Seven Hidden Features and Clever Hacks for Ford Explorer Owners

The Explorer is a three-row SUV that’s full of clever features and endless little touches that can improve your driving experience. But you can only make the most of them if you know that they exist and understand how they work. As your go-to place to find a Ford Explorer for sale near Milford, we here at Kings Ford want to make sure that if you choose to bring this model home, you’re able to get the most out of it. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of seven ways that you can improve your time behind the wheel of the 2025 Explorer.

#1 – Customize Your Infotainment Experience

Every trim of the 2025 Explorer comes standard with a high-resolution 13.2-inch central touchscreen and a 12.3-inch LCD cluster display behind the wheel. Together, these screens can show you a variety of useful information and let you change settings and input commands. If you use the system as it is out of the box, you might be perfectly happy with the factory settings. But if you want to make it your own, you can do a lot to customize the infotainment.

For one thing, you might not like the order of the apps, depending on which ones you use most often. If you want to move them around, all you have to do is press and hold a tile and drag it to where you want it. Thanks to Google Built-In, you can also add new apps through Google Play—just make sure the SUV is in park, connected to the internet, and signed in to your Google account, and you can do it right through the touchscreen. There’s a convenient settings app to change other settings, from units of measurement to the system language. If you see an icon of the letter “i” in a circle, you can click it to learn more about a particular menu option.

Customizing the instrument cluster display is also easy. Just press the menu button on the steering wheel to get to the main menu, select MyView, and configure it to your liking. Check this display to see your tachometer, speedometer, fuel gauge, odometer, drive mode, outside air temperature, compass, and more at a glance while you’re driving around Milford. The cluster also has warning lamps that alert you to various situations that might require attention. If you’re not sure what all of the symbols mean, you can always check your owner’s manual for a full list of explanations.

#2 – Stay Safe With Voice Commands

The touchscreen is easy to use when you’re parked or sitting in the front passenger seat, but it can be distracting to operate when you’re driving. That’s why the Explorer lets you use voice interactions to change up your audio entertainment, control vehicle settings like climate control, interact with the traffic and navigation system, make phone calls, get weather and news updates, and even command smart home devices. You can set your default assistant to either Google Assistant or Alexa Built-in through the settings menu, then press a button conveniently located right on the steering wheel whenever you want to give a voice command.

#3 – Set Up a Personal Profile

Changing the settings to match your preferences is simple enough when you’re the only one who drives your SUV, but what if you share it with a partner, family member, or roommate? Ford has the answer: create a personal profile for each of you. These profiles save your app settings, can be linked to a personal device so that Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto always connect to the right phone, and can be paired with the seat and mirror position memory function if your Explorer is equipped with that feature. You can also have a guest profile and enter Valet Mode when turning your car over to be parked so that one-off drivers don’t mess with anyone’s settings.

#4 – Use Drive Modes to Match Every Situation

Every time you start up your Explorer, it will begin in Normal mode. This mode balances the vehicle settings to give you the right power, performance, and efficiency for everyday driving, like running errands around Milford, commuting, or heading out on I-275 for a day trip. But there are times when you might want the vehicle to prioritize different things, depending on road conditions, where you’re driving, and your own personal preferences. To change things up, you can use a simple rotary controller on the center console to select a new drive mode. Eco prioritizes fuel efficiency for maximum range, Slippery helps you maintain control on wet or icy roads, Tow/Haul helps improve driving dynamics when you have a heavy trailer attached, Sport prioritizes responsiveness for a more engaging experience, and if you have Off-Road and Trail modes in your model, you can use them to improve your adventures off the pavement.

#5 – Load Cargo Easily With the Power Liftgate

The power liftgate can be opened in a variety of different ways, each of which is useful for a particular situation. If you’re using curbside pickup at a local Milford business, you can open and close the liftgate from inside the vehicle to provide access without getting up. To do this, either use the touchscreen or hit the button on the instrument panel. From outside the Explorer, you can press the button on the liftgate or use the key fob, depending on what’s more convenient at the time. You can also program how far the liftgate opens so it never gets out of reach or hits a low garage roof.

#6 – Program the Garage Door Opener

Most trims of the Explorer come standard with a three-button universal garage door opener, which you can use to open garage doors, security gates, and other devices that use a handheld transmitter, so you don’t have to clutter up your visor with remotes or worry about changing pesky coin cell batteries. Programming the system is as easy as pressing a few buttons in the right order—you can easily do it yourself by following the instructions in the owner’s manual. If you move or sell your SUV later, it’s also easy to clear the settings to avoid security risks.

#7 – Make the Most of Adaptive Cruise Control

Adaptive cruise control comes standard on all trims of the 2025 Explorer, and if you know how to use it, you can have a much more comfortable time driving on the highways in and around Milford. If you’ve used a traditional cruise control system before, you’ll be familiar with the basics: set your desired speed and adjust it using the SET+ and SET- buttons. You can cancel the set speed either by pressing the cancel button or hitting the brakes. But unlike a traditional system, adaptive cruise control won’t maintain the set speed no matter what—it will slow the Explorer down or even bring it to a complete stop in response to the traffic ahead, always maintaining a gap between you and the vehicle in front of you.

You can change the size of that gap depending on what makes you the most comfortable. The system is a simple 1-4 scale, where 1 is the closest, and 4 is the farthest away. The gap isn’t a single set distance—it changes depending on how fast you’re going, so you and the automated system have a good amount of time to react to sudden changes. To help you stay in the lines, you can also turn on lane centering for a more secure experience, but you can turn this off in the settings if you prefer to steer yourself.