from the horse's mouth:

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars...2/reliability/

Quote:

We expect the 2023 Explorer will be much less reliable than the average new car. This prediction is based on data from 2020, 2021 and 2022 models.

the latest gen was released in 2020 and clearly they had issues out of the gate. so basing their prediction in part on the year it came out is flawed, because car makers can and do make continuous improvements.

 

The first generation was the best in its history, since my mom has owned one for the last 25 years. Lol

 

Mine was a 95, so the refresh. Big issue was transmissions, those transmissions were really weak. Mine had to be rebuilt at about 60,000 miles.

Mine looked just like this one:

 

Those wheels are pretty neat.


My mom's is a 96 red XLT. It has 165,000 miles and everything seems to work just fine except the rear windows don't roll down and the battery gauge no longer works correctly. Transmission seems to shift just fine and I honestly can't tell you if she's ever had the fluid changed out. Probably too late because I hear if you do that too late in a car's life span, it can start slipping.

She barely drives anymore though, like maybe 1,000 miles a year. The thing is a major gas hog and of course it's going to get even less than it did back in the day when it was new due to all the wear and tear.

 

Typically, it refers to the bottom 20%.

 

No, not really. lol

I bought my old Explorer around 30-40l miles and drive it to approx 80k(if I remember) miles before I traded it.
Didn't spend a penny or do anything to it but tires and oil changes.

I think it was running the V-6.
I'd like a new one.

 

True, but CR did not just take one year of data...usually, predictions for 2023 models would include data up through 2022, assuming enough samples of that year had been sold to have an adequate database.

 

Maybe, maybe not. The problem won't be sold if they get another lemon. I learned that lesson many years ago, in the late 70s and early 80s, with domestically-designed Chrysler products....I got two lemons and a third partial-lemon.

 

With the monochrome paint and running-boards, looks like a top-line Limited trim-version. The Limiteds and Eddie Bauers were considered the top of the rung.

Did you get stuck with those defective Firestone Wilderness tires? Ford made the tire-failure problem even worse by dropping the tire-PSIs from 30 to 26 PSI. Owners were complaining about a stiff, trucky ride, so Ford took the cheap, easy way out and just made the tires softer, not paying enough attention to what would happen of they were overloaded in high-temperature and high-speed conditions.

 

Just released today....June 11. Class-Action lawsuit on 2020+ Explorers......rear subframe/axle-bolt failure.

https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2...-lawsuit.shtml

 

and i quoted that very thing (from them), they used 2020, 2021, and 2022 surveys to 'predict' 2023. of course if any of those years was horrendous it will hugely skew any prediction. i don't have access to CR but can you see if 2022 ACTUALS for example is better than 2020?

 

Unfortunately, FMC is known for not making continuous improvements on their vehicles until a new version is released, unlike other manufacturers. Others make improvements even during current model runs, Ford tends to 'wait'. Why, is anyone's guess.

 

Ford has a history of doing that. The most famous case, of course, is probably the Pinto of the early '70s......management approved the release of the 1971 Pinto with a known hazard (warned of by the engineers) of having the fuel tank outboard of the rearmost frame rail...with virtually no protection at all in a rear-impact. Ford management figured that the cost of any lawsuit-settlements would be less than the cost of revising the design.There was also the issue of keeping the car's weight down to 2000 lbs. empty....a revised frame or gas tank location would have exceeded that. The rest, of course, is history.

 

They were a nightmare to clean though!

We had that Explorer in the family until a few years ago, it had 225,000 miles on it. All in all it was a good truck.

Yep, it was a Limited. Mine never had Firestone tires (the problematic tires were the Firestone Radial ATX not the Wilderness AT), it came with Goodyear Wranglers.

 

According to the NHTSA, it was the Wilderness ATs that were giving most of the trouble.

(This is a pdf file, so it will download into your hard-drive)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...mukeI5KGuCpfi4