- Ford says B-pillar trims may not have adhered properly to the door’s sheet metal.
- The recall affects 492,145 vehicles across the United States, including older Explorers.
- 1,482 warranty claims reported trim panels falling off but no injuries have occurred.
It’s another day, another Ford recall, and this time nearly half a million Explorer SUVs are in the spotlight. Ford’s ongoing recall streak continues, and while this one doesn’t involve a dangerous mechanical failure, it still leaves nearly 500,000 owners waiting for a repair. That is, once Ford actually develops a remedy for the fault.
So, what’s going on with the Ford Explorer, then? Well, a recall notice issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that the exterior B-pillar trim on both the passenger and driver sides could fall off while driving. This presents a hazard to other road users and would be quite an annoyance for owners, too.
Read: Ford Can’t Stop Recalling Cars, Drops Five More At Once
Ford has pinpointed two possible causes for the problem. It says that as part of a design change, it added a “foam donut” to the underside of the trim that has “increased outward reaction force on the part.” Additionally, it states that hand rollers may have been used inconsistently when attaching the trim to the sheet metal of the door during the assembly process.
What Owners Should Know
Owners would be wise to inspect their B-pillar trims to see if they started to separate and are creating any additional wind noise while driving. In total, 492,145 vehicles are involved in the recall. These are all 2016-2017 Ford Explorers that were manufactured between June 11, 2015, and April 19, 2017.
Interestingly, Ford issued a technical service bulletin for loose B-pillar trim on the Explorer back in July 2019, but at the time, it didn’t consider it an unreasonable risk to safety and chose not to issue a recall. That changed this March, when NHTSA forwarded a wave of complaints that prompted Ford to take another look. The automaker also admits it’s received 1,482 warranty claims related to the B-pillar trim coming loose.
Owners will start receiving recall notifications next week, but Ford hasn’t provided a timeline for the repair. As of now, the company simply says that the “remedy is under development.”
