I was looking under my 2022 Explorer St the other day and I saw that there is a plug and wires under the drivers side, right behind the front wheel that is uncovered. It looks almost like the cowling was supposed to cover the plug but at some point (maybe after production) it had to be cut and now a plug and wires is exposed to the elements. I talked to my sales man at Ford and he said they are all like that and sent me a picture of one on the lot.
This seems like a really bad oversight. As someone who likes to make sure my undercarriage is regularly sprayed down when I wash my vehicle (especially in the winter with salt, sand, etc), there is a high risk that the exposed plug and wires will get damaged when pressure washing. If I didn’t notice this opening before I first washed my new ST, I could have been spraying directly on this plug. It wouldn’t be hard to do accidentally as if you were to bend over a bit and spray under the vehicle there is a direct open path to the plug and wires.
I have a couple questions and would really appreciate if some could answer:
This seems like a really bad oversight. As someone who likes to make sure my undercarriage is regularly sprayed down when I wash my vehicle (especially in the winter with salt, sand, etc), there is a high risk that the exposed plug and wires will get damaged when pressure washing. If I didn’t notice this opening before I first washed my new ST, I could have been spraying directly on this plug. It wouldn’t be hard to do accidentally as if you were to bend over a bit and spray under the vehicle there is a direct open path to the plug and wires.
I have a couple questions and would really appreciate if some could answer:
- I’m wondering if this is something specific to the 2022’s or if this has been like this since the remodel?
- Does anyone else out there have a similar opening with a plug and wire exposed?
- If so has anyone attempted to cover it somehow? It looks like there is actually the end of a bolt there that used to have another fastener for the cowling but because the cowling was cut for some reason that part of the cowling can no longer be fastened there??
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