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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2024 Ford Explorer — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 21 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

21
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
2
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
1
Involved Fire
owner-reported
4
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.

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 4 reports
Forward Collision Avoidance 3 reports
Visibility/wiper 3 reports
Suspension 3 reports
Air Bags 2 reports
Electrical System 2 reports
Seats 2 reports
Steering 2 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Steering ODI 11633176 12/30/2024

The contact owns a 2024 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 30-40 MPH in cold weather, the vehicle started making an abnormal clunking and rattling sound near the wheels. The contact was unable to determine the source of the noise. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V09…

Unknown Or Other ODI 11629159 12/06/2024

Inner fender liners are getting rubbed through by the tires creating large holes and exposing wiring harnesses and other components to the tire/wheel well area. We have seen this on about 5-6 of these same vehicles now.

Seats ODI 11700304 11/19/2025

The headrest on the third row is locked in the upright position and won't fold down. I've looked online and it seems to happen in every ford explorer in the current generation, 2020+. I see hundreds of complaints online. Across the forums and reddit.

Visibility/wiper ODI 11623413 11/04/2024

There is a distortion in the front windshield affecting my ability to see the front right corner of my vehicle. I was leaving a restaurant in the dark and the distortion affected the headlights to the point it didn’t appear there were any on the right side of the vehicle. In daylight, that area of the windshield is so distorted I’ve missed vehicles coming from the right and de…

Visibility/wiper ODI 11696723 10/31/2025

Visual blurry defect in windshield glass in driver side

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2024 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 2024 Ford Explorer reliable?
Owners have filed 21 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2024 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.