I was traveling southbound Interstate 15 at the Interstate 10 interchange when the accelerator pedal broke off in traffic. Almost rear ended. Bit through my tongue. Pushed the cruise control button quickly and was able to get to safety. After I was stopped I was astonished to find the pedal lever completely disconnected from the frame and dangling. Call Ford Service department and was asked if it was a Ford Explorer. I replied yes. Service worker said he was familiar with the problem and Ford did not repair this. I would have to contact a welder myself.

O.K., I realize that warranties are for a limited time, but, with regards to safety related issues, i.e. the accelerator pedal bracket welds breaking loose from the firewall?? Yes, this happened today as my teenage son was driving himself and three other children to school. No acceleration (in the middle of an intersection) due to the fact that the gas pedal was now laying on its side! The problem was due to the fact that all three SPOT WELDS holding the bracket onto the firewall had failed. This car has 118,000 miles on it. Hardly a mileage profile that would yeild metal fatigue. But, on this particular EXPLORER, it did. Two of the three vertical spot welds (top and bottom) simply pulled the weld nugget from the firewall leaving a hole where the weld used to be. The middle weld also pulled out and left a hole in the firewall but with one additional problem. The weld nugget it pulled was only about 1.5mm in diameter. The other two were in excess of 5mm in diameter. So, not only did the welds fail, but one of the three was non-conforming regarding the required diameter. Sorry if this is a bit technical, but this is an area where I do have some background. See, I am the Welding Specialist for a major auto manufacturer in the U.S. with many years of experience regarding spot welding and related failure analysis.

I called the customer service department regarding this issue as my concern was with how many other EXPLORERS may be out there with these "failing" welds. The rep I spoke with simply explained to me that since the auto was "out of warranty" then any repairs would be my responsibility. Big Deal! I call to let them know of this issue and all I'm told is that any repairs would be my responsibility! THAT'S NOT MY CONCERN!!! How 'bout a response that indicates that this "issue" will be looked into? I only hope that after our phone encounter, the C.S. rep turned this "notice" over to someone who will look into it further. I may be wrong, but I think it could be a major problem for the vehicle operator if they loose power due to the accelerator pedal falling off while in the middle of a busy intersection. I'm not suggesting that this will happen to anyone else, but just telling what happened to my EXPLORER today. The accelerator pedal bracket welds failed. Complete failure of all three welds. And I the customer am told it's my issue regarding cost of repair! Typical. My suggestion, get yours checked out and inspected for signs of fatigue.