ST Teething pains

Teething pains with my ST. Here is the complete breakdown of the errors I’ve recorded with this vehicle.

1. Paint defect on the right rear passenger door.
Currently in service to correct. The door is being re-painted.
Photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fia5h30aqy7kgvi/IMG_2512.jpg?dl=0

2. Center screen stuck in partial reverse display while driving forward.
Video here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0umbmbnydr88nch/IMG_2508.m4v?dl=0
You can see reverse cross-traffic alert, map in the background, parking sensors displayed. I had to pull over, shut down the vehicle to clear screen. This is intermittent.

3. Alert: Charging System Service Soon displayed while driving.
Photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gu5dda8nbxkrh0v/IMG_2498.jpg?dl=0
You can see the engine is running, the parking brake is engaged.

4. Alert: System Off to Save Battery Please turn ignition off or start the engine.
Photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xg3e9re33f4frka/IMG_2701.jpg?dl=0
Received while at idle in while in park, engine running.

5. Alert: Restart Now or Key is Needed
Photo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6r20xke81tvael3/IMG_2702.jpg?dl=0
Received right after the ignition was turned off to exit the car.

6. Sirius XM icons and channel data sometimes doesn’t load. Also the Sirius XM pre-set buttons don’t work on vehicle start. This is an intermittent event. Sometimes channel content buttons display immediately. Other times they don’t load at all. The vehicle location is always in the same place with a clear view of the sky. For example, when you touch the pre-set Sirius XM buttons you can’t change the channels.

7. Loose suspension/rattle sound
Occasionally while driving over rough road or speed bumps there is a rattle that sounds like a loose exhaust or suspension. Other times I don’t hear it. Please inspect suspension and exhaust for any loose parts. I see that other ST owners have reported a strange noise problem: https://www.explorerst.org/threads/strange-sound-from-front-when-coming-to-a-stop.51/

8. Keyless entry extended delay
The keyless entry pad sometimes doesn’t activate. When the vehicle has been sitting for an hour or more when you touch the keyless entry to active the lights so you can enter your code, it won’t display the numbers. You have to keep touching the display for 3 to 5 minutes to activate the lights. Other times it works right away.
Thank you for your help!



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Post-follow-up
This ST was bought back by Ford under the lemon law. Its problems were beyond fixing.

Great post! Thanks for doing this

Out of curiosity, what is the build date of your ST?

The ST is currently at the dealer's body shop. So I don't have access to it right now, but as soon as I get it back I'll report. I dropped it off a week ago

Mods should sticky this post, lots of good info.

Made this a sticky thanks @merco

My ST finally came back from the Dealer and here's the report:

They had a local body shop re-paint the rear passenger door. So the paint defect has been corrected.

For all other Alerts and issues, they re-programmed:

• APIM (Accessory Protocol Interface Module)
• BCM (Body Control Module)
• TCU (Transmission Control Unit)
• SSM (Special Service Messages)

They reported that the battery was in a low state of charge.

Result: Everything seems to be working normally now. There is still a lag in the Sync but that's "normal" for Sync 3.

Note: The build date on this ST was 07/19

My thoughts: My daily commute is only 2 miles with many stoplights and heavy traffic along the way. The speed is never above 25 MPH, one block at a time. So I think that maybe the Start/Stop feature ran down the battery to the point of no return in less than 1,000 miles of driving. Once the battery was low then all systems started to not function as expected. The re-programming does seem to help now so maybe a combination of first-gen code, combined with a low battery was the main problem. Now I routinely de-activate the stop-start function to save the battery. Time will tell if my hunch is correct about a short commute combined with stop/start not being battery friendly. Interesting that in my application, it appears I trade fuel savings for battery power. We'll see.

Ford has offered to make the monthly payment for the time the vehicle was in the shop. It was hard to get to the right person to do this for me and it took about 2 hours' worth of calls to various departments before I got through to the right person.

Anytime you have an issue with your screen freezing or blacking out just hold the radio power button at the same time hold the fast forward button for about 15 seconds and the system will reboot! Hope this helps.

Didn’t know that. Is this true of all SYNC 3 systems?

Yes

You all may know this but ....I didn't.
I was playing around with reverse after some news stories about a Range Rover backing over a lady. They claim the rotary shift was in park and it somehow got in reverse.
If I have my ST in reverse and open the drivers door it automatically shifts into park.
My wife was much relived to know this.

All Ford rotary shifters and Lincoln pushbutton transmissions go into Park when the door is opened in any gear and also if you turn off the engine when it's in gear. They have done this since model year 2013.

But your seatbelt also should Not be strapped in for this to happen. If you have your seatbelt on and open the driver door, it does Not go to Park.

Who did you call by chance? My ST has been at the dealer for 26 days with my second transmission issue. First time it was in there about 2 weeks. I wouldn’t mind having them pay for a month. The car only has 1800 miles on it.

I had a bad experience with the aluminum hood corroding at the from edge with my 13 explorer.
The dealer did arrange to get it repainted but the clear coat was peeling four years later. I definitely took a hit on trade in for the ST. Hopefully that doesn't happen to this one.

When my 2017 Explorer Sport showed signs of corrosion, Ford replaced the hood. Your dealer just put a bandage on your Explorer and the bandage came loose. It should have been replaced under Warranty.
Take heed friends, if this should become a problem with the current Gen Explorers make sure it gets fixed right and not just band-aided...

Ford replaced the hood on my 2017 explorer sport after the infamous iron particle embedment that has plagued all the domestic manufacturers for 15+ years.

Can you share who you contacted at Ford to start the Lemon Process?

Bummer to have top quality (supposed to be) factory paint have to be redone by a paint shop which is not as good od quality as factory original— whats up ford?