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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
8 / 0
Average Mileage:
53,301 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2015 Ford Explorer seat belts / air bags problems

seat belts / air bags problem

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2015 Ford Explorer Owner Comments (Page 1 of 2)

problem #27

Oct 162023

Explorer

  • 125,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the second-row driver-??s and passenger's side seat belt buckle covers had detached, causing the air bag warning light to illuminate. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The contact related the failure to Customer Satisfaction Program: 21B11 (2nd Row Inflatable Seat Belt); however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 125,000.

- Augusta, KS, USA

problem #26

Sep 182022

Explorer

  • 45,000 miles
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that he received notification of Customer Satisfaction Program (CSP): 21B11 (Second Row Inflatable Seat Belt); however, the part to do the repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. The local dealer and two unknown dealers were contacted several times and informed the contact the part was not yet available for Customer Satisfaction Program. The dealer later informed the contact that the Customer Satisfaction Program had expired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that they could not assist because the Customer Satisfaction Program had expired. The manufacturer referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 45,000.

- Corona, CA, USA

problem #25

Jul 302023

Explorer

  • 65,000 miles
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the seat belt and air bag warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed and the contact was informed that the seat belt wiring harness located in the second-row seat had failed. The wiring harness was replaced; however, the failure persisted. The contact was informed that the seat belt wiring harness needed to be replaced; however, the parts were on backorder. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 65,000.

- Munford, TN, USA

problem #24

Feb 012023

Explorer

  • 68,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the rear passenger's side seat belt buckle retractor was stuck and failed to release as needed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 68,000.

- Cherry Valley, CA, USA

problem #23

May 232023

Explorer

  • miles
Air bag light comes on intermittently. Current mileage 62,094. Noted 21 prior complaints on your site. Brought to dealer who told me the problem was with a wire harness failure. None of the safety air bags will operate/deploy when this light is on. A faulty harness that had failed will put me and my passengers in serious jeopardy of injury or death in the event of an accident. This diagnosis cost me $149 only to find out it would cost hundreds of dollars more to have the problem fixed. Internet research reveals this problem was addressed in a 2016 technical bulletin 16-0001; Code B141B. We purchased this vehicle as a certified pre-owned vehicle after Ford issued the technical bulletin. No mention of Ford's internal bulletin was made by the dealer at the time of my purchase. Ford has been aware of this problem for years. According to the dealership technician there is no formal recall to have this manufacturing defect corrected by Ford at no cost to the purchaser of the vehicle. Didn't fully functional air bags come as part of my certified pre-owned purchase? I expect the manufacturer's safety equipment to be fully functional. Please review 2015 Explorer Owner's Manual as follows: Child Safety (pages 18-37), Safety Belts (pages 38-48) Personal Safety System (page 49) and Supplementary Restraints System (pages 50-61) with particular attention to page 49 bearing in mind that NONE of these safety features work when the air bag light is on. What good are safety features that are disabled by a manufacturing defect in the wiring harness? Ford has not only disappointed its customers, it has put them in serious jeopardy when using their product. Your rating system notes Crash, Fire, Injuries and Deaths. Do not wait for a positive notation in any of these categories before you act on safety recommendations, including a mandated recall, which is your primary tool for preventing future civil transportation accidents.

- Penn Yan, NY, USA

problem #22

Feb 202022

Explorer

  • 28,000 miles
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while his daughter was seated in the rear passenger-??s side seat, the seat belt failed to latch securely. The contact stated that the seat belt casing had fractured. The contact then stated that the failure reoccurred while his daughter was seated in the driver's side rear seat. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the rear passenger-??s and driver-??s side seat belts needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and the contact was advised to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The approximate failure mileage was 28,000.

- Idaho Falls, ID, USA

problem #21

Jan 072023

Explorer

  • 64,710 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while starting the vehicle, the contact seat belt warning light was illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the seat belt sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle had exceeded the warranty extension and was no longer covered. The contact researched online and related the failure to Ford Customer Satisfaction Program: 21B11 (Seat Belts). The failure mileage was 64,710.

