This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The air conditioning blend door on my car is stuck and will not defrost the windshield even on cold winter and ice days, including during ice storms. This is a huge safety issue because we cannot get the ice off the windshield. We have been trying to get this problem resolved and fixed by Ford Motor Company for a long time now with no results. Now that its summer, the blend door is stuck on hot and its only blowing completely hot air - this is due to a known design and material defect with the blend door and has been reported by thousands of owners for all 1995 - 1999 Ford Explorer and still Ford refuses to fix it and to provide coverage to its consumers to fix it. In the winters this is a very serious safety issue because of the car's inability to defrost/defog the windshield.
When driving this fall I found that when using the vent I got nothing but hot air, then the automatic setting on the heat/air temperature control would not regulate properly. It would go to extremes to 85+ degrees, then drop off and blow until it was down to 60 and then back up to 85 continuously. I went according to the owner's manual, which stated I needed to have it put on the computer and checked at the dealer. After they kept my car 2 X as long as promised and charging me $100 to call the engineers at Ford itself, they told me it was the blend door in the heater plenum. This door is apparently made of plastic and breaks. In my case it worked for a little while, but very slowly, and was in the process of breaking. It currently does not work and is stuck in the air conditioning side. I get no heat and can't defrost my windows. I live in Wisconsin and we are expecting freezing rain today, not to mention snow later this week. The dealer has told me that the engineer they talked to said this has happened before. If it is a bad design, but because it is not officially a defective part on their list, they could not fix it without charging me another $700 on top of the $100 already spent to diagnose the problem. I have found on the internet that I am not the only one this happened to (see mightyautoparts.com, on the line with larry hammer - exploring the limits of patience). The newly designed door is made of nylon that is stronger and less susceptible to breaking. When contacting Ford customer 1st to let them know about my visit, they said an advisor would be assigned to me and would contact me the next day, that was 2 weeks ago. I feel I am being given the run-around. I am driving in an unsafe vehicle. Ford will not take any responsibility for the bad design. I fully appreciate and accept that things wear out on vehicles and need to be replaced, but defective design shouldn't be at my expense, in dollars or safety.
- Neenah, WI, USA
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Due to defective rear defroster, car burned and was complete loss. Ford was contacted but claimed that they were not liable because no open recalls existed. The representative in the Consumer Affairs refused to give me their name and refused my repeated (3X) requests to speak with their supervisor.
Fords service bulletin 99-8-8 admits to defective air plenum. Consumer cost to replace is $700-$1000. Has become a dealer stock item. When the air door brakes there is no air flow hot/cold/def control. Can't see where you are going with fogged windows. Ford revised the plenum out of nylon (#F87Z-18471-da) claiming it would not break like the plastic which was originally installed. Consumers should not have to pay $1000 for a factory defect. Crashes will occur without defrosters. They admit it in the mentioned service bulletin but refuse to make the repairs.
Due to faulty design of air plenum door which was made out of plastic, it caused a loss of ability to control defroster/ heater and air conditioning. Ford has sent a tsb (99-8-8) for defect. A new redesigned plenum was made out of nylon (F87Z18401da).
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Potomac, MD, USA