NHTSA Probes 1.24 Million Ford Explorers After Side Airbag Burns

• Federal regulators opened investigation PE26008 on Nov. 6 and announced it Monday, Nov. 9, covering an estimated 1,236,155 Ford Explorer SUVs from model years 2021 to 2026.
• NHTSA counts 11 incidents and 10 burn injuries, typically second or third degree burns that needed medical treatment, with no deaths.
• No recall covers the problem yet, so owners can check their VIN at NHTSA.gov/Recalls for open recalls and report any airbag burn at NHTSA.gov or 888-327-4236.

What Happens When the Airbag Works and Still Burns the Person in the Seat?

Federal safety regulators are asking that question about roughly 1.24 million Ford Explorers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has logged 8 owner questionnaires and 4 early warning “Death and Injury” reports from people burned when a seat-mounted side airbag went off in a 2021 to 2026 Explorer. Drivers and front passengers are among the injured, and so are officers who drive Explorer Police Interceptors.

The population is large and precisely defined. NHTSA estimates the population at 1,236,155 Explorers. Across the 12 reports, the agency’s own table lists 11 incidents once duplicate submissions drop out, 10 of them with burn injuries, and no fatalities.

Opening a preliminary evaluation is not the same as ordering a recall, and no repair exists to book at a dealer. Owners can check the vehicle today, document any deployment and file a complaint if an airbag burned them. Those steps come below, after the complaints and what NHTSA has yet to establish.

Ford moved 189,210 Explorers in the United States through September 2026, up 17.6 percent from the first nine months of 2025.

What NHTSA Opened on Nov. 6

The agency’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) started the case on Nov. 6 under the subject “Burn Injuries From Side Airbag Deployment,” and the file lists it as open. ODI stated its aim in one sentence:

“ODI has opened this PE to evaluate the scope, frequency, and potential safety-related consequences of the alleged defect.”

NHTSA’s record sums up the alleged problem in a single line: “Deployment of the seat-mounted side airbag may result in serious burn injuries to front seat occupants.” The opening document adds that the burns were typically diagnosed as second or third degree and required medical treatment. Some questionnaires, it adds, come from law enforcement officers hurt in Explorer Police Interceptors.

The bag in question lives in the seat itself. Side-curtain airbags are a separate system. The seat-mounted unit fires beside the occupant’s torso in certain crashes to cut the risk of injury in side impacts. NHTSA’s airbag guidance says side-impact bags fill faster than frontal bags, given the smaller gap between the occupant and whatever hits the vehicle. That speed is the whole point of the part. What nobody has explained yet is why some occupants walked away from their crashes with burns.

The opening document offers no cause, and nobody has established whether the inflator, the fabric, the deployment pressure, hot gases or the way the occupant was sitting played any role. The agency needs more data to find out.

What the Complaints Describe

NHTSA’s own summary covers burns and stays silent on vents. Three of the eight complaints raise the subject, and each describes the bag’s exhaust port pointing inward at the occupant rather than out toward the door. Those are the complainants’ words, and NHTSA has reached no finding on vent direction.

One Explorer owner, a 2023 model, filed complaint 11602427 in July 2024 over a December 2023 crash:

“Side seat airbag has exhaust port facing inwards, instead of outward, towards the door of the vehicle, that caused the hot chemical from the airbag to push out all the gas at the left side of my body, melting my clothes and causing chemical burns to my side when it deployed upon a wreck.”

A police officer driving a 2026 Explorer crashed on Aug. 20, 2026, and complaint 11766049 followed:

“During a traffic accident the driver side seat airbag deployed. The airbag vent faces towards the driver when it deploys. The air escaping the vent burned through the shirt of the officer driving the vehicle and also caused a mixture of 2nd and 3rd degree burns to the hip and side abdomen region of their body.”

Complaint 11766053 was filed on Sept. 22, 2026, and describes a Sept. 2 wreck of a 2024 Explorer. The officer in that case escaped burns, and the filing credits his belt:

“Officer was involved in a crash where the vehicles airbags were deployed. When the driver side seat airbag deployed it vented its gas towards the driver. When this happened the heat from the deployed air melted components on his police utility belt. If not for the police belt there is a high probability that the driver would have suffered burns similar to one of our other officers. We would like to know the reasoning behind the airbag vent being directed towards occupants.”

A fourth filing, complaint 11647596, blames the exhaust port for an officer’s burns without saying where it pointed. A UPS truck hit the right side of a 2022 Explorer police vehicle on Feb. 20, 2025. Four layers of the officer’s clothing and gear burned, and the third degree burns beneath them took surgery and a skin graft. The text reads:

“POLICE VEHICLE WAS CLEARING INTERSECTIO WHEN A UPS TRUCK COLLIDED WITH IT’S RIGHT SIDE FORWARD. THE COLLISION CAUSED THE SIDE AIRBAG TO DEPLOY. THE OFFICER’S VEST, SWEATER, UNDERSHIRT, T-SHIRT AND THE OFFICER’S RIGHT SIDE SUFFERED THERMAL BURNS FROM THE EXHAUST PORT. THE OFFICER SUFFERED 3RD DEGREE BURNS AND HAD TO HAVE SURGERY AND SKIN GRAFT.”

