Explorer lunging at high speed while parking

[FORZDA3]

You can continue to try and justify your driving error with internet searches, but you will only find simple non-technical explanations of electronic throttles written for relatively ignorant consumers.
You will never “find” the root cause because you made an error. Not intentional or even aware, but the facts of the event remain unchallenged with truth. You are not alone in your experience, or your unbelieving search for the cause.
I assume you’re still driving the vehicle?

 

[Coffeehouse]

I’ve never experienced this in my ST. I have Weathertech floor mats and they fit well.

 

[DaveG ST]

You can continue to try and justify your driving error with internet searches, but you will only find simple non-technical explanations of electronic throttles written for relatively ignorant consumers.
You will never “find” the root cause because you made an error. Not intentional or even aware, but the facts of the event remain unchallenged with truth. You are not alone in your experience, or your unbelieving search for the cause.
I assume you’re still driving the vehicle?

The issue I am still having with this whole thing is that my ST will apply the brakes and flash a warning on my dash before I hit something. Michelle, did this happen in this situation?

 

[2020FordRaptor]

The issue I am still having with this whole thing is that my ST will apply the brakes and flash a warning on my dash before I hit something. Michelle, did this happen in this situation?

The Emergency Braking system doesn’t work below a certain speed. I believe something like under 3-4 MPH it isn’t operational.

 

[cheetoduster]

I think OP has been driving around with this on

 

[philkap3]

I don't have an ST, but have a 2022 SLT and had a similar incident occur to me on Sept 9 while sitting at a red light for several minutes. I was utilizing auto brake hold and Co-Pilot features, and while sitting at the red light, the vehicle disengaged and accelerated forward into the vehicle in front of me. I took it to the dealership shortly after the accident and, after doing diagnostics, they confirmed that there were several error logs in Co-Pilot system approximately 40 minutes prior to the accident. The technician was concerned that doing a software refresh may not correct the issue, so he reached out to his support center. The vehicle was instructed to be parked and not driven and a report with Ford Corporate was filed. The vehicle has been at the dealership since Sept 16 where nothing more has been done. The dealership stopped receiving any additional communication from Ford in October. I filed a report with the NHTSA and they are actively investigating. I am also pursuing a legal investigation.

 

[enphor]

Don't these vehicles have some kind of log of all driver inputs stored in a buffer? I bet they are even uploaded to Ford via the connect spy feature. Right after the event the dealer should be able to pull these logs if they exist (I'm betting they do).

Even so, if the throttle position sensor says "20% pedal input" , who is to say its the sensor being faulty OR it was the driver/floormat that unintentionally pressed the pedal 20%.

These fly-by-wire systems can and do malfunction. Ask Boeing! The hard part is proving it on something like a car that doesn't have the same level of scrutiny and analytics as something like an airliner.

 

[lstepp]

Hello, I am new to the forum. I purchased my 2021 Ford Explorer ST brand new. I have had no issues with my vehicle until June 6, 2025. I was coming home from work pulling into my garage. I was going slow because there was another vehicle in my driveway I was getting past and it was tight. The front of my car was about 1/2 way in the garage. I ALWAYS let the motion of the vehicle take me into the garage and my foot was hovering over the brake pedal. I was not touching the break yet. I was about 6 feet from where i usually stop in the garage. All of a sudden, without notice, my car felt like the acceleration hit max speed. I hit my gun safe before I even knew what happened. I hit the break twice before I heard the engine stop accelerating. I was amazed that my air bags did not deploy for as hard as I hit the gun safe. I was also surprised of the minor damage to my car. It twinged the hood, I had a couple dents and scratches on the hood from object falling on it. The majority of the damage was to my garage wall. There were some scratches to the gun safe and mangled a storage shelf unit. The majority of the damage came from the gun safe being empaled in the garage wall. About a 10 foot section of my garage wall was pushed into my utility room, two door frames were damaged. I know for a fact my foot did not hit the accelerator. My son is a Ford technician. He came and ran diagnostics on my car and was not seeing any error codes. I am not comfortable driving the Ford ST until it is checked out by the local dealership. I was told my vehicle has a "black box" that records what happens. We are currently trying to request that be done to prove it was a vehicle issue and hopefully to find out if it is a electronic, mechanical or some other issue. I have reached out to Ford Motor and waiting for the General Counsel to get back to me. If anyone has had this issue please let me know.