Either body shops, dealers, or at home? I just purchased a Ford Explorer on Thursday. Friday morning I noticed a crack in the rear hatch under the window. I was searching for the part when I found this website. Now I know it is due to defective material. The salesman where I purchased the car a Ford dealership told me he would try to get it fixed but said not to get my hopes up.
I feel Ford the big guys should have it fixed at no charge to me or anyone else with this problem because the part is made with defective material. If a class action suit is started for this problem I want to be included.
I also have this wonderful crack in my Explorer, mine goes all the way from the top to bottom, it is a upside down Y. I contacted the Ford Dealership today and was told this is a common problem and that it is a defect from the factory but they will only cover the repairs if it is less than 3 years old and less than 36K miles.
The Ford Dealership told me that the glue that was used on these Explorers was defective glue which is letting water get behind that cover and when it gets cold and freezes, it causes this crack. I also feel they are the ones who are to blame for these defects so they should be fixing them. I was told by my insurance agent which by the way, your insurance won't cover it because it is a manufacture defect to contact the Zone Rep.
Has anyone had any success with doing this??? I just purchased a used Explorer XLT a few days ago. I noticed that the driver side window hinge didn't look quite right, but thought nothing of it. Today I tried to open the tailgate window and the hinge fell apart and I had a heck of a time getting the window back into place. It didn't break the window, but it did upset me.
I called the ford dealer about this but they only gave me a voicemail. The window locked back in place with no leaks that i found yet, it is pouring here. The hinge is now fried and should be replaced no charge to me. Guess I should have checked this site sooner. I didn't notice any cracks below the window yet, but the temp was 60 in Cleveland and rainy, changing to snow tommorow.
We will see what happens. I'm planning to cover the crack in my son's rear hatch with a piece of 0. Should be able to cut the carbon fiber sheet about the width of the indentation below the panel and cut out a hole for the emblem and then peel the cover off the tape and stick it in place. If there's a bit of a crack at the top of the panel under the edge of the glass, or around the emblem, this can probably be filled with silicone caulk to keep out dirt and moisture.
Haven't received the carbon composite sheet yet but the stuff is real tough, not bad looking on most body colors and is workable with hand tools - Dremel tool, sand-paper, etc. If you replace the panel with a new one, what's to say it won't just crack again???
Put a carbon fiber panel over it and the panel should spread the stress and make it stronger than new. Good Luck! I too had the dreaded crack on the rear hatch too! I went on a cruise in October and my sister had my truck, when I got back the mysterious crack was on there.
The weird thing was that she did not drive the truck while we were gone, and it was in the garage the whole time. Now that I have found this site, and seen literally hundreds of Explorers here in Texas with the same crack I know without a doubt that FORD needs to do something about the issue. It bothered me so much the I contacted the dealer. They of course knew about the frequent occurance of this problem and were not obligated to do anything because the manufacturer is not addressing the problem.
I was lucky because the dealership where I purchased my vehicle from, I actually have bought 4 vehicles myself, and my family have purchased probably 10 additional vehicles, and to save my patronage to this dealership, they did fix the panel for me at no charge.
But i'm sure this is the exception not the rule obviously. So far it has held up, I'm hoping that they did not use the same glue again when they did the repairs!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also have the crack on my rear lift gate, just below the window just to the right of the emblem as everyone else has mentioned but one thing is a bit different then all others thus far.
My crack is on a Lincoln Aviator, even though the Aviator is basically a dressed up Explorer. When I noticed my crack I was on a business trip in Orlando Florida, in and out of the rear hatch many times. The crack was so fine it first appeared to be a black head hair but when I tried to wipe it away with my finger I could tell it was a crack. I am still under warranty and will see what my local Lincoln dealer will say, they have been great so far with my Aviator and I hope there will be no problems.
I will repost after I contact my dealer. If this is a manufacturing flaw - shouldn't we as a group be able to address it with FORD? Must B Caffinated. It wouldn't suprise me if the Lincoln service is better than Ford, even throught the same dealership. When my wife had her Passat which she traded in for a Lincoln LS we had coil pack issues. The same engine in the Audi A4 had a recall for the coil packs, but for the Passat, they were just addressed through a TSB, so the VW customer had to purchase the coil packs when they failed.
Buy the premium model, get closer to premium service, I guess. I'm experiencing almost the opposite though, my co-worker gets better service on his Nissan than I get on my Infiniti. Plus, his dealership is local, mine is 2 hours away.
Ok here is my problem: I've had the same cracked rear panel problem on my 03 explorer. I had it fixed under warranty about 3 years ago but I pulled the panel off yesterday and spent about 3 hours removing the adhesive from the lift gate. The dealer and another body-shop used is a black possibly windshield glue. Has anyone had success reattaching the panel with other products?
I purchased some 2 part epoxy from an auto store but I'm apprehensive about using it? After dealing with this panel coming off and considering I have 80, miles on the vehicle I'd be willing to live with it cracking again and not worrying about the panel falling off on the highway.
On another note I noticed the atom smashers at ford redesigned the lift-gate on the new models and did away with the panel. The question should be who doesn't have a cracked panel on there lift-gate as opposed to who does. Every explorer I see on the road is cracked. I guess it's better than the tires blowing out and having the thing roll over This has always been a common issue with these models along with all the other problems they are plagued with. JB Weld works really good on plastic and fiberglass believe it or not.
