We bought our 2016 Ford Explorer sport brand new. It has never been involved in an accident. It started not recognizing "reverse" a few weeks ago. When put in reverse it would stop abruptly as if hitting something then act like it was in neutral. We took it to two different places who could not find anything wrong with it because it wouldn't do it for them. Then it started occurring more frequently with thud and crunching sounds getting worse each time. Today it finally broke down completely as it was being moved into the service garage. They have diagnosed it with a broken transmission differential. The repair is going to cost $3,000. Hopefully, this will actually fix the entire problem. We wanted to support buying American. But, unfortunately our fears of poor quality have become reality. We will be going back to Toyota or Honda after this.

I've searched but haven't found many instances of this problem on the Internet. I've had our 2016 Explorer for a year and a half now with no issues. It's the 2.3L EcoBoost and was getting great gas mileage.

However 3 weeks ago at 28,000 miles, it failed to shift into reverse. We had just driven for an hour and a half and pulled into a restaurant parking lot (which was completely flat btw). I went to back into a spot but when I shifted from drive to reverse, nothing happened. I then went through the gears slowly from park to reverse, to drive, to park to reverse, etc. On one of the tries to reverse, it ended up shifting but it shifted hard. I had experienced this a couple years ago on a different work vehicle (Ford Focus) and knew it was a sign of bad things to come. All of the ford focus's we had as leased work vehicles ended up having this issue that after a while turned into full transmission replacements.

Anyway, it ended up happening 2 more times the following weeks and I just took it into a transmission shop that is well known for being a great establishment. They did not drop the transmission but went through all other troubleshooting steps. They found no errors and could not replicate so there was nothing they could do unless I wanted them to pull the trans to rebuild it.

Again, I haven't found much on the Internet to determine what I should do next. Any suggestions?

This is my second MAJOR problem with my 2016 Explorer. It currently has 17,000 miles, bought it brand new. The first problem was the Throttle Body, now its the transmission. I was out driving, pulled into a parking lot and was never able to drive out, because my car won't go into reverse. It had to be towed to a dealership, who did not have a loaner for me. They kept my vehicle for 2 weeks, claimed they fixed it, but less than 24 hours later it is back at the dealership. It developed a loud rattling sound, that to date they cannot find. They even changed a part on the axel, but that was not the problem. I am highly annoyed with Ford to say the least.I'm coming very close to having this vehicle qualify for the Lemon Law status.

Update from Feb 22, 2017: I received a call from the dealership today, they did everything Ford Hotline told them to do, BUT the problem is still there. We are waiting for more instructions. This is a very "enjoyable" experience. Paying for a car and can't use it...so much fun.

Update from Jun 11, 2019: This problem was never fixed and my car was bought back by Ford.