What is the best year for the Ford Explorer?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Ford Explorer
which year?
Compare every Ford Explorer model year the EPA recorded, 1991 to 2026. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Ford Explorer year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Ford Explorer years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2002
3,294 indexed complaint reports; power train is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2002 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect20162,441 indexed complaint reports; structure is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2016 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect20132,229 indexed complaint reports; steering is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2013 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Ford Explorer model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2025 Ford Explorer
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 94
- Combined EPA economy
- 20–24 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 6
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,550–3,100
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelselectrical system 20unknown or other 17power train 15
Open the 2025 evidence dossier →2026 Ford Explorer
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 25
- Combined EPA economy
- 19–24 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 6
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,550–3,250
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsunknown or other 7electrical system 6engine 5
Open the 2026 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2026 has 69 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2025.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Ford Explorer by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 25 | unknown or other 7electrical system 6engine 5 | 19–24 | 6 | $2,550–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2025 | 94 | electrical system 20unknown or other 17power train 15 | 20–24 | 6 | $2,550–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2024 | 19 | suspension 4forward collision avoidance 3unknown or other 3 | 20–24 | 8 | $2,550–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2023 | 104 | unknown or other 22electrical system 13suspension 13 | 20–27 | 17 | $2,300–3,100 | Dossier → |
| 2022 | 256 | power train 60unknown or other 53electrical system 38 | 19–27 | 15 | $2,300–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2021 | 411 | power train 114unknown or other 80engine 46 | 19–27 | 10 | $2,300–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2020 | 1,192 | power train 474unknown or other 202electrical system 185 | 19–28 | 6 | $2,200–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2019 | 290 | structure 148unknown or other 44power train 36 | 18–22 | 7 | $2,800–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2018 | 718 | structure 287unknown or other 162engine 94 | 18–22 | 7 | $2,800–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2017 | 1,677 | structure 649unknown or other 367engine 236 | 18–22 | 7 | $2,800–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 2,441 | structure 585steering 535unknown or other 425 | 18–22 | 7 | $2,800–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 1,770 | structure 405unknown or other 398steering 347 | 18–23 | 6 | $2,650–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 1,673 | steering 496unknown or other 334structure 276 | 18–23 | 6 | $2,650–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 2,229 | steering 839structure 438unknown or other 342 | 18–23 | 6 | $2,650–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2012 | 822 | steering 358structure 143unknown or other 103 | 19–23 | 3 | $2,650–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2011 | 1,195 | steering 746unknown or other 112structure 111 | 19–20 | 4 | $3,100–3,250 | Dossier → |
| 2010 | 115 | power train 29seats 20engine 14 | 15–17 | 8 | $3,600–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 33 | unknown or other 5vehicle speed control 5engine 4 | 15–17 | 8 | $3,600–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2008 | 148 | electrical system 39power train 36seats 27 | 15–16 | 8 | $3,850–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2007 | 208 | power train 58engine 28electrical system 25 | 15–16 | 8 | $3,850–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2006 | 630 | power train 301engine and engine cooling 169engine 58 | 15–16 | 4 | $3,850–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2005 | 497 | structure 154power train 100vehicle speed control 44 | 14–16 | 8 | $3,850–4,400 | Dossier → |
| 2004 | 1,304 | power train 473structure 439visibility 102 | 15–16 | 8 | $3,850–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2003 | 1,131 | structure 366power train 357engine and engine cooling 69 | 15–17 | 12 | $3,600–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2002 | 3,294 | power train 1,584structure 490suspension 460 | 14–39 | 17 | $1,950–4,400 | Dossier → |
| 2001 | 375 | tires 67suspension 45power train 44 | 15–39 | 19 | $1,950–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2000 | 952 | tires 237power train 143vehicle speed control 117 | 15–18 | 9 | $3,400–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 1999 | 1,348 | tires 397visibility 224vehicle speed control 153 | 14–18 | 8 | $3,400–4,400 | Dossier → |
| 1998 | 1,959 | tires 750vehicle speed control 287engine and engine cooling 206 | 14–17 | 8 | $3,600–4,400 | Dossier → |
| 1997 | 1,731 | tires 764engine and engine cooling 223vehicle speed control 213 | 14–18 | 8 | $3,400–4,400 | Dossier → |
| 1996 | 1,450 | tires 650vehicle speed control 155service brakes, hydraulic 135 | 14–18 | 6 | $3,400–4,400 | Dossier → |
| 1995 | 843 | tires 223power train 130suspension 99 | 15–18 | 4 | $3,400–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 1994 | 1,207 | tires 385service brakes, hydraulic 278structure 161 | 15–18 | 4 | $3,400–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 1993 | 939 | tires 272service brakes, hydraulic 250structure 93 | 16–18 | 4 | $3,400–3,850 | Dossier → |
| 1992 | 633 | tires 142service brakes, hydraulic 138power train 91 | 15–17 | 4 | $3,600–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 1991 | 609 | service brakes, hydraulic 144tires 113power train 75 | 16–18 | 4 | $3,400–3,850 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.