1997 Ford Explorer wipers, windshield & visibility problems

Owners reported wipers, windshield & visibility problems in 97 complaints for the 1997 Ford Explorer, 5% of the complaints on file.

Complaints: 97 5% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage: 73,000 miles 23 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires: 0 and 0
Injuries and deaths: 1 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When wipers, windshield & visibility problems show up

Based on 23 complaints that include mileage. 30% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.

View the numbers

Mileage	Complaints
0k to 20k miles	0
20k to 40k miles	0
40k to 60k miles	7
60k to 80k miles	7
80k to 100k miles	3
100k to 120k miles	4
120k to 140k miles	2
140k to 160k miles	0
160k to 180k miles	0
180k to 200k miles	0
200k+ miles	0

What the data shows

Of the 23 wipers, windshield & visibility complaints that report mileage, the median is about 73,000 miles, and 30% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 1 injury.

What owners wrote

Owner went to put on the defroster button while driving and the window became frozen to the point that he had to pull off the road and clean the window by himself.

February 1997

The heater blend door failed on my 1997 ford explorer while driving it in snowy conditions. I only had cold air blowing on my windows. After reviewing web sites, I have found that the top piece of my heaters hot and cold blend door is broken. The cost of replacing this one piece of plastic is around $1000. Ford has a replacement part that is now stronger, but fails to realize the defect in the older doors.

Reported at 90,400 miles, December 2005

Wipers, windshield & visibility problems in other years

2027
2026
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2023
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Wipers, windshield & visibility problems across all Ford models