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2002 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #582153

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NHTSA Complaint about WHEELS:MULTI PIECE filed May 16, 2006

NHTSA complaint #582153 (ODI reference 10157643) concerns a 2002 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on May 16, 2006. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 17, 2006. The vehicle had 65,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as wheels:multi piece, 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 wheels:multi piece 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 2002 FORD EXPLORER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2002 FORD EXPLORER
Component
WHEELS:MULTI PIECE
State
Michigan
Mileage
65,000 mi

Complaint Description

IN FEB OF 2006 WITH 65,995 MILES ON MY CAR I HEARD A WHIRRING/GRINDING NOISE FROM THE PASSENGER SIDE WHILE DRIVING. I MADE AN APPOINTMENT WITH MY MECHANIC FOR LATER IN THE WEEK (~4 DAYS) TO HAVE THE NOISE LOOKED INTO. 1 DAY PRIOR TO TAKING MY CAR TO THE MECHANIC THE NOISE GOT MUCH WORSE AND I TOOK IT IN IMMEDIATELY. I WAS TOLD THAT THE RIGHT REAR WHEEL BEARING EXPLODED AND DAMAGED THE BRAKE AND EMERGENCY BRAKING SYSTEM. I HAD THIS REPAIRED AND CHALKED IT UP TO BAD MICHIGAN ROADS. IN MAY OF 2006 THE LEFT REAR WHEEL BEARING ALSO ERODED/WORE OUT AND NEEDED TO BE REPLACED (ONLY 68,368 MILES AT THE TIME). THE WAREHOUSE/RETAIL OUTLET WHERE MY MECHANICS PURCHASED THE REPLACEMENT WHEEL BEARINGS TOLD ME THE PERSON WORKING THE COUNTER COMMENTED ON HOW MANY REQUESTS FORD HAS HAD FOR WHEEL BEARINGS AS OF RECENT. MY MECHANICS (AS WELL AS FRIENDS AND FAMILY) TOLD ME I SHOULD CONTACT FORD AS WELL AS NHTSA WITH THIS INFORMATION SINCE THE COMPONENT FAILURE EFFECTED THE EMERGENCY BRAKING SYSTEM.

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 582153
ODI Number 10157643
Date Filed May 16, 2006
Failure Date February 17, 2006
VIN 1FMZU73E02Z

Similar WHEELS:MULTI PIECE Complaints for 2002 FORD EXPLORER

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.