Ford should have to recall this transmission. With thousands of failures, they know it is BAD. They just don't want to have to pay out the money. SOMEONE SHOULD START A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT. Especially after reading about the guy who lost his daughter. Ford should fix these problems with transmission for free for their customers. But by not doing it they will be gradually losing their CUSTOMER BASE. Ya, let the problem GO for 10 years, and the NEXT 10 years WILL produce loss of faithful clients.

My 2002 Explorer is a piece of junk! I have less than 85,000 miles on it, and started having hesitation/slippage/shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear issues and set up an appointment a week out at the Ford dealership (needed to arrange for a loaner and that was the earliest they could get me in) and then the next day (which was a Friday), the O/D light started flashing and the Service Engine Soon light came on.

I started looking on the internet and it seemed that I was having a transmission issue, so on Saturday I brought it in for an oil change at a Tires Plus. they checked it and confirmed it was a transmission issue. I called the Ford dealership Monday morning and explained and they were able to have me bring it in and give me a loaner, and sure enough, I have a transmission failure. My options were to have a re-manufactured one put in or else they could try to rebuild the existing one, which likely would end up costing more in the long run. I decided to replace it. T

They found another issue too with oil leaking (don't remember his exact words, but it was not the head gasket) so I will be shelling out over $6000 for repairs. I know my vehicle is older but I really don't have a lot of miles on it (I take a bus to work). What makes me so mad is some of the costly things to fix seem like issues that would happen to a vehicle with a lot more miles (fuel pump went out at just over 30,000 miles but the car was more than 3 years old so not covered by warranty) and now this issue with the transmission (and don't get me started on the cracked tailgate issue which ended up costing over $1000 to fix as water seeped in and wrecked the latch and wiper assemblies!).

People that I have talked to can't believe that I'm having transmission issues with only 85,000 miles, but since it is a Ford, I guess it is par for the course.

I bought a 2002 Ford Explorer from J and S Auto Sales located in Columbus, Ohio. From day one car was slipping and the o/d light was flashing off and on. They sold this car to me without a warranty, had me pay them my money first before letting me see and sign the paper work. In which I didn't see the no warranty paper that was towards one of the last papers. And I had already signed the papers before this. Got sold a car that this dealership knew had a lot of major problems. Basically a lemon in so many words.

I own a 2002 Ford Explorer 4x4, 4.0 liter engine, automatic. The transmission slips badly when accelerating in 2nd gear to 3rd gear. When 3rd gear is finally engaged it does so with a very hard shift. Also the OD "off" light is flashing and the service engine soon light came on. I got online to find out what might be the issue and found numerous articles claiming the same issues.

Sounds like FORD put problematic transmissions in these vehicles and doesn't have a good fix for it. The transmission shifts smoothly once in higher gears. I need to get this fixed soon.