1994 Ford Explorer problems
The 1994 Ford Explorer has 1,531 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (25%) concerns tires. Next are brakes (20%) and body & structure (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 1,531 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Tires 25% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 124 and 93
- Injuries and deaths
- 183 and 25
- Typical mileage
- 98,000 miles 104 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 | 8 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 4 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 12 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 29 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 16 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 11 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 5 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 6 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 6 |
What the data shows
Of the 104 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 98,000 miles. For tires specifically, the median reported mileage is about 94,000 miles (11 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 124 complaints mention a crash; 93 complaints mention a fire; 183 injuries reported; 25 deaths reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 86% 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 1994 ranks 13th most-complained-about out of 36 model years of the Ford Explorer with enough data (765 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 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.
As a result of a complete tire tread separation from the left rear tire, driver lost control, resulting in a rollover of the vehicle resulting in injuries, and death of two individuals.
Recalled firestone atx and wilderness tires. **nar** the consumer was traveling at 70 MPH when the left rear tire suffered a catastrophic tread belt separation. The vehicle became uncontrollable and subsequently rolled which caused a fatal head injury to a restrained 12 year old occupant. It was also stated that the spare tires were also defective and they too should be removed from vehicles.
Door latch failed when struck by another vehicle, causing four people to be ejected from vehicle/fatalities.(michigan state police report)
Tl*the contact owns a 1994 ford explorer. When the contact was driving approximately 10 MPH, dark smoke began emitting from the instrument panel. The contact turned the vehicle off which immediately became engulfed in flames. The police and fire department were notified and extinguished the fire. The vehicle was destroyed. The current and failure mileages were approximately 200,000.
I already sent a letter about this to ford with a cc: to you folks. My complaint is regarding the acceloration cable on my ford explorer and you should have the letter on file from november 7th. Ford did respond (a month later) but are not taking any action on it.