Complaint volume
1135 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2020 Ford Explorer Complaints
1135 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Ford Explorer, grouped by component category.
1135 Total complaints
33 Crash reports
10 Fire reports
27 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are power train, unknown or other, back over prevention. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 33 crash reports, 10 fire reports, 27 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 385 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 33,892 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to power train, unknown or other, back over prevention?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2020 Ford Explorer?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2020 Ford Explorer
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2020 Ford Explorer complaints?
33 Crash
10 Fire
27 Injury
0 Fatality
40 Towed
8 Medical attention
What are the most common 2020 Ford Explorer complaint categories?
POWER TRAIN 307
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 117
BACK OVER PREVENTION 56
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 44
ENGINE 42
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 40
SERVICE BRAKES 27
VISIBILITY/WIPER 27
STRUCTURE 26
SEATS 25
1,135 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | I have brought my vehicle to the dealership for repair of the Safety Recall for my car. They stated that they repaired the car. However the problem still exist. I have taken images and videos of the problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | Reverse camera blue screen is appearing again after the 1st recall “fix”. Apparently this is becoming quite common, as I am in many Ford Explorer groups. Many others have this happening after their “recall fix” as well. Some even appear to have this happening after multiple times of recall “fixes”. Ford should be held accountable for not addressing a safety concern with a concrete solution. I have asked others within the groups to also submit incident reports. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | The gas pedal snapped off where connected to the floor. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | This vehicle has a recall 21E11, for an inlet exhaust leak on the driver side, but the service technician when doing the recall says I have the exact same thing on the passenger side - a weld has corroded and there is an exhaust leak (photo available). The passenger side is not covered by the 21E11 recall, but is the same identical weld/corrosion/exhaust leak issue. They quoted $3,500 to repair. I have escalated via Ford - case number CAS36437910, but until this side has an official recall, they won't repair. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The back up camera is malfunctioning on my vehicle. It presents a blue image with the back up camera and a blue image on the 360 camera. Everything that I have read shows it is a recall, but my VIN does not have a recall. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | Recall 21V735000 was performed by Sakelaris Ford of Rolla, Missouri on December 9, 2021. On February 28, 2022 the problem of the "Blue Screen" Backup Camera display again occurred and has been occurring regularly ever since. I have not yet contacted the dealer to reschedule a follow up pending correspondence from the NHTSA. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | ENGINE | Twice now my car has felt like it has stalled. Once I was at a stop light, the light was red so I stopped. Then when the light turned green I accelerated, the car moved slightly and then stalled. Pedal to the floor and nothing happened. Nothing in the car indicated why this happened. The car was on and ready to go but the petal or engine didn't work. Not sure what happened. The second time it happened I was trying to make a turn from a stop. I accelerated, the car moved a bit then stopped. I was pulling onto a 55 mph road and I was just sitting there. Car was fine, running and seemed to be in working condition but it stalled on me. Pedal to the floor, no response from the car. I have an appointment on Tuesday April 12th to take the car in to speak with the service department. I have spoken to other 6th generation ford explorer owners that have stated the same thing has happened and the service department had no answer for them. I am hoping if enough of us submit an issue it will get investigated preventing a fetal crash. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that there was oil leaking from the vehicle at start-up. The seat heating and cooling system was inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken four times to the local dealer who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was then taken to Phil Long Ford of Denver (7887 W Tufts Ave, Denver, CO 80123) where it was diagnosed and determined that the valve was loose and oil was leaking on to the manifold. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted but no further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 10,516. THE CONSUMER STATED THEY FAILURE WAS DUE TO ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS AND DRIVER'S SIDE BEZEL TRIM REPLACEMENT. | Crash: No Fire: No | 26,978 |
| Apr 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My car warnings were malfunctioning as they were all flashing on briefly. The car has done this before and has other issues with the panel such as now it has the icon for camera visibility is not working. I cleaned each camera and the light is still on. I backed out of the driveway put the car in drive and started to accelerate. I stepped on the brakes and they were not working, I repeatedly tried to stop but they were gone. My car finally stopped (I was not far enough to have started to build any speed. I turned the car off and back on and the brakes were back on. This happened March 31st, 2022. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | I have a safety recall notice 21S44/NHTSA RECALL 21V735 - 360 degree camera display, which includes the rear view camera may intermittently display a blue image on the media touchscreen upon shifting into reverse. Although your form said there was no recall on my vehicle I have received a notice mentioned above and I have experienced the problem mentioned in the recall notice a number of times. The Phil Long Ford Dealership in Colorado Springs on Motorcity .Drive have worked on the vehicle four times since the 1st of January and still have not repaired my vehicle. I would think that since this is a recall that they should have a fix by now. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | This has happened multiple times. Start the vehicle and put into drive while the brake pedal is fully depressed and the car will move forward. While it is in motion you can hear what sounds like the anti-lock system activating. You have to pump the brakes as I assume the master cylinder has lost pressure. It does this randomly and is not repeatable. If this ever happens and someone or another car is around it could be a very bad day. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | We reported the driver's side headlamp as going out intermittently on Jan 4, 2022 to the dealership (Ford of Boerne, Boerne, TX). When they could not resolve the issue, we reported the problem to Ford. The light is out mostly full time now. We first realized the problem when driving at night when it would go in and out. