Ford Explorer / 1996
1996 Ford Explorer problems
Owners have filed 1,818 complaints about the 1996 Ford Explorer with NHTSA. Tires account for 35.8% of them — far more than any other system, ahead of vehicle speed control at 8.5%.
Complaints1,818
Crashes248
Fires46
Injuries463
Deaths89
What owners report breaking
Tires 35.8% · 650
Vehicle speed control 8.5% · 155
Service brakes, hydraulic 7.4% · 135
Power train 7.4% · 134
Suspension 6.2% · 112
Engine and engine cooling 5.2% · 94
Seat belts 4.5% · 81
Structure 3.9% · 70
Severity
Of those complaints, 248 describe a crash, 46 describe a fire, 463 report an injury and 89 report a death.
Reading the numbers
Across the 33 model years of the Ford Explorer in this data, 1996 sits 9th by complaint volume. 2002 draws the most.
Filings have fallen off, 7 in the last three years against 10 in the three before. That is normal as a generation leaves the road.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 127,000 miles.
In owners' own words
After purchasing vehicle, consumer began to experience a vibration in the vehicle, tires were rebalanced and rotated, but the vibration still existed, consumer decided to replace the firestone p235/75rx15 tires with goodyear tires and the vibration immediately stopped, even though problem occurred prior to recall, consumer is requesting some type of compensation for his expense and time of resolving the vibration. Tires
Consumer was denied reimbursement for the firestone atx radial tires (p235/75r15) replaced, firestone's reason for denying claim was that the replacement tires were purchased from a competitive retailer prior to august 9, 2000, consumer's tires developed a highly unusual wear pattern and the steel belt was beginning to protrude from one tire, a thumping sound was also heard and felt due to the faulty tires. *Slc Tires
Willderness at 16" tire, the tread separated. We replaced as soon as seen. No incident. Not covered by recall. Made in canada. Took several weeks to replace due to a shortage of them. Concerned that this was because of firestone's prior knowledge of the pending recall. As this was the same problem as the smaller tires we urge the nhtsa to look closely at them.( Dot number: vrbm061753 tire size: p255/70r16 ) Tires
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…