1996 Ford Explorer Seats Problems

“While driving in d in first to second it has had a problem shifting between the 1st and 2nd gears when accelerating and will rev high rpms and sometimes do absolutley nothing when drying to move forward unless I de accelerate and then try to accelerate agine then finally it will catch and go in to 2nd and proceed to 3rd and then 4th and then 5th ,4th and 5th when accelerating sounds very rough when accelerating like it's trying to hard to drive, lately it just the other day I had trouble getting it to go in to d to 1st 2nd 3rd automatic transmission shifting was not wanting to catch had t ok…”

“Drivers seatback failure. The drivers seat in our 1996 Ford Explorer collapsed. The upper portion of our seat suddenly flew backwards only stopping when it struck the rear seat. Luckily this failure occurred in our driveway. My wife was hurled backwards her feet flying upwards and striking the underside of the dashboard. Her hands came off the steering wheel and she was left prone staring at the ceiling of the vehicle. This should be a great concern to NHTSA since any driver experiencing such a failure while driving would be in grave danger. …”

“My family drove to a store (6/21/04) and left our 1996 Ford Explorer in the parking lot for approximately one hour. When we returned the front of the cab was filled with smoke. We started trying to find what smelled so bad, and what was smoking. My husband realized the smoke was coming from under the drivers seat. He was able to move the seat up (electronic) and after burning his finger he was able to unplug the six way seat adjustment motor. When we called Ford they would not do anything, but did say they would charge us $72 to diagnose what was wrong. …”

“Noticed that the recliner handle was bent on the drivers side. The next time I went to recline the seat the handle broke off at the rivet point. Common problem according to the dealer. The part can only be bought from Ford and the cost is $100. There was a service bulletin for this problem for a later year Explorer. Dealer said the new part is more heavy duty and made to replace the stock version that was light duty. No recall was issued and they have stopped making the part.”

“Drivers side seat belt receiver does not clasp seat belt. We are taking the vehicle to a local shop to replace the receiver at $100 for the part plus labor. A seat belt receiver should be built to last normal driving conditions. This vehicle has not been in any kind of accident. The driver's side seat collapsed in the recline position on 8/24/2011, fortunately this occurred when the vehicle was not in motion. The recline mechanism does not work, and the seat does not stay upright. These two items are definitely safety issues.”