A New Member of the Broken Seat Club

[Autoworker]

The wife told me the driver's seat in the ST felt "different". Found the side panel was loose and two broken tabs on the floor. 23,000 miles. Passenger side still no issues. Will contact the dealer tommorow to get it fixed under warranty. Did Ford come out with a upgrade on these panels? This has been an issue since Job One.

 

[hbalek]

The wife told me the driver's seat in the ST felt "different". Found the side panel was loose and two broken tabs on the floor. 23,000 miles. Passenger side still no issues. Will contact the dealer tommorow to get it fixed under warranty. Did Ford come out with a upgrade on these panels? This has been an issue since Job One.

They significantly changed the seat design in the back and underneath and side panel for 2021 and in another thread there was mention of a new part number for the replacement.

(918) Driver Lower Seat Panel - Outboard Side | Page 3 | Explorer ST Forum

 

[GearHead_1]

I just replaced mine today. Truth is I couldn't see any big differences between the OE and the re-engineered one they gave me today. Now having said that my 21 may have already had the updated version in it. Takes about 5 minutes to take it off, 5 minutes to strip it and 15 minutes to put it back together.

 

[hbalek]

I just replaced mine today. Truth is I couldn't see any big differences between the OE and the re-engineered one they gave me today. Now having said that my 21 may have already had the updated version in it. Takes about 5 minutes to take it off, 5 minutes to strip it and 15 minutes to put it back together.

That's good to know! I plan to have mine replaced under warranty at my next oil change soon.

 

[GearHead_1]

When I ordered this, the parts manager and I didn't really talk about this being a warranty issue. No one ever looked at the car or the broken piece. I'm pretty sure he could see on his screen that on top of the warranty I had an extended warranty. In fact, the only questions he asked me is was it black and if it was the driver's side.

It was never mentioned whether I would have them install the part or not, it was somehow just understood I would do it. That certainly is the way I wanted it to be. I don't like anyone else's hands on my stuff.

I took the piece off before I went in for the new one. I briefly compared the two pieces and signed a piece of paper saying I had received that part. He did say that they send these back for inspection.

All in all, I consider this to be a top-notch experience.

 

[GearHead_1]

Oh, I forgot to mention this. I found it amusing that when he ordered the piece he said it showed that there were 123 of these available in Denver, I'm in Utah. I chuckled and told him that means one of two things, people really breaking these or there have been a few broken but the build/transport/delivery system is so broken the parts have been reordered multiple times. They at least had one on hand as it was in my hands 2 days later.

 

[Autoworker]

I chuckled and told him that means one of two things, people really breaking these or there have been a few broken but the build/transport/delivery system is so broken the parts have been reordered multiple times.

When we did the ST Experience in May of '21 several of the vehicles had broken seat panels, both driver and passenger. It's not a question of if the panel will break, but when.

 

[hbalek]

When we did the ST Experience in May of '21 several of the vehicles had broken seat panels, both driver and passenger. It's not a question of if the panel will break, but when.

This is just sad but someone on the thread I posted above said the part was redesigned so we'll see.

 

[V3nom3nom]

I will be on the lookout for this on my newly purchased ‘20.

 

[BigAnt75]

Anyone else’s massage seats making a grinding noise when it’s on. It just started a week ago and I did t oh 60k for massage seats that make such a noise!! Is there a fix as it didn’t do this before.

 

[DaveG ST]

When we did the ST Experience in May of '21 several of the vehicles had broken seat panels, both driver and passenger. It's not a question of if the panel will break, but when.

Same here Autoworker. I actually met you there. My driver's side panel was really loose at about 35K miles and dealer replaced under warranty, no questions asked. I have an extended warranty that Ford provided for free, but I did not want to take the chance of this part not being covered after 36K miles.

 

[UNBROKEN]

2 black plastic screws and 2 minutes…never have to worry about it again.

 

[66gt350ps]

I first fixed broken loose seat sides with self tapping screws. Worked well for about four months until they broke. The plastic seat sides need to be metal as sliding off the seat kills the plastic. This the fourth Explorer that I have had with this problem and had to get plastic sides replaced. All under warranty. It would seem that the manufacturing cost of stronger materials would would outway cost of warranty repair mateerials and labor. Bean counters need to review this problem in design.

 

[Dennis]

2 black plastic screws and 2 minutes…never have to worry about it again.

Where did you screw it? I drilled a hole thru the broken backside mount and used a zip tie but it's not as tight as it should be...

Thanks!

Dennis.



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