First the seat started off by reclining all the time, now the entire seat is loose and is like coming off its hinges, and is reclined even more. Only way to really deal with this is to put the back seat down to prop up against the driver seat so that it keeps the seat still, but it seems this puts a lot of stress on the seat and will probably snap off or something.

The lever to the driver's side seat had always been bent. All of a sudden, it broke off completely with the seat in the complete upright position. From what I understand this happens to most all Ford Explorers that were made around this year. I have not found out how much it will cost to fix, I just can't rationalize paying to fix something that should be noted as a recall.

We got a recall notice in the mail about a missing recliner bolt about 3 months after the seat recliner broke. The lever handle is fine, but the notches on the seat recliner have skipped their spacing, leaving the seat in a permanently reclined position. When I took the car in to the dealership, they said that the recliner bolt had nothing to do with the broken seat recliner. Hello! Now, when we drive, we have to prop the seat up with the rear seat folded down against it.