2012 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #1872772
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD:CRITICAL FASTENERS filed February 12, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1872772 (ODI reference 11506844) concerns a 2012 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on February 12, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on July 13, 2022. The report was geocoded to Colorado 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
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 traveling at highway speed. About one year before that the driver side windshield trim piece also came off while traveling on the highway. The driver side far rear trim piece has also been cracked for a couple years. We replaced the two pieces that cam off with aftermarket replacements. The vehicle is available for inspection. The trim pieces coming off startled us while driving and could cause injury or accident to vehicles travelling on the highway behind us. The problem has not been reported to, reproduced or confirmed b a dealer or independent service center. The vehicle or component has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. There was no warning of the impending failures.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1872772 |
| ODI Number | 11506844 |
| Date Filed | February 12, 2023 |
| Failure Date | July 13, 2022 |
| VIN | 1FMHK8F80CG |
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
Driver side Pillar trim molding flew off multiple times while driving on the interstate causing safety issues to the other drivers.
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 bu
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.