Owner-reported complaints naming the driver-assistance system, filed with NHTSA
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Reports naming forward-collision avoidance, lane keeping, back-over prevention, cruise control and related electronic driver-assistance systems. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2020 Ford Expedition submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 31 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
The 25 most recent of 31, in the owner's own words
At highway speed of 70 mph vehicle briefly went into park and shut entire vehicle down, vert traumatized and injured my head from the brief shutdown, could have caused a fatal accident
I was driving at highway speeds and parking suddenly engaged forcing vehicle to lose all power. While I was able to get the vehicle off the road it could have ended much worse. Ford recognizes this as a recall but because it it is not officially active they will not fix it unless I pay for it. Manufacturer Recall Number26S48 NHTSA Recall Number26V402
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that while reversing, the rearview camera image was distorted or blank. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V442000 (Back Over Prevention). There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who was unable to diagnose or repair the vehicle. The manufacturer was contacted, but no further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.
I am writing to bring attention to what I believe is a serious and ongoing issue related to the design of my vehicle’s transmission system. I recently contacted Ford Motor Corp. regarding this matter and was assigned a case number; however, the case was open and closed within a 5-minute conversation. I was informed that there are currently no known issues or recalls related to the transmission in my vehicle. Despite this, there is a problem I continue to experience recurring transmission problems that raise significant safety concerns while operating the vehicle at various speeds. Erratic and unreliable shifting, the transmission often feels like it is “floating” between gears, shifting abruptly, or sometimes not shifting at all. Slipping gear, there are frequent instances many of which I would consider close calls where the transmission slips during acceleration, causing a sudden and unexpected loss of power. These issues make it extremely unsafe to perform routine driving maneuvers such as pulling out from a stop sign into moving highway traffic, crossing busy intersections, merging onto highways, or responding quickly to changing traffic conditions. The inconsistent vehicle response under normal driving conditions puts not only my family, but others on the road, at significant risk. Based on my own experience and further research, I am concerned that this may be a broader, well-documented issue that has not been adequately addressed by the manufacturer. The ford dealerships are aware of this problem and are so inundated that the current dealership cannot even see my vehicle for over a month and i am told have parts delay due to the repair demand. Given the nature and potential danger of these transmission problems, I respectfully urge a thorough investigation into this matter. Thank you for your attention to this serious concern.
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that while depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as intended and the vehicle lost power. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was taken to a dealer to be diagnosed; however, the diagnostic result was not provided. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified on the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 106,000.
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle went into LIMP Mode and the vehicle lost motive power. The contact was able to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway and turned off the vehicle. After restarting the vehicle, the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was 55,000.
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact stated the transmission was slipping while driving at an undisclosed speed. The contact stated that on one occasion, while her daughter was driving 60 MPH, the transmission started slipping and the vehicle failed to accelerate above 60 MPH. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to TSB: 23-2120. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, who was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer informed the contact that the vehicle needed to be test-driven. The manufacturer was contacted and opened a case. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000.
Hello, my name is [XXX] and I’m writing in regards to the transmission issues with my Ford expedition. I have reached out to the customer service line and currently my vehicle is at confidence Ford in Norman, OK. I’ve had issues with this vehicle since I bought it New and I’ve tried multiple times to have the transmission repaired. It has been to Patriot Ford in Purcell, OK(No longer in business), Zeke Ford in Purcell, OK (No longer in business) Woody Ford in Madill, OK.I’ve tried multiple times to get it into other dealerships, lastly it has ended up at Confidence Ford, Norman, OK. Due to the nature of the transmission, it has caused multiple problems and almost deadly situations. This vehicle has been stalling out and losing power since the day we bought it. CUSTOMER SERVICE said that they cannot help us because it is over the hundred thousand miles mark, but I have continued to seek Support and Repair Services since I bought it new in 2021. If you recall during this time, it was after Covid when there was limited resources for repairs and dealerships to offer loaner vehicles or to even rent loaner vehicles. So in the situation of not being able to keep it in service they would give it back. Before I bought this vehicle new, I owned the exact same vehicle that I had bought preowned from Seth Wadley Ford in Pauls Valley, OK. The previous vehicle had the exact same issues and was a Complete LEMON. The previous vehicle had to be traded in for a new one. We thought that buying a new one hoping It would not be a lemon, and with a warranty that we would not have a problem and that the previous one was a fluke. Sadly it was not. I have almost been T-bone, rear ended and hit head on with my 3 young children in the car on multiple occasions, too many to count. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
My park aid sensor fault comes on without cause and a picture of a car blocks the view to the screen that displays directions from google maps. It comes on suddenly and sporadically and has almost caused an accident several times as I don't know where I am going when this happens. I took my car to the dealership to get this fixed. The dealership charged me $213.79 for the diagnosis and stated that this happens to alert me to a problem related to when a vehicle is approaching on the left or right and the audio component does not work. In other words, when a vehicle is approaching, the lights on the mirrors flash on but the noise does not present. They then told me that to stop the dangerous flashing of the car blocking my view of the map, that I would be charged almost $800 to repair. I told them I couldn't afford it and asked if they could just stop the random car display from happening and covering my map. To me, this is much more dangerous than the main quality defect preventing the sounds. I was told that they were not allowed to disable this malfunction and that it was not considered a quality defect or recall issue. I am currently driving in an unsafe vehicle due to a design flaw in a vehicle that is not yet 4 years old that I can't afford to fix myself. The fields below don't allow me to enter information. I have not been in an accident yet due to this. It happens at various speeds. My vehicle has about 52000 miles on it.
