2012 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #1870376
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD:CRITICAL FASTENERS filed February 2, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1870376 (ODI reference 11505160) concerns a 2012 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on February 2, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 27, 2022. The report was geocoded to Maryland based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as visibility:windshield:critical fasteners, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD EXPLORER cohort independently describe similar visibility:windshield:critical fasteners failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2012 FORD EXPLORER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
Driving south/west on US301 in MD, from NY, and the driver side windshield frame came off at highway speed. There was no other traffic nearby. I ordered a replacement frame off Ebay and installed but it does not fit as well as the original. Heard on the radio there had been other reports of this, hence why I am making this report now. The incident took place before Christmas. There were no warning signs of this potentially happening. I am the only owner of this vehicle, purchased it new
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1870376 |
| ODI Number | 11505160 |
| Date Filed | February 2, 2023 |
| Failure Date | November 27, 2022 |
| VIN | 1FMHK8F82CG |
Similar VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD:CRITICAL FASTENERS Complaints for 2012 FORD EXPLORER
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the side fasteners on the driver's and passenger's side of the front windshield detached and separ
After seeing in the news that trim parts had come off explorers while driving we wanted to report the same issue that we have had. Last year the trim piece on the front passenger door came off while
Driver side Pillar trim molding flew off multiple times while driving on the interstate causing safety issues to the other drivers.
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at approximately 70 MPH, the driverâs side windshield trim panel detached from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.