Owning a Ford Explorer can be a frustrating experience, and the latest recall illustrates this. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Ford is recalling certain 2017-2019 Explorer SUVs because their rear suspension toe links may fracture. Some 412,774 vehicles are affected, but what makes this recall particularly irritating for owners is that it concerns a problem that has plagued the SUV in the past. The NHTSA says that this is an expansion of previous NHTSA recall 21V537, in which 644,055 examples of the 2013-2017 Explorer were named. In other words, upgrading to the newer 2017-2019 Explorer hasn’t rid owners of the problem.
Serious Suspension Issue in Ford Explorer SUVs
Ford
According to the NHTSA recall report, cross-axis ball joint parts and rear suspension toe links may fracture under certain loading conditions. This particular combination of parts was first used in production in May 2017 and was taken out of production in March 2019. SAF was named as one of the manufacturers in this recall, while the recall for 2013-2017 Explorers names ZF Friedrichshafen (the latter is best known for producing BMW gearboxes). The recall report states that “the root cause has not been fully determined to date,” but the fact that two different manufacturers have been used with the same problem appearing indicates that manufacturing processes may not be at fault, and the design of these components may simply be incapable of handling the loads exerted by the loaded SUV.
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Some reports from 2021 say that vehicles experienced a seized cross-axis ball joint, which appears to have caused the toe link to bend. This may lead to a fracture, which ultimately can cause clunking noises, unusual handling, and/or a misaligned rear wheel, says the NHTSA. In 2021, Ford’s internal review committee found evidence of corrosion in seized ball joints, and each instance at the time came from vehicles operated in areas of the U.S. and Canada known to use road salt. Others had a sealing failure, and new parts made by SAF aimed to address this problem. But in January 2026, the NHTSA informed Ford that vehicles with the supposedly improved parts were still suffering from fractured rear toe links.
Ford Explorer Suspension Issue Can Cause Crashes
Ford
The report states that Ford is aware of two accidents globally that may be related to the suspension problem. In these instances, the Explorer SUVs have hit road guardrails or barriers following the toe link fracture. Indeed, sudden loss of handling ability can have severe consequences. Fortunately, Ford is not aware of any injuries potentially related to the problem, so we presume that these crashes happened at relatively low speeds.
Ford expects to notify dealers of the recall program on February 25 (VINs will also be searchable tomorrow), but owners of potentially affected Explorer SUVs will only be notified by mail from March 9-13, so they have a long wait ahead before a fix is provided.
