NHTSA Complaint #11423018 — 2021 FORD EXPLORER

The transmission in the Ford Explorer failed on June 28th. This was noticed by observing the vehicle struggle to shift gears, and sometimes failing to shift at all resulting in extremely high RPMs. It also resulted in rough transitions from Park to Drive, combined with lurching forward suddenly. The vehicle is currently awaiting service at the Ford dealership, which was originally scheduled for June 29th. Upon notification to the dealership (where vehicle was purchased) of a transmission issue, the dealership moved the appointment to July 6th, thus encouraging me to drive a dangerous vehicle until then. During the next couple of days, the car intermittently exhibited both check engine and service lights, but neither consistently. It also produced another alert which automatically put the car into park from drive. Once the car turned off and back on, the alert did not repeat. The car was then taken to a separate dealership where it was diagnosed with a defective transmission due to an engine coolant leak. The dealership did not provide any means of transportation in response despite the vehicle being under warranty.