2020 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #2049349
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:FRONT:SHOCK ABSORBER filed December 18, 2024
NHTSA complaint #2049349 (ODI reference 11631495) concerns a 2020 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on December 18, 2024. The owner reports the failure occurred on June 18, 2024. The vehicle had 70,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Texas based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:front:shock absorber, 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 suspension:front:shock absorber 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 2020 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that upon raising the front passenger's side power window switch, the window rolled up and then rolled back down unintentionally. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the power window control module was reset. The contact stated after the dealer had performed a rearview camera recall repair on the vehicle, messages advising that the traction control and the other drive modes were inoperable were displayed. The dealer replaced the throttle body and an unknown part. Additionally, the contact stated after the dealer had lifted the vehicle for servicing, the dealer noticed that the catalytic converter, the mufflers, and the shock absorbers had failed. The dealer informed the contact that the shock absorbers were leaking fluid. The dealer determined that the catalytic converter, the mufflers, and the shock absorbers needed to be replaced. The dealer had ordered the parts. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notif
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2049349 |
| ODI Number | 11631495 |
| Date Filed | December 18, 2024 |
| Failure Date | June 18, 2024 |
| VIN | 1FM5K8GC3LG |
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.