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | POWER TRAIN | The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the vehicle would lunge backwards when shifted into reverse. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated after each failure, she turned off and restarted the vehicle, and she was then able to reverse without any further issues. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who informed the contact that the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 10,500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 10,500 |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | I was driving down the road and several sensor malfunction warnings started to pop up including an antilock brake fault. I was in traffic and needed to slow down but the brake system was non responsive when I applied normal pressure to the brake. I had to attempt braking with all my force before car slowly started to brake. I nearly was in an accident but fortunately was able to pull off to the side until car was able to fully stop. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The driver's side door doesn't unlock. The locking mechanism gets stuck in the locked position and the door will not open as it won't unlock. Has happened 9 times in the past 48 hours during a total of 7 outings. It puts the driver at risk if they need to quickly get out or get in the vehicle. I took it to the dealership today and it would not unlock for me to exit the vehicle. They tested the mechanisms involved and all function so not parts replaced. There are no warnings when this happens. First started on 2/22/2022. In my online research, it is happening for others with this type of vehicle including police vehicles which is a huge safety issue for them if they can't exit the vehicle when necessary. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | My rear camera works less than 50% of the time. It even goes out while backing up. I get a blue screen and my rear brake assist becomes inactive. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The rear back up camera area is blue and you are unable to see behind the vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | When this vehicle is put into reverse it does not engage the transmission at times. You either have to put it back in to park and back in reverse and/or floor it in essence push the throttle all the way down for it to engage. As that happens and it finally engages you’re going way too fast in reverse. Also when it does not engage it acts like a stick shift and that you are in neutral and you’re either rolling forward or backward depending on the incline. Very frustrating I’ve taken it into the shop two different times specifically for this they say they have a work order in place and the last time they said it was a chip and they ran their diagnostics and corrected it. It still did not get corrected and is still a problem . I am not pleased at all with this failure in the transmission as far as the engaging of reverse is involved. Thank you | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the instrument panel would remain inoperable, resulting in a loss of speedometer and tachometer functions. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed with needing the instrument cluster replaced; however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 41,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 41,000 |
| Feb 2022 | VISIBILITY | I was driving my car in the afternoon & heard a pop. My windshield randomly cracked. It cracked at the base of the car about 2 inches up from where it meets the frame. Then it cracked across 3/4 of the windshield | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | POWER TRAIN | 2020 FORD EXPLORER. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO ISSUES WITH THE TRANSMISSION. THE CONSUMER STATED THE VEHICLE EXPERIENCED SEVERE VIBRATIONS AT CERTAIN SPEEDS AND AS THE TRANSMISSION SHIFTS. THE CONSUMER STATED THAT THE MANUFACTURER BREACHED IT'S CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION BY FAILING TO PROPERLY AND TIMELY REPAIR THE VEHICLE. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | It has happened several times over last year. When car is put in reverse the brakes barely work and car doesn’t stop well. Almost like no power brakes. Once put in drive, the brakes work correctly. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | POWER TRAIN | While driving my 2020 Explorer a couple of weeks ago I noticed it was down shifting really hard when I would slow down to stop at a light. There were no warning lights or check engine lights of any kind. It continually got worse over the next few days so I made an appointment with our local Ford dealership. When I called they told me it was probably just a computer issue and they could reset it. On my first appointment I was having them change the oil as well as “reset” the computer. When they came out to talk to me they said they had a technician “reset” the computer but the actual “transmission guy” wasn’t there and I would probably have to bring it back. He told me it would probably drive different to me now because it has an “adaptive” transmission and it would have to adjust to the way I drive. I called and made another appointment that same day after I saw it was still doing the same thing. Well the next night I took it on a trip to the next town that was about 20 minutes away. It started “driving” very strangely and I began to smell a hot or chemical kind of smell. I actually pulled off to the side of the highway at one point. I was able to make it home and didn’t attempt to drive very far until I had it looked at again. We’ll I took it back today and they’re now telling me it has to have either a new transmission or that one rebuild. Whichever Ford decides. Luckily it’s still under warranty or I’d have a bigger problem. After researching I’ve discovered thousands of other people who have had the exact same issue with their 2020 Explorer, all at different mileages. I feel Ford should have already issued a recall for this known problem by now. This is absolutely a safety issue because if your in traffic or pull out into an intersection and the car doesn’t want to shift it could cause a serious wreck. I’ve already had to have the backup camera replaced(before they issued the recall)and the drivers side power window motor replaced. Definitely regret buying. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | ENGINE | Has burning smell of wires when heat is on, only has heat on drivers side, blows cold air on passenger side, had Avis Ford Dealership look at it, said it was the heater core and they don't know when it will be in stock. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | The contact owns a 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while reversing, the rearview camera inadvertently turned blue. There were no warnings lights were illuminated. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V735000 (Back Over Prevention) and the vehicle was taken to the dealer who updated the Image Processing Module software; however, the failure reoccurred 1-2 weeks later. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who advised the contact that the rearview camera needed to be replaced and the repair would be completed at her own expense. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and followed up with the dealer. The manufacturer then called back but offered no further assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 39,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 39,000 |