- Orangevale, CA, USA

problem #20

Mar 012022

Explorer

  • 106,000 miles
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the driver-€™s and passenger-€™s side middle row captain chair inflatable seat belt receivers had malfunctioned and were inoperable. The contact indicated that the passenger-€™s side seat belt receiver housing and the internal clip had initially fractured and later the driver's internal clip had fractured making the seat belts unusable. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the seat belts needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The local dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 106,000.

- Crown Point, IN, USA

problem #19

Oct 272021

Explorer

  • miles
My child was trying to buckle her seatbelt (right seat, middle row) and the part that you insert the metal into snapped apart. HUGE safety issue. What if it broke during an accident. We were sitting still (car in park) in our driveway thankfully.

- Riverview, FL, USA

problem #18

Dec 122020

Explorer

  • 87,000 miles
My family and I planned to go to town one day. The vehicle was parked in my driveway at the time and all seat belts were working the night before as my family and I had went to town the night before for dinner with out any problems with the seatbelts. When my daughter got in the back driver seat and attempted to put on her seat belt it was in a locked position. My wife and I attempted to get the seatbelt to unlock but it would not. I took it to the dealership bill talley Ford in mechanicsville Virginia. They looked it over and said that the mechanism had became locked up (something I was already aware of). And according to them it would need to be replaced because it is the only way to unlock it. I was not in any accidents and the rear seat belts that are installed on my Ford Explorer also have built-in airbags. My personal belief is it has to do with the airbag system built into the seatbelt why it has become locked. The dealership explain to me it would cost me $700 to have it repaired. Which I responded I didn't believe I should have to pay anything considering that it is a safety device and the vehicle hadn't been any accidents. My personal opinion is a car manufacturer/dealership should replace any broken safety devices without question and without charging. Especially when it wasn't the owner's fault. To this day the seat belt stays in a locked unusable position which luckily I have third row seating in my Explorer so my children can sit in the third row rear seats where the seat belts work but it would be very unfortunate if my family of four or any family of four who didn't have the third row seating. If someone could please look into this and get back to me it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and help. I also did some research on a few Ford online forums and seen that there have been hundreds of people with the same complaint/problem.

- Warsaw, VA, USA

problem #17

Feb 182021

Explorer

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Frayed wiring under the passenger side second row seating. This is causing the airbag light to be on and will not allow that airbag to deploy in an accident. Ford is aware of the problem and that it is a common issue that they do not know what causes it. Completely unacceptable for a family vehicle to have this issue and the manufacturer not take care of it. We do not believe this vehicle I safe to Transport or have passengers in the back seat now.

- Rogue River, OR, USA

problem #16

Apr 282020

Explorer

  • 114,000 miles
I bought this veh. In 2016 when it had 17,000 miles on it. Within 2 weeks I got a warning light for the air bag system. Took it to the dealer and was advised that the sensor giving trouble was in the seat belt airbag for the rear passenger seat. I was repaired under warranty for technical service bulletin tsb-0001 published January, 2016. I have had trouble off and on ever since with the airbag warning light. It would stay on for a little while and then go off. I had the dealer check it and they could not find a problem without the light being on. This week it stayed on so I had the dealer check it. It had the code B141B which was the same code repaired in 2016. Since the repair was warranteed for 12 months the dealer wants $797 to fix the current issue, which is the same one from 2016. I very seldom use the back seat as I have no children in my house. I would rather not spend that money, since I am retired, but if I don't get it fixed all of the other air bags in the vehicle will not work. I confirmed with a service advisor that none of the airbags in the vehicle would deploy if that light is on. I asked him if there was a way to by-pass it in the system so the light would go off and he said it is a FMVSS that could not be modified and must be fixed the right way. I feel like I am being held hostage in an unsafe vehicle unless I pay the $797 to get it fixed (again).

