2020 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #2117392
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:HILL START ASSIST:ASSEMBLY filed August 5, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2117392 (ODI reference 11678525) concerns a 2020 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on August 5, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 1, 2025. The vehicle had 70,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Washington based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as electrical system:adas:hill start assist:assembly, 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 electrical system:adas:hill start assist:assembly 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 while driving at an undisclosed speed, the transmission was shifting hard. While driving uphill, the transmission failed to properly shift into gear. The transmission was slow to respond while shifting gears. There were codes and warning lights related to the power train and pre-collision assist. Additionally, the powertrain, Hill Start Assist, and pre-collision warning lights were simultaneously activated and then deactivated. The TPMS warning illuminated and eventually turned off, and then became illuminated. The tire pressures were checked and were at proper inflation levels. The contact stated that the failure was possibly related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V239000 (Power Train). The contact called the manufacturer and discussed the related recall on the 2025 Ford Explorer and was referred to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The local dealer was contacted about the malfunction and informed the contact that the
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2117392 |
| ODI Number | 11678525 |
| Date Filed | August 5, 2025 |
| Failure Date | January 1, 2025 |
| VIN | 1FMSK8BH8LG |
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.