2020 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #2026140
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:HATCHBACK/LIFTGATE:LOCK filed September 19, 2024
NHTSA complaint #2026140 (ODI reference 11615461) concerns a 2020 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on September 19, 2024. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 1, 2022. The vehicle had 35,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as latches/locks/linkages:hatchback/liftgate:lock, 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 latches/locks/linkages:hatchback/liftgate:lock 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 2020 FORD EXPLORER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2022 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the rear hatch closed without driver input. The contact stated that the buttons were inoperable and failed to open the hatch as needed. While the hatch was closing, it pinned and violently struck the contact on the head. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer on four occasions, who was unable to determine the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and opened a case. The failure mileage was approximately 35,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2026140 |
| ODI Number | 11615461 |
| Date Filed | September 19, 2024 |
| Failure Date | January 1, 2022 |
| VIN | 1FMSK8FH8LG |
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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.