1991 Ford Explorer problems
The 1991 Ford Explorer has 764 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (20%) concerns brakes. Next are tires (15%) and electrical system (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 764 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 20% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 70 and 73
- Injuries and deaths
- 60 and 4
- Typical mileage
- 114,000 miles 37 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 4 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 0 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 1 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 6 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 2 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 6 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 4 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 5 |
What the data shows
Of the 37 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 114,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 70 complaints mention a crash; 73 complaints mention a fire; 60 injuries reported; 4 deaths reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 84% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1991 ranks 27th most-complained-about out of 36 model years of the Ford Explorer with enough data (280 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 8 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Pe00 020; consumer was traveling about 65MPH on highway when the tread separated from tire. Driver lost control of vehicle, and it flipped over. There were six passengers inside of vehicle. Vehicle was totaled . They were on the road about two hours before accident started, it was a hot classic hot day. All passengers except driver were ejected, resulting in one death and five injuries. Mjs (tire make/model not provided) attorney for ignacio flores, sr., owner.
Ford explorer was involved in a solo collision, where the right rear tire sustained a loss of it's tread, while the vehicle was traveling southbound state route 99, ca. This tread separeation caused vehicle to roll over and killed one person,and four injuries.( DOT number: vnhlimo171 tire size: p235/75r15 )
Vehicle caught on fire and exploded due to plastic fuel tank design, being punctured by steel grating and igniting, resulting in fatality. *skd
My wife [xxx] was driving my 1991 ford explorer to see her son on 2-2-04( and never uses cruise control)when on hwy 161 heading north the cruise control took over and made the throttle stick wide open, the brakes would not hold and vehicle went up to about 70 before she finally turned off key, the brakes were smoking from about 1 mile of fighting to stop the thing, she finally stopped after hitting a truck in front of blackstone collision, whose owner demanded she remove it due to blocking driveway, (2) salesmen…
Peninsula ford, sunnyvale, ca refused to service existing safety recall, without explanation. NHTSA campaign 92v113000. The vehicle in question fits all applicability critieria listed in recall documents. One of three symptoms (unexplained and repeated, sudden front seat belt release) described by this recall occurs regularly.