all vehicles · every Explorer year · method

Ford Explorer 2011

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

1.92 per 1,000

2.1 times this nameplate’s own median · from 259 complaints filed in the first three years, of 1196 ever. 95% lower bound 1.68.

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 742 complaints

steering	727	97%
power	629	84%
power steering	608	81%
steering assist	227	30%
fault	179	24%
assist fault	114	15%

Unknown Or Other 112 complaints

exhaust	28	25%
smell	28	25%
monoxide	13	12%
carbon monoxide	12	11%
carbon	12	11%
fumes	12	11%

Structure 110 complaints

however part	47	42%
repair made	42	38%
parts distribution	28	25%
distribution disconnect	28	25%
distribution	28	25%
disconnect	28	25%

When it breaks

23% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 70,000 miles, from 878 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

4 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.

Exhaust Odor in Passenger Cab

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:

10381116 · 10384018 · 10384824 · 10386801 · 10408859 · 10410614

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.