all vehicles · every Explorer year · method

Ford Explorer 2013

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

1.30 per 1,000

1.4 times this nameplate’s own median · from 231 complaints filed in the first three years, of 2236 ever. 95% lower bound 1.13.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2008	0.26	20
2009	0.11	7
2010	0.81	46
2011	1.92	259
2012	0.92	138
2013	1.30	231
2014	1.14	229
2015	1.93	443
2016	2.70	672
2017	1.56	405
2018	0.45	119
2019	0.18	41
2020	1.64	339
2021	0.70	156
2022	0.60	129
2023	0.39	77

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Steering 836 complaints

assist	292	35%
steering assist	237	28%
included	191	23%
fault	147	18%
assist fault	99	12%
explorers	66	8%

Structure 439 complaints

structure however	169	38%
however part	161	37%
part recall	157	36%
repair yet	128	29%
pillar trim	96	22%
mileage tool	77	18%

Unknown Or Other 345 complaints

smell	115	33%
exhaust	104	30%
cabin	82	24%
fumes	56	16%
exhaust fumes	35	10%
carbon	34	10%

When it breaks

14% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 77,000 miles, from 1537 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

6 investigations covering this model year, 2 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 22 complaints about this component over roughly 2 months before an investigation opened.

Front Brake Hose Failure

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10471021 · 10472937 · 10473133 · 10474921 · 10476813 · 10482910

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is verified against a published figure.