This has happened many times throughout my ownership of the vehicle. At times, when trying to accelerate into traffic, changing lanes, etc. The vehicle make a loud clunking noise when it tries to downshift. The transmission acts as if it has no idea what gear to go into. A "system fault" with a wrench appears on the center display along with an audible alarm. The vehicle either loses power altogether or it has downshifted into an extremely low gear which brings the rpms near redline. On several occasions this has put my family in dangerous situations. We came close to getting in a collision more than once. It has frightened my daughter who has special needs. Upon bringing it to ford while the warranty was still in place, they claim they could not replicate the problem. On the way back home from the dealer, it happened again. We made ANOTHER appointment for service, they reflashed the transmission strategy and said it's fixed. It was ok for maybe a few weeks, but the problem continues. Now the warranty is up, and we are still stuck with the same issue which is becoming more and more frequent. Ford will not repair it without charging, yet this issue existed while the warranty was still in place. It's a known defect that presented itself while the warranty was still in place. It was never repaired, Ford only applied a band-aid to get past the powertrain warranty.
On multiple occasions, our car has lurched out of gear going at fast speeds on the highway. It slips out of gear and the car shakes and then it lunges back into gear. On a few occasions, the gas pedal was also inoperable while the car was "finding the right gear". This has been extremely scary for my family when this has happened. The first time we took it to the dealership and they reprogrammed the transmission. Then, it happened again about 6 weeks after the fix, and this time the transmission valve had to be replaced.
Incident happens every 1k miles or more. Car is in motion driving. Press down on throttle and transmission drops to 1st gear. A bunch clicking and thumping sounds are heard. Car doesnt accelerate(can be at 70mph), starts to slow quickly until gears change. Also 4H is jerky as well as sport mode. Very unsafe to be traveling on the highway trying to overtake a vehicle and then your car fails.
Vehicle is slipping back into natural when driving. Vehicle losses power and won't move almost causing me to get hit from incoming traffic. It's a known problem with ford and should be responsible for the 7k cost for new transmission.. please investigate this. It's too early for a transmission a fault on a 2020.
Transmission failed multiple times. Caused loss of forward movement and inability to move out of the way of traffic. Caused blind spot sensors to become inoperable. Vehicle would not move and had to push it out of the road and was almost struck by multiple vehicles. Repaired under warranty replaced transmission. Second trans mission has started doing it again. It fails at highway and city speeds. No warning lights Pryor to failure.
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? APIM issues causing GPS, Bluetooth, radio, settings and camera to mess up. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Getting lost on the road without GPS. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Yes Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? The vehicle has been to a Ford dealership. They were able to recreate the issue. They state the APIM is bad. We had to have the APIM reset with less than 9k miles on the vehicle. They are now saying resetting the APIM is not resolving the issue. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No, this started about 2 months ago. We were just able to get the vehicle looked at this week.
There are 3 issues going on with my SUV. Each item has been identified or verified at my local dealership. My main issue is that the car occasionally will not go into the correct gear. This mostly happens when I haven't driven the car in a couple of days, and it's cold out. It also shifts hard for no reason. I was informed that there is some sort of transmission issue with my type suv. I never received a recall notice or anything. Second, my alarm goes off in the middle of the night randomly. The dealership said this was due to a faulty latch on the back of the car. They also said this was a newer issue that other customers have had. Last, my pre-collision assist will activate when there is nothing around to trigger it. This has happened one time so far.
