Daughter informed me that when she tried to use the 4 wheel drivin her new 2014 Explorer Sport, it began making noise and shaking like the vehicle wanted to stall. As soon as she took the explorer out of 4 wheel, the truck returned to stability. Still under warranty, but anybody have any thoughts on this. Said she shifted on the fly but was only traveling about 20 miles per. Additionally stated when she got out of vehicle there was a smell of burnt rubber.

 

Her first AWD vehicle ?
Sounds like she was doing this on dry pavement and turning

The new Explorers are not what we all are used to as the definition of 4 wheel drive...

In my small mind, they are more like a front wheel drive with 'helper' rear wheels
even in the worst scenario the bias is still on the front wheels...
thus the low speed, high throttle torque steer that makes it so fast and fun !

by all means - bring it by the dealer....

 

Advance trac.
Terrain control.
Intelligent 4wd.

I'm sorry but Ford should be shot for putting all this crap in a vehicle, most drivers aren't knowlegable enough to know what mode the system should be in for a given road condition. Subaru has the right idea.. All wheel drive all the time with no user options.. the driver can't change how it works in any way and guess what.. it just works.

 

It is said that you can engage 4wd at low speeds, but the issue is that the transfer case doesn't always work correctly. The front axle disconnect needs to engage as well as the transfer case motor engage, they don't do this at the same time. If she was spinning a tire or turning slightly or anything, it would have caused some racket. Smell of burnt rubber is weird though.
No worries. It's under warranty. Get her to duplicate it at the dealer or at a minimum, try to engage 4wd from a stop or 10mph while not spinning or turning.

 

I recommend that your daughter drop by her dealership, Vegas Ernie, just so they can check things out. Keep us posted on what she hears; if she needs any assistance, you can send her info (full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, mileage, and servicing dealership) to me in a PM.

Crystal