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5 safety recalls. 377 owner complaints. We mapped every trouble spot before you sign the papers.
Average for the segment. Some recurring trouble spots worth knowing about.
When given gas to move from a complete stop, vehicle lost all power. After vehicle lost all power to rear wheels, warning lights flashed on cluster. Manually moved vehicle to side of road and checked under SUV to see rear axle was at a unusual angle and later discovered rear…
11/9/23 our still under warranty, 2021 Ford Explorer Platinum with 20,152 miles on it died at stop sign and would not start. Locked in park and had to be towed to dealer who worked on it for one week and claimed it was fixed. Same problem second time a few days later and dealer…
The fabric from the moonroof has come loose on the sides and blocks rear visibility if open. This is apparently an issue with many vehicles.
Recently brought my 2021 Ford Explorer with 100,000 miles in for what I thought was a wheel bearing issue. The mechanic reports the entire rear end is gone and needs to be replaced. I’ve owned at least 4 Explorers all driven well over 170,000 without ever having this issue. This…
Drag to your current mileage. Numbers are derived from this vehicle's complaint history.
Improper deployment of a side air bag increases the risk of injury during a crash.
A rearview camera that does not display an image reduces the driver's rear view, increasing the risk of a crash.
With a loose motor mount, motor vibration may cause the axle to disconnect from the engine and could result in loss of power, increasing the risk of a crash.
It's got known weak points. With a reliability score of 6.2 out of 10 based on 377 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the 2021 Ford Explorer has a higher-than-average rate of reported issues. The areas to watch are listed above. Whether it's worth owning depends on price, condition, and how much repair exposure you can absorb.
Based on NHTSA records, the most-reported issue is powertrain, with 97 complaints filed. Average repair cost runs about $2,500 at an independent shop.
The powertrain is one of the costlier repair items. Average repair cost runs about $2,500 at an independent shop. Catching early warning signs can sometimes extend life by 20–30,000 miles.
Paste your VIN into the decoder at the top of this page. We pull live from NHTSA, so you'll see exactly which campaigns apply to your vehicle and whether the dealer has logged the fix. Recall repairs are always free regardless of mileage or warranty status.
Math is straightforward: a quality service contract runs $1,800–3,500 over 3 years. With 377 complaints on file and the costliest repair averaging $2,500, one major failure more than pays for it. The catch is reading the contract — many providers exclude wear items and require pre-authorization, so cheaper plans aren't always better value.