I purchased my 2006 Ford Explorer in 2010 and performed perfectly until mid 2011. Around March of 2011 my vehicle started having a REAL HARD JERK when shifting gears. I took it to the shop and had it fixed which was the Pinion seal on the drive shaft and rear differential was bad and leaking. Once that was replaced the problem stopped until about 3 months ago when the problem returned. I checked the pinion again and it was fine. I then drove the vehicle from Missouri to Alabama and while on the trip I lost Drive and Overdrive and had to drive approximately 600 miles in third gear. I contacted Ford due to having been told that the transmission had been recalled and Ford stated that there was no recalls on the 2006 Explorer period. I have since found the recall number and and am going to contact ford again and see if I can get them to admit it and fix it or else I am going to file a lawsuit for failing to maintain the extended warranty that I purchased with the vehicle. Due to the fact that when I first started having problems with the vehicle in 2011 I took it back to the dealership where the vehicle was purchased and they stated that I did not have a warranty however when I contacted Ford this time they stated that my warranty had expired at 86,000 miles. I will never purchase another Ford nor Recommend a Ford product to anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

I purchased my 2006 Ford in 2009, it had 50,000 miles on it and within 2 weeks I noticed my transmission would jerk and the gear would slip. I purchased the car with a extended warranty up to 100k miles or May 1, 2012. Ford put in a rebuilt transmission and a month later I noticed the gear would still get stuck or it would take some acceleration on the gas before it would go into the next gear. I took it back and the maintenance agent and his manager took a test drive, came back and said everything was fine. Two years go by and my radiator starts to leak Ford said I need to pay $900 to get fixed and that my cooling system is going to burn out my transmission. I took it to my guy and he fixed for $400, but the next day he said my water pump needed to be fixed. I never got it fixed but I have not had any leaks whats so ever. Guess what, that guy is not my mechanic guy anymore, he tried to hustle me. Now my car has 96,000 miles and I still have troubles with the transmission it sticks, but on my recent visit to Ford to get my oil change and tip off all fluids I got a all systems go report. NO leaks, no nothing. Two weeks later the director of marketing calls stating a customer wants to buy a used 2006 Ford explorer for his wife. She goes on to say " Ford will pay me to get out of my financing and purchase a brand new explorer!. I honestly thing this a ploy to recall as many explorers' because of all of the transmission complaints, or you guessed it. They want me to buy another car. I told the lady, I would play along. She said her manager is going to do a equity evaluation to see if I am eligible. I am thinking of speaking to a lawyer because I have had several problems with the car. My last story, I don't know if anyone else has had any electrical problems, but one that I had almost killed me and my son. I was taking him to his girl friends house about a 30 minute drive no traffic at 5am. I warm my car up everyday, so this particular morning was no different. I warm it for 10 minutes and go. So, I am driving about 7 blocks from my house and the car lights inside start to flicker and go out so the dash goes out but the car stays on. I drive back at about 10 miles an hour and I made it to my drive way. I call AAA, the tow guy said luckily I was not on freeway because the car could have turned off with no notice and a car could have hit us at high speeds. The car did not give any warning that the alternator was bad and I had just came back from Vegas 2 weeks before. I had pep boys replace the radiator and I have not had any electrical issues since.

I have the same problems with my 2006 Explorer. I have been dealing directly with Ford and get "canned" responses from them. I feel that it is a major safety issue and Ford needs to be held accountable for their manufacturing defect. I did some research and found that I can file a safety complaint with the NHTSA and they will do an investigation on the safety problem if enough people complain. Here's the link http://www.nhtsa.gov/. I encourage you to file a complaint regarding the transmission defect as well. Clearly it's a big, expensive problem that Ford expects us to pay for! I'm sorry..I DON"T pay for someone else's negligence and you shouldn't either. File a report and maybe together we can get a recall on the problem!

I am also a victim of the 2006 ford transmission. This vehicle only has 48000 miles. When i shift into reverse it takes a few seconds to shift gear and when it shifts into gear it feels like the transmission fell on the ground . I just retired and bought this explorer hopefully to keep for a while i take great pride in maintaining my vehicles this is also my 2nd explorer the first one is 16yrs old and now my dog truck but i don't think the 2006 will give me that loyalty TOO BAD!!! Shame on ford now i don't know who to trust anymore

Dealer reprogrammed the transmission when it had about 25,000 miles on it. The lunging completely disappeared....for a while. After about a year and 15,000 miles the problem returned and has happened ever since on and off. Mileage now just short of 80,000 and has been hitting hard lately. The dealer let me purchase an extended warranty after the initial fix for $1000. This extended to 6 year or 75,000. I had wished the transmission had blown up. Now the replacement will probably be on me.

Thanks Ford. I have been driving your vehicles for 40 years and this is the worst problem, which you have not resolved. Please do something for this obvious service issue. There have been some scary incidences with close calls on accidents.