So four of the eight complaints mention a vent or exhaust port, and three specify its direction. Three of the eight come from police officers or their department. In two of those three, duty gear took the heat: a vest in one case and a utility belt in the other.

The other complaints tell different stories. In complaint 11559767, a passenger in a 2023 Explorer was hit from the side in December 2023. As far as the passenger could tell, only the curtain airbags inflated, yet three layers of clothing burned through and first and second degree burns ran from ribs to hip. Complaint 11739351 describes a May 2026 crash at 40 mph in a 2023 Explorer, with a second degree chemical burn on the stomach, blamed on the front passenger-side curtain bag. In complaint 11685505, a 2022 Explorer driver describes a side airbag that burst and left unreacted propellant on the skin, a burn that reached fist size and worsened for days.

The briefest filing, complaint 11668481, dates to a September 2024 crash in a 2021 Explorer:

“The airbag burnt a hole in a cotton shirt and then left 2nd and 3 degree burns on my side.”

NHTSA frames the probe around the seat-mounted side airbag, yet two of these complainants blame a curtain bag and another describes a bag that burst. Sorting out the bag behind each injury falls to the investigators.

Why This Is Not a Recall Yet

A preliminary evaluation is the opening stage of a federal defect inquiry. NHTSA’s recall database shows no Explorer recall for airbag burns, and the agency says it works to complete a preliminary evaluation within eight months. Eight complaints set against more than 1.2 million SUVs say nothing about how common these burns are, which is exactly what the case sets out to measure. NHTSA could escalate the inquiry as data arrives. A recall, if one follows, would name the affected population and a remedy.

Every one of the eight complaints involves an airbag that deployed in a real crash, and NHTSA counts zero deaths across the 11 incidents. No Ford statement on PE26008 appeared in coverage through Nov. 10.

Earlier Explorer airbag recalls dealt with other defects. NHTSA’s database lists three earlier Explorer recalls that touched airbag deployment, and none involves burns. In August 2020, recall 20V497 covered some 2020 Explorers and Lincoln Aviators whose side airbag or seat back module fasteners might have been loose, a model year outside the new probe. Recall 21V652, in August 2021, covered some 2021 Explorers and Aviators whose side airbag weld studs could come loose as the bag deployed, a failure of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 214 on side impact protection, and dealers replaced the side airbag assemblies. In September 2026, recall 26V581 took in certain 2026 Explorers whose passenger-side active vent might not open as intended, a part of the frontal airbag rather than the seat bag. No Explorer recall summary on NHTSA’s list for model years 2020 to 2026 mentions burns.

The Explorer carries a long recall record in general. NHTSA’s database shows 26 campaigns for model year 2021 alone, from rear suspension parts to 360-degree cameras, and the other model years have their own. Owners of other Ford models can run the same lookup, including those covered by the Ford F-150 fuel tank recall.

What Explorer Owners Should Do Now

Start with the VIN. Enter it at NHTSA.gov/Recalls. No recall addresses this condition today, but the VIN search shows whether any other recall on your SUV is unrepaired. To see investigations and complaints, search by year, make and model instead; NHTSA says that search returns recalls, investigations and complaints. With a tally of 29.2 million vehicles recalled in 2025, an open campaign on your SUV is worth knowing about.

If a seat-mounted side airbag in your Explorer or Police Interceptor went off and burned you or a passenger, file a complaint at NHTSA.gov or call the Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236. NHTSA says reports from a number of people about the same product can point to a defect that warrants an investigation.

Take photos of the deployed bag, the seat and the damaged clothing, and keep treatment records. Both make a complaint easier to act on.

Then follow the case. The investigation is filed under PE26008, and the year, make and model search carries investigation information. If a recall comes, it will only help once the repair is done, and NHTSA has opened a comment period on recalled vehicles that stay unrepaired.

For now the file holds eight complaints, from an officer who needed surgery and a skin graft to another whose duty belt melted and took the heat instead of him. NHTSA works toward an eight-month finish to say whether those burns point to a defect.

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Sources

• NHTSA: Burn Injuries From Side Airbag Deployment, investigation PE26008
• NHTSA: Ford Explorer recalls, model years 2021 to 2026
• Claims Journal (Reuters): NHTSA Opens Probe into 1.2 Million Ford Vehicles Over Airbag Deployment
• Torque News: 1,236,155 Ford Explorers Are Under a Federal Side Airbag Burn Probe

Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar