Model-year matrix
Compare every Ford Explorer Sport Trac model year the EPA recorded, 2001 to 2010. 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
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.
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.
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.
167 indexed complaint reports; power train is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2001 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect2002144 indexed complaint reports; power train is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2002 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect2007100 indexed complaint reports; power train is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2007 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
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.
2010 has 24 more indexed complaint allegations than 2009.
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 30 | power train 7engine and engine cooling 4air bags 3 | — | — | — | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 6 | power train 2air bags 1electrical system 1 | — | — | — | Dossier → |
| 2008 | 23 | power train 8engine 7electrical system 4 | — | — | — | Dossier → |
| 2007 | 100 | power train 23electrical system 14engine 11 | — | — | — | Dossier → |
| 2005 | 66 | structure 12electrical system 11fuel/propulsion system 10 | — | — | — | Dossier → |
| 2004 | 86 | suspension 15air bags 13power train 13 | — | — | — | Dossier → |
| 2003 | 78 | electrical system 11structure 10engine and engine cooling 9 | — | — | — | Dossier → |
| 2002 | 144 | power train 34engine and engine cooling 23electrical system 22 | — | — | — | Dossier → |
| 2001 | 167 | power train 37structure 30vehicle speed control 26 | — | — | — | 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.