- Bahama, NC, USA

problem #15

Feb 272020

Explorer

  • 55,000 miles
Slowly pulling out of narrow parking lot exit lane, through opened gate. Rapid unexplained acceleration, seemed to launch car across one way city street into restaurant building. Passenger seat belt (fastened, left bruises) released upon impact; passenger dash board airbag did not deploy; drivers' airbag weak. Passenger hospitalized from lower airbag, broken leg, severe laceration.

- Warminster, PA, USA

problem #14

Dec 262019

Explorer

  • 72,000 miles
The airbag warning light came on without warning or incident (no accident or impact, just started my car one day and the light stayed on). Per research done online with same warning light, make and model of vehicle, issue appeared to be with the rear/2nd row seat belt airbags disengaging and this causes none of the airbags to work in the vehicle in the event of a crash. At the time the light initially came on I had about 72K miles on my car, and it appears this is about the same mileage of all other Explorer owners with this issue. I took it in for service for the light and incurred repairs totaling just under $1,000 to have the parts replaced and the airbags function again. The fact that I did nothing (other than turn on my car when it was approaching the 70-75K mileage mark) to cause malfunction of the airbags but had to pay $1,000 to fix it and have airbags work in my car in the event of an accident is disappointing. Ford needs to issue a recall for this, it's unacceptable to have owner and passenger safety compromised through no fault of the owner, and have to incur costly repairs to make this right. I kept my receipts available to prove cause and cost of airbag light issue.

- West Des Moines, IA, USA

problem #13

Aug 202019

Explorer

  • 68,000 miles
The airbag light came on and this is what the code says. Restraint control module second row driver side inflatable seatbelt deployment control

- Sand Springs, OK, USA

problem #12

Oct 012018

Explorer

  • 74,000 miles
Captains chair behind the driver's seat, seatbelt would no longer connect. Seatbelt receptacle had to be replaced, now airbag light is on at all times.

- Euless, TX, USA

problem #11

Jun 032019

Explorer

  • miles
The seat belt locks and will not release unless the belt is completely brought back in.

- Aloha, OR, USA

problem #10

Apr 192019

Explorer

  • 83,000 miles
1st concern: My 2015 Ford Explorer is at 84,000 miles. I have captain (bucket) seats for the 2nd row. About 6 months ago, my son couldn't get out his seat belt. The red button wouldn't release and it was tight around his waist, eventually I was able to make enough room from him to slide under the lap belt. The estimate I received 3 weeks ago was $230 not covered under warranty. I have never had to replace a seat belt. 2nd concern: This past weekend traveling 70 mph on a highway I heard flapping outside the front drivers window the panel was shaking for about 30 seconds then flew off. Before I could safely stop the rubber that would have been underneath the panel came loose and started hitting the driver's side window. I inspected the passengers side and it has also lifted and will come off soon. I haven't had an opportunity to get an estimate but I feel as these are issues that should be happening. Both in my opinion are safety concerns, nothing should be flying off the car and seat belts should work.

- Stafford, TX, USA

problem #9

Mar 212019

Explorer

  • 115,000 miles
At around 100,000 miles drivers seat belt would not lock or unlock...started sticking around 95,000 miles. Never had to replace a seatbelt before especially in a car that was only three years old. Also, at around the same time the drivers side windshield pillar broke off and flew off while driving on the highway at around 65 mph. The passenger side flew off at 115,000 miles while driving on the highway as well. Neither is covered by warranty and owner will have to come out of pocket to cover the damages ($500+). how can Ford put on such cheap finishes to the car? noise level in the cab is affected due to wind noise. Passenger pillarpopped loose and would not pop back in. Appeared that a clip had broken.

- Pasadena, MD, USA

problem #8

Feb 162019

Explorer

  • 61,000 miles
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the air bag warning indicator illuminated while driving. The contact was concerned for his safety. The vehicle was taken to ciocca Ford of quakertown (located at 321 S West end blvd, quakertown, pa 18951, (215) 536-8600) where it was diagnosed that the wiring harness for the second row driver side inflatable seat belt deployment control failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired due to the repair fees. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided case number: Cas-17203222. The contact was referred to NHTSA. The approximate failure mileage was 61,000.

- Hatboro, PA, USA

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