Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Ford Explorer

What it says about you

Opinion

The default answer to a family and a driveway, and defaults become defaults for reasons. You will replace it with another one and you already know that.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

22 model years on record, 16,653 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2017 , 2016 , 2015 (camera), 2014 , 2013 (power steering). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • power steering 2011, 2012 peak 51.6% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2026 11 recalls 24 complaints
  2. 2025 19 recalls 95 complaints
  3. 2024 10 recalls 19 complaints
  4. 2023 15 recalls 104 complaints
  5. 2022 24 recalls 256 complaints
  6. 2021 26 recalls 416 complaints
  7. 2020 33 recalls 1,189 complaints
  8. 2019 6 recalls 290 complaints
  9. 2018 7 recalls 719 complaints
  10. 2017 14 recalls 1,683 complaints
  11. 2016 15 recalls 2,460 complaints
  12. 2015 camera 1,774 complaints
  13. 2014 7 recalls 1,673 complaints
  14. 2013 power steering 2,228 complaints
  15. 2012 7 recalls 822 complaints
  16. 2011 8 recalls 1,194 complaints
  17. 2010 2 recalls 115 complaints
  18. 2009 1 recall 33 complaints
  19. 2008 3 recalls 148 complaints
  20. 2007 3 recalls 208 complaints
  21. 2006 4 recalls 635 complaints
  22. 2005 3 recalls 568 complaints

What does a Ford Explorer say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.