Reading all the complaints, I realize I am not the only one with problems I got the same bad experiences, My truck is at the Garage for over 4 days now. Transmit slips on 4 gear (100km or more) and engine accelerates to keep-up speed, when reversing, I can hear a Loud banging sound, as If Differential was damaged (replaced Differential, and problem persisted) I had to replace the bearings 3 times over the last 16 months (or 40,000 km) which is not normal.

and problems persist.

need help, please, if anyone have solutions, or advise, please contact me. lets see if Ford is interesting in being the Number 1 in USA/Canada

This problem first started in January of 2010. I went to ford dealer (long lewis,hoover,al)where I purchased the car brand new and wanted to know what was wrong with my car. They told me it was not the outside of the transmission and in order to check the inside it would cost me $500 just to break it down ..my thoughts were wow! My car should not be jerking, slow to pull off and At the time I only had 50,000 miles on it and very frustrated. Now about A week ago my car has gotten to were I don't want to drive it but it is the only transportation i have. With this many complaints ford needs to do something.

Transmission was "slipping" when accelerating. Usually between 1-2-3 gears. Error code P0733 from reading the chip, according to the repair shop. It is actually there being rebuilt today 3-26-2012. About $2000.00 to rebuilt it. $3600.00 for new. This is ridiculous, since the car has only 91,000 miles on it. And by the looks of it, and all of these complaints, I am one of the more lucky individuals, by it not happening sooner. Shame on FORD for not stepping up, and offering a solution. This if my 4th and last FORD!!! Never again.

Transmission has always shifted hard but now when shifting to reverse it hesitates then slams into gear. While driving it lunges and jerks while changing out gears. After driving for a couple hours it roars and drags like its not going to change then jerks into gear. If I get this repaired I will be out 2000.00 or more and without my vehicle again for an unknown amount of time. Buying this vehicle has turned out to be the worst mistake I have ever made. This was my 2nd time buying a ford and since the 1st time was almost as bad I can honestly say I plan to make it the last.

I bought this car with 73000 miles on it. I took it to a mechanic to have it checked out before the sale was final. He found about $1000 worth of repairs. I bought the car $1000 less than listed on Craig's list. Thought we both got a great deal- buyer and seller. Then the day after I took possession of the car, the first episode of the car lunging from a stop at a light. It felt like it had stalled then lunged forward. Since then, it occasionally will take a second or two for the transmission to catch after moving from reverse to drive. I took it to the same mechanic that I took it to 2 months ago to check it out. Now he wants $3075 to repair the transmission. After reading this site, I think it is time to go back to Hyundai.

I want to register my complaint along with other 2006 Explorer owners regarding transmission hard shifting into reverse. The shifter was replaced about 2 yrs ago & shortly thereafter, Ford issued a recall for the model. I was able to get my $$ back from Ford for what I had to pay out of pocket prior to the recall. Now I'm having the same issue as many other owners of this same model. I,too, am VERY distraught with Ford for not owning up to the problem & making it right. I have owned Ford SUV's for the past 25 yrs but I think this is the last. If a class action law suit if filed, I'm in. As I am writing this post, my Explorer is sitting at my local Ford dealership where I purchased the vehicle. The guys there wanted to keep it overnight so they could see if the issue occurred for them. If it doesn't, I suppose that makes me a liar. If it does, what will they do? From other posts I've read on here, I'm up the creek with the rest of the owners. I certainly do not intend to pay for a new transmission. I will contact Ford myself, as others have done, but I don't expect them to do anything. It's a sad day in America when we have allowed ourselves as a country to allow such sloppy workmanship to be produced and have a company who refuses to accept responsibility for said workmanship. i'll see what my dealership has to offer me tomorrow. I sure hope Ford can come up with a fix for the issue and it's on their dollar and not mine!!!

Same problems everyone else is reporting about the 2006 Ford Explorer transmission problem. I bought my Explorer from a dealership in MA a little less than 3 years ago. Not sure when I first noticed the problem (probably around July 2011 and around 68k miles on it), but what I first noticed was the 2 seconds it took for the car to shift from drive to reverse. When it did shift into reverse, the entire vehicle shook and there was a nice loud bang. It didn't do this every time, so I didn't think much of it. After a few months, I was getting sick of it, so I decided to check google for any known transmission issues with the 2006 Explorer. Well, what do you know... a hell of a lot people reporting the same damn thing! Currently (77k miles), I am seeing the same shifting issues, but now I'm noticing it while driving. Engine just decides to rev up to about 4.5 rpms while the vehicle maintains the same speed (about 40-45mph), upshifting/downshifting whenever the hell it feels like it. Gas mileage sucks because of it! Last Ford I'll ever buy. I am currently trying to trade the thing in right now instead of footing a big bill for a transmission replacement! How is this not a recall???