2002 Ford Explorer Body Problems
- 108
- Owner complaint records in our dataset
Records are owner complaints, not a measured failure rate.
Owner complaint recordsComplaint records reflect reports in our dataset and do not measure how frequently the problem occurs across all vehicles.
Among these 108 stored complaint records:
- 3 indicate a crash
- 3 indicate injury
- 2 indicate fire
What owners report
- rear window · 20 records
- panel below · 13 records
- rear hatch · 11 records
- failure mileage · 11 records
- rear panel · 11 records
- below rear · 11 records
Mileage in stored records
| Band | Records |
|---|---|
| 60–100k mi | 32 |
| 100–150k mi | 28 |
| 30–60k mi | 16 |
| 150–400k mi | 11 |
| 1–30k mi | 4 |
Complaint records
Owner-submitted complaint content, presented as stored.
Body
I own a 2002 ford explorer, there are cracks on the back panel below the rear window, these seem to happen in cold weather. I have seen many other ford explorers with similar cracks. I got an estimate and it is 1500.00 to fix. Ford should fix this! *tr
ODI 10370758
Body · Equipment
I opened the liftgate glass to my ford explorer in order to load groceries into the back. The glass came down on my head and i pushed it back up off of me when it exploded all over the place. The molding came down onto my head and my back (i was still leaning into the car). Because it was very cold out, i was wearing a heavy coat with a hat and the hood pulled up onto my head, so this cushioned the impact onto my…
ODI 10297998
Body
2002 ford explorer -- a crack appears in the panel below the rear tailgate window glass. *tr
ODI 10323909
Body
Rear defroster had been on to un fog the glass. Rear liftgate glass shattered after pressing the release button to release the liftgate. Vehicle is a 2002 ford explorer. Weather was 19 degrees f with windchill of 10 degrees f. *tr
1 injury
ODI 10297754
Body
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford explorer. Cracks have developed under the rear window door. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but no assistance was provided because there were no recalls.. The failure mileage was 40,000.
ODI 10295877
Body
I have a 2002 ford explorer. The rear hatch upper glass plastic trim cracked next to the ford emblem. This allowed water into the trim that caused the bolts holding the latch to rust through and completely fail. I replaced the entire glass last spring (2009). The replacement part also cracked in two places after a few months of michigan winter. The latch bolts in this unit are now rusting as well. It is obvious that…
ODI 10342096
Body · Hinge And Attachments
Following the nhtsa campaign #04v442000 recall replacement of the hinge on the rear hatchback of my 2002 ford explorer, cracks in the body have appeared in the paneling around the rear tailgate window. These cracks appear to be stressed induced and may pose a hazard to the rear window if the framing around the window continues to degrade and crack. *tr
ODI 10291406
Body · Visibility
Driving on highway, no debris, and our sunroof exploded. As the screen was closed no injuries, but potential for cut and eye injuries by razor sharp glass. No one behind us affected. Huge noise very startling. *tr
ODI 10277163
Body
I got a ford explorer 2002 and the hatchback door is cracked, i had a ford explorer 2003 before and it had the same problem and i had seen other fords explorers from year 2000 to 2004 with this problem. I contacted the ford headquarters company and i was told that they couldn't fix the crack because i had to contact you to complain so this will become a recall and they will fix it for me otherwise they are unable to…
ODI 10297111
Body
Back tailgate window is crooked, air pressure thing fell off on right side causing a lack of support on that side and hinges are starting to bend to the left also. Who knows when this window will fall off or how much longer it will be supported without the support on the right. It's just scary, we don't use this tailgate window at all so it may be fine? It is like this while stationary, in motion, on a city street…
ODI 10917252
Body
The rear panel below the rear window of my 2002 ford explorer cracked. While in the car wash, two thirds of the rear panel fell off the back of the vehicle. I have found out that this is an expensive replacement and that ford has been made aware of the problem. My concern is if it fell off in a car wash what would happen if it fell off while i was driving 55-65 mph on the highway? Also, i am not thrilled about the…
ODI 10262664
Body
