Recall · 25V166000
Ford Motor recalled the FORD Explorer over power train
4,247
Vehicles covered
1
Model
3
Model years
March 14, 2025
Filed with NHTSA
POWER TRAIN:DRIVELINE:DRIVESHAFT
- The defect
- Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2020-2022 Explorer vehicles previously repaired incorrectly under recall numbers 23V-199 or 22V-255. The rear axle horizontal mounting bolt may fracture and cause the driveshaft to disconnect.
- What it can cause
- A disconnected driveshaft can result in vehicle rollaway when the vehicle is placed in park without the parking brake applied. A disconnected driveshaft can also result in a loss of drive power. Either of these scenarios can increase the risk of a crash.
- What the dealer does
- Dealers will update the powertrain control module (PCM) software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed April 25, 2025. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 25S22.
- NHTSA's note
- Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236 (TTY 888-275-9171) or go to nhtsa.gov.
The repair is free, whatever the age or mileage of the vehicle, and whether or not you are the original owner.
Which vehicles
A recall reaches a range of VINs inside these model years, not every car built in them. Yours may not be covered even if it is listed here, and the only way to find out is NHTSA's own VIN lookup .
How this campaign compares
At 4,247 vehicles this is a bigger campaign than 73% of the 19,818 vehicle recalls filed since 1995 whose size NHTSA published. The middle campaign on file covers 472. It covers model years 2020 to 2022, so the oldest vehicles on it were 5 model years old when the defect was reported to NHTSA.
Ford vehicles have been recalled over the power train 112 times before this, most recently in February 2025 as 25V133000. That is not evidence the earlier repair failed.
This site holds the complaint record for all 3 model years the campaign names. Their owners have filed 1,869 complaints with NHTSA, 1,091 of them before this campaign was filed. 648 of those name the power train, the system this recall is about — a count of complaints, not of this defect. The earliest of them reached NHTSA in November 2019, 5 years before this filing.
The vehicles on this campaign carry 36 other recalls published here, the newest being: 26V451000 (seats), 26V402000 (power train), 26V159000 (seat belts), 26V123000 (back over prevention).
Check your own car
A VIN check is the only answer for a specific vehicle, and it also shows every other open recall on it, which is usually the reason it is worth doing rather than reading one campaign.
Filed by Ford Motor Company with NHTSA on March 14, 2025 as campaign 25V166000. Every word of the defect, consequence and remedy above is NHTSA's published record of that filing, not a summary of it.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2025-03-14.
Independent developer and analyst