2008 Ford Explorer
This year drew an ordinary 148 complaints for a Ford Explorer — the model's median is 568. What they were about is the unusual part: 14.2% of them mention dome, against 3.5% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Ford Explorer, which began in 2006 and ran to 2010. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 148 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 568 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 15.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- dome — 14.2% of this year's complaints, against 3.5% across the other years of this generation (4.1×). Owners wrote it as: dome, dome lights, seat moved, interior dome.
- moving — 12.8% of this year's complaints, against 3.5% across the other years of this generation (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: moving, off car, cut, wait.
- backward — 9.5% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the other years of this generation (4.6×). Owners wrote it as: backward, side seat, placed.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
INTERIOR DOME LIGHTS TURN ON WHILE DRIVING. THIS HAS HAPPENED INTERMITTENTLY FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND HAS HAPPENED AT VARIOUS SPEEDS AND EVEN WHEN THE VEHICLE IS NOT MOVING. THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE WHEN IT HAPPENS WHILE DRIVING AT NIGHT AS IT MAKES IT MUCH HARDER T…
IF I HIT A BUMP WHILE DRIVING OR THE KEYS JIGGLE IN THE IGNITION THE DRIVER'S SIDE SEAT WILL MOVE FORWARD OR BACKWARD AND THE DOME LIGHTS COME ON. I HAD THIS PROBLEM THREE MONTHS AFTER I PURCHASED MY 2008 FORD EXPLORER EDDIE BAUER EDITION IN 2010 AND WAS ABLE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 07E104000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
- 10E043000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 07V453000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Explorer was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Ford Explorer? What happened to yours?
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