NHTSA Complaint #11258464 — 2004 FORD EXPLORER

MY 2004 FORD EXPLORER HAS RECENTLY AND QUICKLY BEGAN SHIFTING VERY BADLY. I ALWAYS COME TO A COMPLETE STOP AND SHIFT INTO NEUTRAL BEFORE SHIFTING INTO REVERSE OR DRIVE BECAUSE WHEN SHIFTING INTO REVERSE FROM P OR D, IT ALWAYS TAKES A WHILE, THEN CLUNKS AGGRESSIVELY INTO PLACE. WHILE DRIVING SOMETIMES DOWNSHIFTING WILL ALSO CLUNK INTO PLACE. THIS ISSUE HAS BEEN REPORTED BY COUNTLESS OTHER DRIVERS AND HAS CAUSED MANY POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SITUATIONS. FROM ACCELERATING SLOWLY THEN BANGING GEARS AND TAKING OFF, TO STUTTERING WHILE TRYING TO ACCELERATE, OR EVEN SWITCHING INTO REVERSE WHILE PARKING, AND HAVING THE CAR TRY TO JUMP BACK A FEW INCHES IS ONLY A FEW ISSUES THIS PROBLEM HAS CAUSED MYSELF AND COUNTLESS OTHERS. PEOPLE ARE REPLACING TRANSMISSIONS LEFT AND RIGHT TO NO AVAIL, ONLY A FEW 10 THOUSAND MILES AFTER INSTALLING NEW TRANSMISSIONS, THEIR CAR STARTS TO EXPERIENCE THE SAME ISSUES AS BEFORE. AT LOW SPEEDS AND IN PARKING LOTS THIS BECOMES A GAME OF LUCK AS YOU ACCELERATE MORE THAN NECESSARY TO TRY TO GET GOING, THEN STOPPING AND WAITING A FEW SECONDS WHILE YOU SHIFT TO NEUTRAL BEFORE SHIFTING TO REVERSE AS FEAR OF IT BANGING INTO GEAR AS YOU TRY TO MANEUVER YOUR CAR AROUND PEOPLE AND OTHER PARKED CARS BECOMES A MORE DANGEROUS TASK THAN IT SHOULD BE. IN SUM, WHILE STATIONARY, SLOW SPEED, OR JUST CRUISING, THE TRANSMISSION WHILE SHIFTING GEARS, OR SHIFTING INTO REVERSE/DRIVE, SOMETIMES WANTS TO BANG INTO GEAR OR LOSE POWER, OR DELAY SHIFTING ONLY TO BANG INTO GEAR MOMENTS LATER. SOME ISSUES WHEN TAKING CARS INTO REPAIR IS FINDING METAL TRANSMISSION SHAVINGS WHERE THEY SHOULDNT BE! FINALLY, THE EXCESSIVE BANGING CAN ALSO DAMAGE THE ENGINE OVER TIME IN ADDITION TO THE TRANSMISSION. PLEASE REFERENCE THE FOLLOWING LINK TO GET A BETTER IDEA OF THE ISSUES: HTTPS://WWW.CARCOMPLAINTS.COM/FORD/EXPLORER/2004/TRANSMISSION/TRANSMISSION_SLIPPING_SHIFTS_HARD.SHTML THANKYOU