answer
What the official records show
For the 2018 Ford Explorer, the NHTSA complaint API returned 718 unique owner complaint records across the catalog variants EXPLORER when Car Trouble Lab captured this dataset. Those records included 14 reports marked as involving a crash and 7 marked as involving a fire. Injury and death fields summed to 12 injuries and 0 deaths. The NHTSA recalls API returned 7 distinct safety campaigns, including 18V807000, 19V633000, 21V316000, and 24V031000. The captured component evidence profile was STRUCTURE: 286 tags (40% of unique complaint records), 4 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 0 reported injuries; ENGINE: 93 tags (13% of unique complaint records), 2 crash-marked, 2 fire-marked, and 4 reported injuries; ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 56 tags (8% of unique complaint records), 2 crash-marked, 2 fire-marked, and 2 reported injuries; POWER TRAIN: 47 tags (7% of unique complaint records), 1 crash-marked, 0 fire-marked, and 0 reported injuries; ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING: 29 tags (4% of unique complaint records), 0 crash-marked, 1 fire-marked, and 1 reported injuries. The campaign evidence profile was 18V807000 (FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE; received 14/11/2018); 19V633000 (SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:RECLINER; received 28/08/2019); 21V316000 (STRUCTURE:BODY; received 05/05/2021); 24V031000 (STRUCTURE:BODY:ROOF AND PILLARS; received 19/01/2024); 25V685000 (EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:ENGINE BLOCK HEATER; received 10/10/2025). 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 STRUCTURE (286), ENGINE (93), ELECTRICAL SYSTEM (56), POWER TRAIN (47), and ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING (29). Adjacent captured model years reported 2017: 1,686 complaints and 14 campaigns; 2019: 291 complaints and 6 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 2018 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.