Ford Explorer Seat Problems

Seat complaints by model year

Which parts fail

• Front assembly › Recliner
  157
• Front assembly › Power adjust
  17
• Mid/rear assembly
  12
• Front assembly › Head restraint
  12
• Mid/rear assembly › Head restraint
  3
• Critical fasteners
  1

Components named in complaints (seat frames, recliners, heated seats and seat tracks).

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  6222%
• 25k–50k
  4416%
• 50k–75k
  6022%
• 75k–100k
  3814%
• 100k–150k
  5219%
• 150k+
  207%

What owners report

The contact owns a 2026 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while attempting to make a left or right turn, the front passenger's side seat was moving from side to side. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed; however, the diagnostic result was unknown. The contact was informed that that bolts were all connected. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact he would receive a call back within 24 hours. The approximate failure mileage was 2,600.

The driver's memory seat has a serious malfunction. Whenever I enter the vehicle or switch between memory presets, the driver's seat unexpectedly reclines completely backward. This also crushes anyone sitting in the rear driver's-side seat, making it essentially unusable until we can return the driver's seat to its upright position. Even more concerning, the seat can begin reclining while I am driving, creating an obvious safety hazard. I recently learned that Ford has issued a recall for this exact issue. However, my vehicle was somehow excluded from the recall despite exhibiting the very same defect. My local dealership acknowledged that my car does show the problem listed on the recall and attempted to repair it by replacing the seat back and seat motor. Unfortunately, the replacement parts Ford supplied had the exact same malfunction. …

My wife found an article about this, so I guess it happens to other people as well. I will leave the link that she sent to me in this report. To put it very simple there seems to be a problem with the seat, memory module in the door of some Ford Explorers. So many times when my wife has had to move my car from the driveway she gets in the car. She pushes the number two button for her seat settings, and she begins to drive the car. While the car is in motion, at any random interval, the seat will reset to my position without any notice. This means the seat begins to move while the car is in motion. In our case, I am about a foot and a half taller than her so when the seat goes back to my position, even though she's driving, she can no longer reach the brake. Several times while in motion she has had to just hit the power button and shut the car off. …

This vehicle was a rental car. The rear door opens and closes at random times. On multiple occasions even after locking the car, we would come out to the door being open. The door came down on its own and smacked my wife as well as hitting my [redacted] daughter in the head. While driving down the highway that rear door decided to open on its own putting my family in immediate grave danger.

After multiple attempts to fold the third-row power seat in my 2022 Ford Explorer, the seat mechanism failed completely. The seat will no longer lock securely in either the upright or folded position. The seat frame appears to have failed and the seat constantly springs back and will not stay in place. The seat was being operated normally using the factory power folding function when the failure occurred. There was no unusual load or misuse of the seat prior to the failure. The issue was inspected and diagnosed by a Ford dealership, which confirmed that the third-row seat frame had failed and would require replacement of the seat frame assembly. The dealership quoted approximately $3,622 to repair the issue. Because the seat will not lock securely in the upright or folded position, this may present a safety concern for passengers using the third-row seating area. …

Seat warning module failed. When unbuckling seatbelt car does not recognize you unbuckled, therefore the airbag system does not recognize which seats are occupied. This would also cause a safety concern as you do not have to buckle the seatbelt with no warning or alert there is an issue. Car has been at Ford dealer for service for a month with them failing to find any other vehicle that they can replicate the problem. This is one Ford dealer, but it should be something that is investigated as it might be easily overlooked. Car has been in the dealership for the last month with no answers from Ford or resolution to the safety issue, following Federal regulations the dealer will not release the car back to us as it has a safety system malfunctioning.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the third-row seats were inoperable. The contact stated that the passenger's and driver's side seats were frozen in a semi-folded-down position and were not responding to the electronic control switch. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the seat control unit needed to be replaced. The contact was advised by the dealer that the seat failure was a known failure; however, the vehicle was no longer under warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 40,438.

The contact owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V393000 (SEATS); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the rear passenger's seat moved forward unintendedly. There was no warning light illuminated. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

Related recalls (11)

NHTSA investigations