Noticed what appeared to be a small scratch just below the glass on the plastic portion of 200 explorer liftgate. On friday feb 6, 2009 there was a split from top to bottom. Ford is doing nothing about this problem even though it seems to possibly be related to the liftgate hinge recall already issued by the nhtsa. *tr
ODI 10258140
Body
CRACK IN HATCHBACK DIRECTLY BELOW WINDOW. *TR
ODI 10258650
Body
Approximately a year ago the top panel of the back tailgate began cracking on the right side of the "ford" symbol. Yesterday morning i came out to find another crack in the panel in the exact same spot except on the left side of the "ford" symbol. The first crack is about 1/8" wide and split approximately halfway down the back panel. The second crack spans from the top of the panel to the bottom and is approximately…
ODI 10255505
Body
Appeared out of nowhere. Large crack in vehicle below rear window possibly due to previous recall in oct 2004 - safety recall 04s20. *tr
ODI 10330085
Body
I have a 2002 ford explorer and the panel below the back window hatch has cracked for seemingly no reason. I found on the internet that this seems to be a common problem for the 2002-2004 block of ford explorers. I have just over 100k miles on my vehicle and ford said that because it's out of warranty that they won't cover the repair. This seems to be the common answer that ford is giving to everyone that is…
ODI 10253615
Body
The liftgate cracked in 3 places. It started a year ago with one crack, then another crack appeared 6 months later. A few weeks ago a 3 crack appeared. The ford dealer refused to help and a call to ford was not returned. *tr
ODI 10254430
Body
When i saw a crack on the ford applique, i went to my local ford dealer to see who i should contact about this problem. I've never had any problems with my explorer; took excellent care of it; no dents, dings, accidents. The dealer told me i must have slammed the trunk too hard in cold weather. If that were the case, i should have cracks in all four doors (and the hood). They wanted to give me the name of a body…
ODI 10256857
Body
When i saw a crack on the ford applique, i went to my local ford dealer to see who i should contact about this problem. I've never had any problems with my explorer; took excellent care of it; no dents, dings, accidents. The dealer told me i must have slammed the trunk too hard in cold weather. If that were the case, i should have cracks in all four doors (and the hood). They wanted to give me the name of a body…
ODI 10256856
Body
A crack appeared on the rear hatch door under the rear window. The crack just appeared one morning without any direct action. Now i have 2 cracks. A search on the internet showed that this problem is happening to many 2002 ford explorers. *tr
ODI 10251453
Body
2002 ford explorer rear liftgate panel cracking below glass. *tr
ODI 10249101
Body
2002 ford explorer developed a crack below the rear hatch window extending down and to the right of the ford emblem. Since then i have observed these on dozens of explorers. My vehicle was not involved in an accident, nor was the hatch being used when this occurred. I feel it is a safety issue since the glass could fall out on the highway. Ford in no way acknowledges the issue that has hundreds of complaints on…
ODI 10266176
Body
Ford 2002 explorer has large crack on liftgate panel running from just of the left of the ford insignia to the bottom of the rear window. Ford will not help with replacement despite the obvious safety concerns and the admission that this is a widespread problem with explorers. The liftgate was recalled a few years ago for an unrelated problem with the cylinders. *tr
ODI 10248705
Body
My 2002 ford explorers hood is corroding. It's been over a year since the first spot appeared. I really didn't pay much attention to it because i thought it was just from wear and tear, but then 2 months ago 2 more spots appeared. On 10/3/08 i went to a body shop to see how much it would cost to paint, and i surprised to hear him tell me that the problem is really a ford problem because it looked like the hood is…
ODI 10244650
Automatic Transmission · Body
I have a 2002 ford explorer and all of a sudden the o/d light started flashing i have read other peoples experiences and this has led me to file a complaint about this and now that i realize that im not the only one well i hope you can help i was expecting for this vehicle to last longer than my 1994 dodge ram. And another thing the side of the windows started pealing off my back door is cracked because it would not…
ODI 10255937