NHTSA Complaint #11557544 — 2023 FORD EXPLORER

Every time i was traveling in sport mode, shifting was delayed & was very rough transition to next gear. Car was not accelerating or decelerating properly. Burning smell came from the engine. Car’s electrical momentarily went haywire. Wrench light came on. This happened within 18 hours of purchasing this NEW car. And several times over the subsequent week. Indicator light went on intermittently & so did same problems described above. My safety was put at risk because my car was not driving properly which caused distraction. I was confused about what to do. It also made it difficult to change lanes or speed up/slow down because it was jerky. The dealership i bought it from said a ford engineer came out to inspect the car & that several parts were ordered to fix it, including a battery for the electric motor & a wiring harness. They said it was a big issue and those parts were hard to come by, but i only learned this after 30+ days of the vehicle being under their control. I only dropped it off for a “test.” They did not make documentation of any of this work and would not release records to me. They also declined to release the car to me when i was tired of the lack of transparency. They said they couldnt give it back j til it was fixed but never provided work order with estimate or details of coverage. I never signed anything giving them permission to replace or repair the parts, especially because they would not disclose the ford engineer’s findings to me until a few weeks later after i threatened to invoke my rights under lemon law. They had already taken the car apart & ordered parts by then-without my informed consent.