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‘Ford has no clue’: Woman tows 2025 Explorer back to the dealership at only 3,000 miles. Now she has to use this trick to start it

‘I don’t know.’

Photo of Chad Swiatecki

Chad Swiatecki

two panel design with a close up of a car dash board with text reading 'Full Accessory power active', next to an image of a Ford sign

It’s already pretty frustrating to be in an unending fight with a car that refuses to work properly. But online creator Jamie Michelle (@xoxojamieshelle) found out recently that the automotive aggravation grows exponentially when online car know-it-alls insist that the problems with her Ford Explorer are all her fault and she should stop complaining.

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The tale of Jamie’s moor vehicle maladies began with a TikTok clip that’s been viewed more than 2 million times. She shows us that her 2025 Ford Explorer refuses to start via the standard brake/push button ignition steps, with the vehicle’s pre-start accessory mode popping up on the instrument panel.

Start/Stop… Start/Stop… repeat repeat

Jamie can get the Explorer running with a convoluted series of steps that involves locking it with the key fob and using the remote start button. But it shuts back off when she tries to shift the transmission into drive. The startup problem had left her dealership garage clueless for two weeks at the time when the video was made.

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The comments section of that clip got ugly in a hurry, with observers telling her that she wasn’t doing the right steps to start the vehicle. Let’s be real, it’s one of the easiest tasks in the world under normal circumstances.

Here are some of the fairly toxic pieces of “advice” she received:

  • “try holding the button longer than .2 seconds”
  • “The smart ones know she’s not pushing the brake pedal”
  • “Take the cover off the FOB!”
  • “Have you tried putting the key in the “emergency slot” and starting it?”
  • “You need to hold the start button not just press it once.”
  • “simple push down on the brake then start”
  • “did you put your foot down on the brake, so many new users fail to do so”

Ford Explorer problems keep mounting…

Jamie did her level best to respond to the comments, some of which tried to offer help. But it was the digital equivalent of bailing out the Titanic with a tea cup.

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In a series of follow-up videos, we see more evidence of Jamie’s Ford Explorer acting like it’s suffering from automotive schizophrenia. In one she shows more glitches with the instrument panel screen. And in another she shares that the dealership had “reflashed” the key fob to reprogram it to work with the Explorer correctly.

While the vehicle appeared to be starting normally afterward, Jamie was dubious that was the ultimate fix.

“We don’t know what the problem is. Ford doesn’t know. I don’t know. What they did was they reflashed the key fobs like they told me that they were going to do, and they said that there was a service bulletin that one may be not programmed correctly,” she said.

“We’re just gonna play Russian roulette every time the vehicle starts, I guess, to see if this key fob reflashing worked. Not real confident. Not gonna lie.”

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No solution in sight

Spoiler alert: In her latest video, we see that the Explorer was back to its coin flip reliability as far as whether it would start or operate in a normal fashion.

There’s not a whole lot of agreement in online resources regarding start-up issues for a new model year Explorer, with a battery issue seeming to be the most likely problem area and an alternator as the next possible problem.

Ford Explorer owners on Facebook also had plenty of theories for why they were having issues with starting their vehicles and needing multiple trips to the dealership, though there wasn’t much consensus on any common root issue.

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@xoxojamieshelle ✨HI HELLO- UPDATE✨1) my foot is on the brake 2) i know how to push the button to start the vehicle 3) i have the vehicle back and its glitchy but running 4) there are followups posted #ford #explorer #newcar #broke #fordexplorer #2025 #car #carproblems #mechanic #cartiktok #wtf #foryoupage ♬ original sound – Jamie Michelle

We’ve of course offered similar stories of Ford owners and experienced mechanics sharing their frustrations with the brand.

The Daily Dot reached out to Jamie via direct message, and Ford via email.

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