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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2023 Ford Explorer — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 111 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

111
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
7
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
2
Involved Fire
owner-reported
9
Injuries
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Ford Explorer — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

2,460 complaints

1,710 complaints

732 complaints

299 complaints

1,233 complaints

445 complaints

269 complaints

111 complaints

21 complaints

104 complaints

0 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Unknown Or Other 25 reports
Electrical System 14 reports
Suspension 14 reports
Power Train 12 reports
Steering 12 reports
Structure 10 reports
Engine 10 reports
Lane Departure 7 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Power Train ODI 11561829 12/26/2023

On 11/27/2023, my family and I were in this vehicle as I was driving on a side street. Suddenly the engine shut down while I was driving. I was fortunate enough to pull the car into a parking lot to be towed to a nearby Ford dealer. After a week of research the problem, they could not find anything wrong and returned the car to me. A week later, as I was driving to a major …

Unknown Or Other ODI 11560014 12/13/2023

Loose carpet under front seat. Could cause carpet on driver side to buckle up causing gas peddle issues. Had ford dealer look at it but refused to remedy issue. This could cause issues like Lexus had years ago with gas peddle sticking.

Air Bags ODI 11630282 12/12/2024

On 11-21-24, I was traveling down the interstate going at 60mph when a car began to urgently brake, I proceeded to hit the brakes as well and my car would not stop, at the time of the impact no air bag deployed, driver seat belt did not lock, my driver seat moved, no pre-collision assist came up for this accident. No prior issues or lights on dash.

Air Bags ODI 11559767 12/12/2023

As the passenger, following a passenger side impact, (T bone) I sustained 1st and 2nd degree burns extending from my ribs to my hip. To my knowledge the only airbags that inflated were the curtain air bags. Immediately upon impact I had a burning sensation on my right side that slowly began to spread. Once out of the car it was discovered that something had burned through 3 la…

Forward Collision Avoidance ODI 11629771 12/09/2024

While driving on a two lane, rural road at dusk, with adaptive cruise control turned on, the car suddenly applied the brakes (hard) and a red warning briefly appeared on the dashboard. (It was on too brief to read.) The brakes were released quite quickly, but the vehicle had slowed approximately 20 MPH. There was no other traffic on the road at the time. No animals were cross…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2023 Ford Explorer, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

Check Another Car

Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2023 Ford Explorer reliable?
Owners have filed 111 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2023 Ford Explorer, most often about unknown or other. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Ford Explorer years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.