford explorer sport version. *tr

Vehicle begins to vibrate and can not be driven over 35 mph during or after snow storms with wet heavy snow on road (sometimes caused by salting roadway). wheel well opening around all four tires are so small and enclosed, snow accumulates into solid ice around all four tires and both axles begin to vibrate violently. driver either stops every 8-10 miles along side busy highway to chop ice out (takes me 40 minutes for all four tire openings), slows highway traffic down to 30 mph, or goes to ford dealer. local dealer sees 6-10 of these vehicles a day and chops ice out at no charge and makes no work order history. traveling at only 35 mph when traffic is going 55 or 70 mph is dangerous. stopping every 8-15 minutes along busy highway to chop ice with back to passing traffic is dangerous. dealers do not inform potential buyers of the ice problem. ford has this design defect problem with more than one make of vehicle, knows about the complaints, but will not sponsor a solution. personally, along with clearing the ice on m-115 as i go to a doctor's appointment in traverse city, chopping ice hurts my bone on bone shoulders and the lower three vertebrae of my back that no longer have a disc between them. the slippery side of road is dangerous for my two artificial hips and is simply not safe to my person and slows down some passing vehicles that may slip and slide into me or oncoming traffic of the only 2 lane highway. northern michigan is getting unnecessarily more dangerous in the winter time. there have been multiple incidents and the incident date above is only approximate.

The shifter clicks as soon as i put the gear in park. took it to dealership and was told that it is normal. i have quite a few bad experiences with my previous cars that i know when something is not normal. taking the car again tomorrow since it keeps on happening. it's only been 4 days so the car should not have any problems. *tr

I took a 10-month rental on this vehicle in july/2012 thru enterprise/santa barbara, ca, where this incident took place. i: left the car curbside believing it was in park; crossed the sidewalk to greet a friend, left the driver door open; noticed the car rolling backward toward a car parked further down the curb; ran after the car; got into the 'v' between the driver seat and door; kept my left foot on the street - my right foot in the car to hit the brake; was unable as the momentum and door pushed me backward; "rode" the car backward with 2 hands in the interior door handle, holding myself off the road. the bottom of the door raked up the length of my left shin (scrapes and hematomas) and forced me to let go. landed on the street, left arm stuck under my back. i was pinned between the edge of the door and the asphalt as the car dragged me down the street. implored my friend to help. he gave chase as the door edge cut across my torso as it dragged me (tremendous pressure on chest and left shoulder?long bruise from right hip to left shoulder. he succeeded with difficulty as there was no power to the brakes. extreme pain for days, covered with external and internal bruises. mri revealed a rotator cuff tear in left shoulder. endured months of pain/loss of mobility while finishing project in california. returned home to connecticut, endured a difficult rotator cuff + labrum repair surgery. facing months of physical therapy and a long, hopefully successful recovery. this was the 2nd such incident with this vehicle, the first without trauma. lucky to come out of this as well as i did, i'm told the next in sequence would have been the tire running over my leg. i know others have been disabled + killed in such scenarios. please don't neglect this glaring problem. i urge the nhtsa to do everything in its power to remediate this giant leap backward in vehicular safety. *tr

Within a week of purchasing my new vehicle, i started to encounter a stalling issue when backing vehicle. when i put the vehicle in reverse and shift into drive while still rolling, the vehicle stalls. i have several other ford vehicles and this does not happen with any of them. i even have a 2012 ford focus that this does not occur with. this happens almost everytime. when i go from park to reverse and back out of a parking spot. if vehicle does not come to a complete stop, when i shift into drive, the vehicle stalls. after spending two days at the dealership, i was told there is nothing wrong with this vehicle. the dealership also took out a few new vehicles on their lot and they were able to reproduce this on the vehicles on their lot. i feel this is a huge danger to anyone who has a vehicle that does this. the dealership stated that they had been in contact with the engineers at ford and that this is a normal reaction on this vehicle. i asked for this in writing, they have yet to provide me with a written explanation. *tr

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