Hello, I have a Ford Explorer with the same problem. I came out to my car and it was cracked. I called the number that Ford gave me to call and they told me to take it to the nearest Ford Dealership and have it evaluated.
I did and the guy there said I have seen a lot of Ford's with this problem but there is no recall and the part is 6 grand I was shocked. My sister who lives in AZ also has the same crack. I was driving by a house yesterday and took a picture of one in a garage with the same crack I'm shocked that Ford wont' fix this I told them that I'm going to the news with this I'm going to contact the Turko Files tomorrow..
I am looking for others with the same problem in S. Florida for a potential class action lawsuit against Ford - they are dragging their feet on making repairs to my wife's vehicle and I have had enough with their delays. You wouldn't happen to be a lawyer would you? Does anyone involved in a class action lawsuit actually "win" other than the lawyers? Rod, yes on both counts - I have never handled a class action, but I was thinking that it may be worthwhile to do so, for all parties involved except Ford, that is.
Or I may be able to shop it to someone who does handle class actions, if there is an interest. What do you think?
I don't know all the specifics of the cracks and have not seen an independent failure analysis to show what the root cause of the cracking is. If it is purely cosmetic and the warranty clearly does not cover the cracked panel in those cases where the owner's panels were replaced, then I don't think it is Ford's responsibility to repair these.
That being said, fortunately I have not experienced this issue my Mountaineer is a so not subject to the plastic panel , nor has my brother on his Explorer, and I would be frustrated if the panel cracked on my vehicle, but I also don't feel it is the responsibility of the factory to cover non-warrantied items just because they didn't last as long as some consumer's think they should. I suspect the bean counters have done the math and determined the risk of losing customers is significantly lower than the cost to replace all the affected panels and dealing with consumers who will attempt to take advantage of the voluntary recall, etc.
My 04 Mercury mountaineer has a crack in it as well. Near the glass on the lift gate. Pieces also separate when the weather is warm. I love my Explorer - this is my second one. I bought it used and the day after I got it the panel cracked. I was really upset, I hadn't had it 24 hours and already it was damaged due to no fault of mine or anyone else's except Ford. The dealership refused to do anything about it. I found this website and realized there are hundreds of people who have the same problem.
The panel is definetly defective - if the plastic on the car cannot withstand water and cold weather something is wrong with the materials used to make it, and, yes, I think Ford should reinburse the owners who have this problem. There should have been a recall when it was apparent that this was a problem.
When I or anyone else purchases an automobile we expect it to stay in the condition it was purchased in and not fall prey to poor materials or workmanship.
But that's where I have issue. Generally a recall is for a safety issue. Just wanted to add in another cracked rear door panel. Just looked at it one day and there it was! Simply reporting. Ford is full of annoying problems that add up to substantial costs. Transmission failure at 80, miles 2.
Blown engine due to overheating as plastic thermostat enclosure warps and fails with time. Wheel bearings fail at low mileage. Rear panel below glass cracks. There is a crack on the rear hatch that runs from the bottom of the glass to the next panel. It goes right beside the Ford logo. My car looks like new except for the crack on the hatch. In the winter it is more noticeable due to the cold and in the summer. Every Explorer that has the same design as mine has a crack on their hatch.
Panel cracked on a cold winter day and I heard it crack when it did it. Nothing impacted the vehicle such as a collision nor did it come from slamming the panel shut. It came as I was driving down a smooth, paved roadway. I had considered replacing the panel but from reading around in a number of forums found out that the replacement panels are the same thing as the old panels and they will crack as well - thus not worth the cost.
A lot of photos are shown online of cracked plastic panels on the Explorer tailgates. The whole assembly is lightweight and frail. Eight hours on a corrugated dirt road would probably destroy both upper tailgate hinges and the glass.
They are not strong enough for an SUV. Ford should have recalled all of them and replaced with a more substantial window. My Explorer had a full-width crack in the rear tailgate plastic panel. I fixed the crack with RapidFix glue, made by Boss products in Michigan. It was done without disassembly, in about 5 minutes. It was less of a problem than gluing my Nike sandals; which I did straight after. It is waterproof, and looks very durable. I am sending this to your information bank because I do not seem to be able to access the Explorer Forum.
It may be better to remove the panel and fix both sides but the job can be done without that. I did abrade the crack slightly and rubbed the sides of the crack with wet-or-dry paper, but that's all. It is worth a try for owners of Explorers with multiple cracked tailgate panels. I have forgotten the name of the plastic used to make the panel but that RapidFix glue will stick it.
In fact, TSBs are a common way for automakers to inform dealers of potential problems and provide a guide for repairs. TSBs are typically shared only to service departments and are rarely shared with consumers. Still, we can learn a lot by looking at the TSBs Ford sends its dealers:. Gee, I wonder if that had something to do with them dropping repair coverage? The large crack down the tailgate is inevitable and should be covered under warranty. Ford thinks a case about a cosmetic panel crack is absurd.
Previous cases — such as Wolin v. Jaguar Land Rover N. Am — have provided precedent for cases where a widespread, class-wide defect with potential safety-related consequences are appropriate for court. Ford also argues that corrosion is a fact of life when it comes to cars.
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