Power Train Malfunction - Dealership Woes

Just bought a brand new 2021 Explorer ST. A few days after having it, a light comes on on the screen. This tiny little wrench of dread will plague me for the next 3 months at least. I called the dealership and talked to the guy who sold me the car. He obviously explained to me that it shouldn't be doing that and that if it happens again please bring it in.

The issue I keep having is that every time it happens again, I'm either on my way to work or at lunch. Every time I drive home from work it doesn't come on. But, whenever you turn the car off and turn it back on, the light will disappear and it's a dice roll whether it will turn on again.

I digress. Sometimes weeks will go by and there won't be any issues and I have a blast. I love this car and I love driving it.

One day, driving down the highway at 70mph, slight turn to the left, the light comes on and there is immediate loss of power and a delay in the throttle response. I'm talking like 3-4 second delay sometimes. It then proceeded to come on 5 more times that day. So after work I decided to take it to the dealership. I showed up and the light was on, finally a diagnosis, they told me that they couldn't look at it and to come back and drop it off on the coming Friday. Sure, fine, after dropping it off in the morning, I get a call the following day that they can't get to my vehicle until Monday. Fine, at least you told me. Monday rolls around and I'm checking my Ford App that they basically forced me to download. It's pretty cool and I use it regularly. I can see where my car is located. So on Monday I notice it finally being taken into the garage around 3:30pm. Awesome, answers soon. Tuesday morning I noticed it got moved back to the parking lot. Didn't hear from them all day. So I went to visit them to see what was going on. I was informed that they couldn't get to my car that day. Even though it was already in the garage, someone made a conscious decision to look at it, say no, and move it to the parking lot. Horrible experience with that particular dealer.

Anyway, back to the problem at hand. Just wanted to give you a little back story as to why I'm frustrated.

ISSUE: Power Train Malfunction Light Illuminated
Code Thrown: Throttle/Position Sensor/Switch "D" Circuit Low
Causes: Unknown - It has come on going 70mph (not cruise) down the highway, it's come on while in a drive thru and accelerating out of Auto Hold. It's also not come on for weeks, then 6 times in a day.
Symptoms: After the light comes on, the power immediately drops. If cruising at 70 the car will immediately slow down and it will take a few seconds for the car to realize I am still on the accelerator. Even when letting off the pedal the engine takes a few seconds to come down from being throttled, and like I just said, the opposite as well. This is true in all situations, from a stop, accelerating will be delayed.

Honestly, I'm just looking for guidance and if someone knows exactly what the problem is that would be fantastic, but I also understand that it's a forum and the dealership is the best bet. Just wish they'd look at it. I hope I've provided enough information. Thanks everyone.

I have no idea what the issue might be. But have you considered trying a different Ford dealer? Any dealer will provide warranty service and not all are the same. Good luck with it and I hope you get it resolved.

The vast majority of these types of problems are probably due to electrical/wiring issues. I had an intermittent Low Oil Pressure warning on my new 2021...after several attempts at diagnosing the problem, the cause ended up being a wire that had chafed and was grounding occasionally.

This sounds like the throttle body/sensor assembly is intermittent. You can unplug the connector and plug it back to likely fix the problem. There is a red “lock” tab that ensures the connector is fully mated. To unmate the connector the red tab must be pulled back to unlock it. Last thing upon reconnecting is to push the red tab back it. It will click to indicate fully latched. My guess is that it isn’t pushed all the way in causing intermittent connection.

Thanks for the response. Just went outside and tried this. Unplugged it and plugged it back in. Ran pretty bad for a few starts/minutes, and after it re-calibrated it started to run fine. Gave it some gas a few times and it felt good. I'll have to drive it a few times to see if it comes back on, that'll be in a few hours as I'm still at work. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks, I haven't had a chance to go to another dealer yet, but it is definitely the next step.

I can certainly believe this. I've been researching my fiances jeep because the car doesn't recognize the hatch is closed when going over bumps. Most likely a wire grounding out.

So this is still an issue, after disconnecting the Throttle Position Sensor and letting it re-calibrate. I thought it was running great and then it came back on again this morning. I'm out of idea's apart from taking it back to the dealership to get who knows what done to it.

So, I have been having the same issue for the last few months and have had to take my ST back to the dealer SEVERAL times to have the issue addressed. I've had multiple sensors replaced, of which none helped, and even had damage done to my vehicle where it now has been leaking coolant. Not very impressed to say the least. That all said, after the service manager talked to the higher-ups, he stated to me that we have an electrical component (can't remember the name) where there is washer fluid leaking directly onto it and supposedly causing the fault. The change in performance you speak of is basically your vehicle being tricked into going into "limp mode". If yours is anything like mine -- and it seems to be -- you can turn your vehicle off, exit and allow it to reset, then turn it back on and the problem goes away for an undetermined amount of time. I should mention that my issue is also sporadic in nature and I fear for my safety when highway driving with my kids.

I'll update you when/if the dealer actually fixes my issue(s) and the pertinent details. At least I'm not the only one having this issue.