all vehicles · every Explorer year · method

Ford Explorer 2015

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

1.93 per 1,000

2.1 times this nameplate’s own median · from 443 complaints filed in the first three years, of 1813 ever. 95% lower bound 1.75.

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.

Structure 410 complaints

trim	203	49%
pillar	186	45%
pillar trim	127	31%
exterior pillar	61	15%
back prevention	42	10%
prevention	42	10%

Unknown Or Other 405 complaints

exhaust	164	41%
fumes	78	19%
monoxide	69	17%
carbon	69	17%
carbon monoxide	68	17%
exhaust fumes	54	13%

Steering 348 complaints

fault	67	19%
rack pinion	64	18%
pinion	64	18%
assist fault	40	12%
advance	33	10%
popping	32	9%

When it breaks

25% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 57,600 miles, from 1164 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

5 investigations covering this model year, 1 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 13 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:

10650450 · 10661856 · 10664314 · 10671421 · 10678149 · 10679373

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.