2011 Ford Explorer
This year drew an ordinary 1,194 complaints for a Ford Explorer — the model's median is 416. What they were about is the unusual part: 51.6% of them mention power steering, against 9% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Ford Explorer was redesigned for 2011. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,194 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 416 |
| Involving a crash | 30 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| EPA combined | 19.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- power steering — 51.6% of this year's complaints, against 9% across the other years of this generation (5.7×).
- assist — 28.4% of this year's complaints, against 7.7% across the other years of this generation (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: assist, steering assist, fault, assist fault.
- turn — 21.2% of this year's complaints, against 8.2% across the other years of this generation (2.6×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
while driving 50 mph, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The power steering assist fault message was displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage…
WHEN THE CONTACT ATTEMPTED TO MAKE A LEFT TURN, THE STEERING WHEEL SEIZED AND BECAME DIFFICULT TO MANEUVER. THE POWER STEERING ASSIST FAULT WARNING INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT WAS ABLE TO DRIVE THE VEHICLE TO HIS RESIDENCE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V435000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 17E048000 WHEELS
- 15V171000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 14E001000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 14V286000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 11V063000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V746000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 24V031000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Explorer was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2011 Ford Explorer? What happened to yours?
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