I noticed that the pins on the liftgate window were breaking through. When the gate was pushed down to close the window on the back of the Explorer, it broke free from the window hinge and nearly hit my head and also damaged other areas of the rear liftgate.. We were able to lift and push (with great difficulty) the part with the pin into it's broken bracket, however, it is not safe because the window hinge is broken where the pins are held in.. Not sure how to "rig" it so the window does not come out again, until we are able to get the necessary parts to repair this (Sunday afternoon). This is obviously a defect in the hinge that secures the window in place and is not safe. It needs to be replaced/repaired by Ford Corporation at no additional cost to the owners of these 2004 Ford Explorer defects..

So, like everyone else, I too had my hinges break to my back window/tailgate on my Ford Explorer 2004. I was alone with my kids, at a grocery store, loaded all my groceries into the trunk, and then my 12 year old daughter went to shut it and the left side came unhinged making the left side fall down. I ran to help my daughter because she was yelling for help. We tried to get the window/tailgate back into the hinge, but while doing that the weight of the window caused the other hinge to break. Then myself and my 12 year old daughter are holding this very heavy window/tailgate, and a nice woman who saw what was happening also tried to help us. We used a shopping cart to hold the window up so it would be less for us to carry. I called my husband who was home (45 minutes away), and he called his brother-in-law who was closer. My brother-in-law was able to come, and then he took the shocks off the window/tailgate and put the window/tailgate into the back of the Explorer so I could at least make it home.

I have contacted Ford about everything, and they say that they stand by their product and there is no recall on this. So, I have submitted a complaint to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association via http://www.nhtsa.gov/, which Ford did include in their email to me. Ford also told me to save my receipts for repairs in case eventually there is a recall on this.

If you haven't done so already, you should report this to the website for the NHTSA as well, because the more reports the better chance of this actually becoming a recall situation.

I came to the site on a whim to see if anyone else had this problem...guess so! It appears that other people have had this problem at roughly the same age of the vehicle. We all have 2004 model years, and we are all having problems with this within months of each other.

My story is not that different from others, put something in the car while at the store, got home and tried to open it again and it fell off in my hands. The left hinge snapped off and was hanging by the cable. We had to take off the strut to make the window close. I feel lucky that mine broke in my driveway. Mechanic tells me the repair kit will cost about $275 parts and labor...have no choice because the car won't pass inspection with a broken window.

Although I did find it interesting when he said that there was a "repair kit" specifically for this problem...now I understand why.

My wife was unloading the vehicle when the glass fell and hit her on the head. She started SCREAMING for help.. LUCKILY the glass did not break. She caught it with her arm and had bruises on her.. It SCARED us two death. It happened unexpectedly. Cannot use the back lift because the glass will fall and break.. I am afraid it will leak also. I was planning on going on vacation but afraid to drive it because I am afraid it will fall out.

Never seen any recall or anything.. Could have been some serious injuries if one of my children were unloading the vehicle. I seen several others with the same problem here.. and the factory said it was corrosion. I think they should have a recall. because someone will get hurt the next time.. Thank GOD no one did this time.

Thank you..

I was at the grocery store, had loaded my groceries in the car, went to close the rear window gate and it busted loose from the right hinge. I tried to get it lined up with the hinge again and noticed that the right strut was not decompressing. I tried to push it back up manually it wouldn't budge. Then it busted loose from the left hinge as well. So it's hanging there by the struts. I secured it by wrapping rope around in and tying it to both back seat door handles and drove to the Ford dealer. The first young man said he really didn't know much about mechanical issues and he was nice enough but even he figured out what had happened. He then went to get his supervisor who came out and said he'd never seen or heard of this kind of thing happening before. He could give me no recommendations as to what I might be able to do except, to take it to a body shop and have them take the whole thing off so I could get it repaired on the following business week. Then I drove home and researched this thing online and find complaint after complaint after complaint from others who have experienced the same problems. And there's no recall??? That's just wrong!!!

It's good to know I'm not alone. . .but it's INFURIATING to know I'm not alone. On the way home for a lacrosse tournament with my 16 year old son, we pulled off the highway at a Bass Pro Shops. After a quick purchase, he opened the rear liftgate window to put the bag in the car. . .then I heard, "Dad, Dad. . .I need some help. . .Dad!" The entire window had fallen off the rear of the liftgate and was in my son's hands. We figured out how to disconnect it from the one side that was hanging on by a thread and put the entire window on top of our luggage in the rear compartment. After driving over 200 miles during the trip, I wondered what would have happened if it had broken loose on the interstate. Would Ford have responded when my liftgate window crashed through the car behind me causing an multiple car pile-up? When can we, as American Consumers, demand some level of quality, safety, etc from our auto manufacturers? The truck is at a Ford dealer now, I'm waiting for the damages. I'll keep you posted. If anyone has gotten a response from our friends at Ford, please let me know. Thanks for being there today! So sorry, we're all in the same "broken latch" club!

My son & his wife have a 2004 Ford Explorer. This last week the left hinge on the rear window lift broke while they were in a store parking lot. It was a very windy day and my son had trouble hanging onto the window until help could arrive. My son's wife called my daughters husband and when he arrived about a half hour later they were able to get it back in place enough to drive home. Now the right hinge is also developing a fracture. My son has called many auto shops trying to locate a hinge kit because apparently Ford is not standing behind the obvious hinge flaw that they were not able to or felt they didn't need to fix from the 2002 & 2003 Ford Explorer recall. He has had no luck in finding the hinge kit. There is an obvious flaw in these hinges as indicated by the 2002 & 2003 models. It's time Ford owns up to it's mistakes in the 2004 model as well. I will be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Protection and whomever else we can. Vehicle manufacturers charge enormous prices for their vehicles, provide shoddy workmanship and don't stand behind their products. Dealers charge an arm and a leg to fix something that should never have happened in the first place. Frankly I'm tired of it.

Typical Ford -- ignores a glaring problem with a poorly designed part used in many model years (other models recalled), and likely to cause damage and bodily harm. Are there any lawyers reading this?!

The rear window hinge gave out on my wife while opening it on a windy day. She had to hold it up (to keep it from falling completely out of the remaining hinge) until a passerby stopped to help her secure it temporarily.

A quick inspection of the hinge assembly told me what a crappy design this was -- an under-engineered part used to support a heavy piece of glass. This site convinced me that this is a known defect, yet Ford does nothing to help it's loyal customers. This will definitely be my last Ford.