2015 Ford Explorer
Complaints about this year name camera far more often than the other years of this generation — 9% of them, about 4× the usual rate of 2.3%.
Generation 2 of the Ford Explorer, which began in 2011 and ran to 2019. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,774 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 416 |
| Involving a crash | 37 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 19.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- carbon — 6.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: carbon, monoxide, carbon monoxide.
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.
Also unusual this year
- exhaust fumes — 7% of complaints, 3× usual
- carbon monoxide — 6% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
STRONG SMELL OF EXHAUST FUMES INSIDE OF VEHICLE UPON ACCELERATION. ELEVATED LEVELS OF CARBON MONOXIDE (TESTED WITH METER) DURING OPERATION OF VEHICLE. I MUST OPEN WINDOWS INSIDE OF VEHICLE FREQUENTLY TO VENT THE EXHAUST FUMES, AND TO TRY TO DECREASE CO LEVELS…
EXHAUST FUMES ARE ENTERING THE PASSENGER CABIN OF THE VEHICLE WHILE DRIVING. THE EXHAUST IS MOST NOTICEABLE DURING ACCELERATION AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS. I HAVE TAKEN THE EXPLORER TO THE DEALER TWICE WHERE IT IS STILL AT SINCE OCT 5TH, TODAY IS NOV 4TH. THE FORD DEAL…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V435000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 17E048000 WHEELS
- 15V464000 PARKING BRAKE Fixed free of charge.
- 16V245000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 20V692000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 21V537000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 20V675000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 24V031000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2015 Ford Explorer? What happened to yours?
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