10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
6 / 0
Average Mileage:
43,732 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

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problem #6

Nov 252004

Explorer 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 116,119 miles
When the consumer applied the brake, they locked up and the vehicle slid and rear ended another vehicle and then rolled over.

- North Long Beach, CA, USA

problem #5

Feb 182004

Explorer 8-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 97,400 miles
My 1996 Explorer is a 5.0 litre AWD eddie baur purchsed used. After driving using the cruise control without incident, I pulled into a parking lot. Coasting slowly into a parking slot applying the brakes, the engine appeared to increase power making it difficult to stop. The more I pressed the brake pedal the more the engine power increased preventing the vehicle from stopping until colliding with a vehicle in front. With the brake still applied, the engine raced when put in nuetral until switching the ignition off. The brake and accelerator operated normally after restarting. Damage resulted to the Explorer bumper. I did not observe the gas pedal position during the incident but assumed it could have been driven by the cruise control cable under uncommanded operation and severed the cruise cable before proceding. A similar problem had occured during a prior stop the same trip but abruptly returned to normal operation possibly after having pumped the brakes to check them. The same type problem with engine power surge during braking to a stop occured on prior days when the cruise control had not been used and may have corrected after pumping the brake. Reviewing nhsta complaint ODI id 736277 and subsequent experiment on my vehicle, it appears the problem could potentially result from inadvertant pressing the gas pedal during braking due to proximity of the pedals but I can't rule out uncommanded cruise control operation activated by a brake signal. Please advise if investigation and discovery have resulted in any probable causes and recommendations for corrective maintenance for this safety hazard. Does not display symptoms corrected by recalls for throttle body sticking and jammed cruise control cable.

- Tarpon Springs, FL, USA

problem #4

Sep 242003

Explorer

  • miles
While vehicle idled engine started to race. Then, vehicle was trying to move with brakes applied.

- Metairie, LA, USA

problem #3

Oct 282002

Explorer 4WD 6-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 48,870 miles
When the vehicle was driven at low speeds, while braking, the ABS sensor kicked in, causing a loss of brakes. Mr scc

- Matawan, NJ, USA

problem #2

Apr 031998

Explorer 4WD

  • miles
Vehicle travels too far after the brakes have been applied and vibrates during braking.

- Carlisle, MA, USA

problem #1

Jan 231998

Explorer

  • miles
While traveling less than 25 mph, the brakes failed to respond allowing collision with another vehicle. The air bag did not deploy either.

- San Juan, PR, USA