CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2002-2005 Explorer has a very well-established record of expensive transmission failure at under 100k miles. The Explorer has an enclosed transmission which is typically replaced with a rebuilt transmission at a cost of almost $3,000.
Adding insult to injury, the 2002-2005 Explorer also has a massive problem with the rear panel cracking. While it's a minor annoyance compared to transmission failure, ironically the crack usually goes right through the Ford logo.
3.0
hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
46,750 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Continuous and repetitive malfunction of gas gauge. It occurs very often and is a well known problem in Ford Explorer. Additive has been added to no avail, I think Ford just wants owners to have to pay for this and purposely continues to design vehicles like this. It is a major safety concern...what if I run out of gas in the freezing cold with two babies?
I recently purchased a near new 2005 Ford Explorer. The vehicle is in pristine condition and has very low mileage to the point where it is below the industrial average. Since I purchased the vehicle, I have fueled it several times, always filling the tank to the top. Every time I have filled the vehicle up, the fuel gauge has dropped to empty and the mileage till empty indicator shows just dashes. In addition to the gauge dropping to empty my "service engine light" comes on immediately following the fuel gauge dropping. At first I thought it was possibly just a problem with my vehicle so I figured I'd have it fixed. Then out of curiosity I decided to check online and with other fellow owners of the 2002-2005 Ford Explorer model to see if they were having this problem as well. And to my surprise I found that it was a very common problem. This issue disturbs me mainly because it is a safety issue. God forbid my wife is traveling down the road with my 14-month-old son and runs out of fuel due to a faulty fuel gauge on a deserted dark highway. Since this was such a common problem I thought I would be able to come online and find out that there was a recall. But I did not find that. All I found was a bunch of people complaining about the same exact thing. Now my question is, why hasnt there been a recall yet with an updated part for replacement? if someone could contact me and assist me with this matter I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you
- Little Egg Harbor, NJ, USA
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