Federal complaint record · Ford Explorer · model year 2013

2013 Ford Explorer

Owners submitted 2,224 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 96th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2011 to 2015 midsize suv cohort. The largest reported component group is steering. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Steering · 30% · group n = 837Structure · 16% · group n = 437Other · 13% · group n = 351Engine · 11% · group n = 292Electrical · 6% · group n = 160
2,224
Complaint records on file
76,200
Median mileage at the reported problem · 1,529 complaints reported mileage
30%
Of classified component reports name steering · group n = 837
96th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 40 model years

Steering · 3 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Steering30%

Steering reports

Ford Explorer · model year 2013

Reports in this group837
Share of classified reports30%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

Adjacent model years · same badge, different data

The complaint signal has a shape

Compare model years
2012
0.4complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
821 matched incidents
This car
2013
1.0complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
2,224 matched incidents
2014
0.7complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years
1,672 matched incidents

The line compares submitted complaints per 1,000 estimated vehicle-years, not failures per 1,000 cars. Vehicle-years use compiled US sales, a 0.25 prior-calendar-year plus 0.75 current-calendar-year model-year allocation, and the shipped survival curve. Rates appear only where estimated vehicles in operation are at least 5,000.

From the record · recurring narrative clusters

What recurring complaint clusters describe

How clusters are built
Steering effort · 655 reports

Reports describe steering effort or control concerns

Cluster 1 of 32013 Ford Explorer
Loss of propulsion · 124 reports

Reports describe reduced power or hesitation while driving

Cluster 2 of 32013 Ford Explorer
Brake performance · 81 reports

Reports describe braking performance concerns

Cluster 3 of 32013 Ford Explorer

Cluster summaries paraphrase recurring symptoms reported to NHTSA. They are aggregate descriptions, not individual verbatim reports.

Records through 2026-07-19Published 2026-08-02 · Updated 2026-07-19

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NHTSA consumer complaint records can reveal recurring patterns across published model years. MotorCensus summarizes those records as one complaint-signal index, with a 95% interval and sample size, updated with each data snapshot.

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