NHTSA Complaint #11139061 — 2015 FORD EXPLORER

LOSS OF POWER: WHILE DRIVING MY 2015 FORD EXPLORER XLT WITH 3.5L V-6 ENGINE ON THE HIGHWAY (10/04/18), THE WRENCH LIGHT CAME ON AND THE CAR STARTED TO SHUDDER AND LOSE SPEED. PUSHING DOWN ON THE ACCELERATOR HAD NO AFFECT AND THE CAR RAPIDLY DECELERATED. THE ENGINE WAS RUNNING VERY ROUGH WITH HEAVY VIBRATION. THIS WAS A TERRIFYING AND NEARLY FATAL EXPERIENCE AS FASTER MOVING TRAFFIC STARTED PASSING ME ON BOTH SIDES AS I TRIED TO MOVE OFF THE HIGHWAY. I WAS ABLE TO MOVE THE CAR TO THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY AND LIMPED OFF THE NEAREST EXIT. ONCE OFF THE EXIT I SHUT THE CAR OFF AND SAT FOR 20 MINUTES WHILE I RE-GAINED MY COMPOSURE AND CALLED MY HUSBAND. WHEN HE ARRIVED HE STARTED THE EXPLORER AND THE WRENCH LIGHT WAS CLEARED. MY HUSBAND DRIVE THE CAR HOME USING ONLY BACK ROADS WHILE I FOLLOWED IN HIS CAR. WE CALLED OUR LOCAL FORD DEALER AND SCHEDULED AN APPOINTMENT. WE STARTED RESEARCHING THIS ISSUE AND FOUND THIS TO BE A WELL KNOWN PROBLEM WITH THE THROTTLE BODY ON FORD'S V6 ENGINES WHICH ARE USED ON MULTIPLE SUV'S, CROSSOVERS AND SEDANS. THE RESEARCH I'VE SEEN SHOWS THIS ISSUE HAS AFFECTED MORE THAN 10,000 OWNERS. HOWEVER, IT'S NOT CLEAR IF THE THROTTLE BODY IS FAULTY DUE TO A MANUFACTURING OR DESIGN DEFECT. IT'S ALSO NOT CLEAR IF REPLACING THE THROTTLE BODY IS A PERMANENT FIX. I'M TERRIFIED TO DRIVE THE CAR ON THE HIGHWAY AND SINCE THIS HAPPENED WE'VE ONLY USED IT FOR SHORTER TRIPS AROUND TOWN. THE FORD DEALER CHECKED THE CAR TODAY (10/08/18) BUT SINCE THE WRENCH LIGHT WAS CLEARED THEY FOUND NOTHING WRONG. I PLEADED WITH THE SERVICE ADVISOR TO NO AVAIL. WE'VE BEEN A FORD FAMILY FOR MORE THAN 15 YEARS BUT THIS FAULT AND EVEN WORSE THE FORD SERVICE ADVISOR'S RESPONSE IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. THIS IS A SERIOUS AND DANGEROUS PROBLEM AND ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE SOMEONE AND THEIR FAMILY ARE KILLED. PLEASE INVESTIGATE AND FORCE FORD TO ISSUE A RECALL.