[XXX] on my way to pick up kids from school in Dallas and take them home. I was driving about 65 mph trying to accelerate to pass an 18 wheeler, to exit. As I press on the gas there was no acceleration. All l hear is motor revving as if I’m in neutral, it feels like it slipped the gears resulting in the inability to speed up. At this point, I’m in front of the 18 wheeler, which is coming up on me while I am unable to accelerate. I have to swerve to avoid him hitting me while nearly hitting the car next to me. Luckily, there wasn’t an accident. It remains this way for about 3 sec & then I take my foot off the gas & try accelerating again & it catches a gear and performs normally. I took it to the dealership & they kept my car for over a month did a complete overhaul on the transmission they said they repaired it & gave my car back. After a few days the same problem occurred. I took my car back & they did a 2nd overhaul on the transmission & gave me my car back. The same day I picked up my car after repairs the same problem happened. I’ve taken my car to a Ford dealership 6 times now for same issue. Currently my car is back at the same dealership & they’re trying to correct the issue. I drive 6 children all under 10 years old home from school every day & I have lost all confidence in my vehicle. I’m terrified when driving on overpasses, merging or trying to switch lanes, I never know when it will happen. As a result of my fear of this happening with the children, I try to avoid driving on highways at all with them, which is very difficult for picking them up. I filed a lemon law claim but don’t qualify. I have written letters to manufacturer, sent videos of dash when transmission failing so they could see the error codes & gauge’s but they can’t seem to fix it. Please help. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
I purchased this vehicle used, I started having transmission issues here and there and now it's more frequent. I travel from Houston tx to Katy Texas weekly and travel on I-10, the most dangerous road in Houston with my 9 year old daughter and 2 year old son. There have been several times where I was almost rear ended because the vehicle shifted gears and when I would push the accelerator the vehicle would do nothing and just glided. Yesterday traveling to Katy, it happened again but only this time the vehicle didn't shift back into gear for a longer period of time and again almost causing us to get rear ended. I have taken my vehicle to Ford only to tell me that they test drive it and nothing happened so they were not able to fix anything. I have read several complaints about this issue with the 10 speed transmission but nothing is being done about it. This is supposed to be a safe family vehicle on the road but instead it's a DEATH trap waiting to happen. Please, please, please look into Ford being held responsible for this issue that should be fixed. Thank you for your help.
APIM failure which results in loss of screen and information that has safety related items. Ford should provide a recall on all failed units. Customer forums have many complaints about this item.
We were driving on the highway and attempting to change lane when the engine ceased to work properly, the vehicle would not excelerate and a indicator with a crowbar came on. As we begin to steer toward the shoulder of the road we narrowly avoided getting hit by cars behind us. The car then begin to work again. We took it to the dealer who ran a diagnostic and stated there is no problem but the vehicle periodically does this and so our use of it is limited as we are afraid it could cause a fatal accident. The dealer did not inspect any of the vehicles parts and no warning indicator was present prior to the car shutting off. Our vehicle has the V6 turbocharged engine just like the Ford F150.
The contact owns a 2020 Ford Expedition. The contact stated that upon shifting into drive (D) after he had reversed, the rearview camera remained activated, then the screen turned black. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring while driving and had caused the infotainment system to become inoperable. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the Accessory Protocol Interface Module (APIM) had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 45,000.
The APIM is malfunctioning causing backup camera to remain on, not allowing GPS location of vehicle, inhibiting cameras from working properly. No WiFi functionality, cannot connect phone and I cannot stream music
My transmission shifts very hard while driving. Mainly from 4th to 5th gear while going 50MPH on a decline. The car has been in the shop for it a couple times and have yet to “replicate” the issue or repair it. The blind monitor system keeps saying it’s having an issue responding to the transmission. I get notified on my app constantly, yet the dealership has told me they can’t replicate it therefore no repairs have been made.
I own the 2020 Expedition. I pressed down on the gas pedal to accelerate into traffic. While the truck should have down shifted and accelerated, instead the powertrain completely disengaged; a total loss of power. The RPM jumped way up to redline, I took my foot of the gas pedal and as the RPM came back down, the transmission slammed back into engagement. At this point, I was finally able to accelerate. This issue has put us in danger as when I am on the road and try to accelerate to my vehicle does go into gear acts if it's in neutral. Also I have been at stop light and light turns green cars are honking as my car won't move. I have had this issue for quite some time, I called for they took it in for inspection the first time and found no issue, took it in again and they said it was the Cadillac converter, they replaced it, and they reprogramed the vehicles gears and now I am expirenceing the same issues, but worst. 2020 Ford Expedition
The transmission has now had over 5 shifting stall and power loss events while on the highway when attempting to downshift when accelerating. This loss of power causes a drastic reduction in speed and delay in actions. These events have nearly cause accidents at highway speeds. Additionally the radar sensor for the collision avoidance system went out and the car now shifts harshly in any gear with jerking and clanking. Multiple service lights are now illuminated. This first happened around 20k miles, but is has been increasing in frequency and now the car is not safe or driveable. This is the same transmission that is affecting other ford cars, like the ford 150 which has been subject to recalls. From publicly available information Ford thinks it’s a shifter and transmission disconnect but has not been able to implement a fox.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
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