The Ford Explorer carries 14,902 owner complaints across the fifteen model years in this dataset, the highest total on the site. Read as a whole, that makes the Explorer look like a car to avoid. Read year by year, it is a car with three bad years — 2013, 2016 and 2020 — and a dozen ordinary ones. The distinction is worth several thousand dollars to anyone shopping for one.
The fifth generation, 2011 to 2019
Ford moved the Explorer onto a car-based platform for 2011, sharing its structure with the Taurus and the Flex. The first two years are respectable in the record, scoring 73 and 78. Then the 2013 model year carries 2,230 complaints, and the 2016 year 2,441.
Three problems account for most of that. The first is the power steering: the electric-assist system on 2011 to 2013 cars could lose assist without warning, which Ford recalled in 2014 and again in later campaigns for the steering-gear bolts. The second is the powertrain. The 2.0-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder offered from 2012, and the 2.3-litre that replaced it in 2016, both attract complaints about loss of power and coolant loss, and the six-speed automatic attracts complaints about harsh shifts and a torque-converter shudder. The third is the exhaust. From 2011 onward owners — and, publicly, police departments running the Police Interceptor Utility — reported exhaust fumes entering the cabin. The federal regulator opened an investigation in 2016 that grew to cover more than a million vehicles. Ford issued a customer-satisfaction programme to reseal the rear of the body and reprogram the climate control, rather than a recall, so the problem appears in the complaint record rather than the recall record, and it appears heavily in 2016 and 2017.
The 2018 and 2019 model years, the end of that generation, are a different story: 718 and 291 complaints, scores of 71 and 82. The problems had been engineered out over seven years and the car had one more year of production to run. These two years are the best used Explorers of the modern era.
Ford Explorer: the record, year by year
| Year | Score | Verdict | NHTSA complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 67 | CAUTION | 95 | 12 |
| 2024 | 79 | BUY | 19 | 10 |
| 2023 | 76 | BUY | 106 | 12 |
| 2022 | 72 | BUY | 258 | 12 |
| 2021 | 70 | BUY | 413 | 12 |
| 2020 | 28 | AVOID | 1,198 | 12 |
| 2019 | 82 | BUY | 292 | 6 |
| 2018 | 71 | BUY | 724 | 7 |
| 2017 | 39 | AVOID | 1,689 | 12 |
| 2016 | 32 | AVOID | 2,443 | 12 |
| 2015 | 50 | CAUTION | 1,774 | 9 |
| 2014 | 60 | CAUTION | 1,674 | 7 |
| 2013 | 38 | AVOID | 2,231 | 12 |
| 2012 | 78 | BUY | 824 | 7 |
| 2011 | 73 | BUY | 1,195 | 8 |
Live from the federal record as of 2026-10-04; linked years have their own page. Full table and repair costs on the Ford Explorer model page.
The sixth generation, 2020 onward
Ford rebuilt the Explorer for 2020 on a rear-wheel-drive platform with a ten-speed automatic, and the first year is a textbook launch-year failure: 1,190 complaints, mostly the transmission (harsh engagement, loss of drive), the electrical system, and build quality serious enough that Ford shipped early production to a second plant for rework. The 2020 Explorer scores 28.
The 2021 car halves the count and scores 70; the 2022 and 2023 cars are in the 70s. The Explorer Hybrid, offered from 2020, has a smaller record and no distinct pattern. The 2025 facelift year shows the usual small bump in electrical complaints.
The pattern to learn from
The Explorer shows the rule that applies across this dataset more clearly than any other car: the first year of a new generation is the one to avoid, and the last year of an old generation is the one to buy. Every launch year in the Explorer's record — 2011 to a lesser degree, 2020 emphatically — carries the highest complaint count of its generation; every run-out year carries the lowest. The same shape appears on the Escape, the Cherokee, the Pilot, the Odyssey, the Sonata and the RAV4.
What to check
On any 2011 to 2017 Explorer: turn the wheel lock to lock at a standstill and listen for the steering; run the heater with the car idling and note any exhaust smell; and check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls for the steering campaigns. On a 2020: ask for evidence that the transmission software updates have been done, and test it from cold.
Summary
Buy: 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. Acceptable: 2011, 2012, 2014, 2021. Avoid: 2013, 2016 and 2020.