answer
What the official records show
For the 2013 Ford Explorer, the NHTSA complaint API returned 2,230 unique owner complaint records across the catalog variants EXPLORER when Car Trouble Lab captured this dataset. Those records included 44 reports marked as involving a crash and 11 marked as involving a fire. Injury and death fields summed to 61 injuries and 1 deaths. The NHTSA recalls API returned 12 distinct safety campaigns, including 13V109000, 13V227000, 13V270000, and 14V286000. The captured component evidence profile was STEERING: 834 tags (37% of unique complaint records), 12 crash-marked, 1 fire-marked, and 5 reported injuries; STRUCTURE: 437 tags (20% of unique complaint records), 4 crash-marked, 1 fire-marked, and 9 reported injuries; ENGINE: 224 tags (10% of unique complaint records), 1 crash-marked, 5 fire-marked, and 14 reported injuries; ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 163 tags (7% of unique complaint records), 0 crash-marked, 2 fire-marked, and 3 reported injuries; FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM: 120 tags (5% of unique complaint records), 1 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 3 reported injuries. The campaign evidence profile was 13V109000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY; received 27/03/2013); 13V227000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE; received 31/05/2013); 13V270000 (LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES; received 26/06/2013); 14V286000 (STEERING:ELECTRIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM; received 29/05/2014); 15V171000 (STRUCTURE:BODY:DOOR; received 24/03/2015). These are reported-record counts, not a measured failure rate and not a diagnosis of any individual vehicle.
SOURCES
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Consumer Complaints · primary source
- NHTSA complaint and recall aggregateNHTSA Recalls · primary source
custom
How to interpret the pattern
The most frequently assigned complaint component categories in this captured query were STEERING (834), STRUCTURE (437), ENGINE (224), ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (163), and FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM (120). Adjacent captured model years reported 2012: 822 complaints and 7 campaigns; 2014: 1,673 complaints and 7 campaigns. These comparisons are raw record totals, not exposure-adjusted rates. One complaint can carry more than one component tag, so category counts should not be added to reproduce the total complaint count. Too few usable positive mileage values were present to publish a median. NHTSA complaint records are owner-submitted and may be incomplete, duplicated before ODI-number deduplication, or unverified. A high count can also reflect how many vehicles were sold and how long they have been on the road. Use this page to choose inspection questions, not to label every 2013 Ford Explorer defective.
methodology
What to check next
Start with the categories that repeat most often, then compare the complaint description and warning symptoms with the actual vehicle rather than ordering a part from a category label. Check the full 17-character VIN in NHTSA's official recall lookup because a model-year campaign list cannot tell whether a particular vehicle is included or whether its remedy was completed. Preserve diagnostic trouble codes and freeze-frame data before clearing them, ask for repair invoices, and obtain a qualified inspection when a symptom affects braking, steering, restraint systems, fire risk, or drivability. Car Trouble Lab does not determine whether a vehicle is safe to drive.