2018 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #2168850
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STRUCTURE filed January 22, 2026
NHTSA complaint #2168850 (ODI reference 11712659) concerns a 2018 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on January 22, 2026. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 1, 2024. The vehicle had 45,000 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 structure, 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 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 driving at an undisclosed speed, there was a whistling sound coming from the front windshield. The contact stated that the trim had detached and flown off the vehicle, and there was a constant rattling sound coming from the windshield. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the contact was informed about an open recall on the VIN. The contact was informed that parts were not yet available. An alternate dealer was contacted, and the contact was informed that parts were not yet available. The contact later received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure); however, the parts were not available. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 45,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2168850 |
| ODI Number | 11712659 |
| Date Filed | January 22, 2026 |
| Failure Date | January 1, 2024 |
| VIN | 1FM5K7D86JG |
Similar STRUCTURE Complaints for 2018 FORD EXPLORER
See attached document for complaint. I am in receipt of your multiple Important Safety Recall notices/letter and am very upset with your company. I keep receiving these recall notices/letters and I c
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (STRUCTURE); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer wa
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact s
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dea
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V031000 (Structure); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dea
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.