2018 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #1941338
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STRUCTURE:BODY:TAILGATE filed November 7, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1941338 (ODI reference 11553917) concerns a 2018 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on November 7, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 31, 2023. The vehicle had 24,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Maryland based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as structure:body:tailgate, 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 structure:body:tailgate 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 2018 FORD EXPLORER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while her husband was reversing from the garage, the liftgate malfunctioned and opened. The driver opened the driver's side door and struck the door frame. The door frame was damaged. There were no warning lights illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the liftgate failed to open. The contact had to place the vehicle in the park position for the tailgate to open. The contact called the local dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 24,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1941338 |
| ODI Number | 11553917 |
| Date Filed | November 7, 2023 |
| Failure Date | October 31, 2023 |
| VIN | 1FM5K8D8XJG |
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.