1999 Ford Explorer problems
The 1999 Ford Explorer has 1,737 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (23%) concerns tires. Next are wipers, windshield & visibility (13%) and cruise control (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 1,737 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Tires 23% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 143 and 54
- Injuries and deaths
- 141 and 4
- Typical mileage
- 80,000 miles 367 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 | 20 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 25 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 60 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 74 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 54 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 49 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 27 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 20 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 12 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 10 |
| 200k+ miles | 16 |
What the data shows
Of the 367 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 80,000 miles. For tires specifically, the median reported mileage is about 84,000 miles (21 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 143 complaints mention a crash; 54 complaints mention a fire; 141 injuries reported; 4 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1999 ranks 9th most-complained-about out of 36 model years of the Ford Explorer with enough data (1,100 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 9 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.
Dt: the contact owns a 1999 ford explorer. The vehicle was inside of the contact's mothers garage the night that mother's house caught on fire. The cause of the fire was unknown, but is still under investigation. This occurred on february 14, 2003. The fire department was contacted because the house burned down, and was currently doing an investigation on the house. The house insurance company also did an investigation , but it was left undetermined. The vehicle completely burned.
Re: jacksonville, fl fatalities. Both involving ford explorers with firestone wilderness tires.( DOT number: tire size: 255sbr15 )
Saturday, nov , 3:00 pm. Driver (17), was making a left turn at xxxxxx & xxxxxxxxxx (xxxxxxxxx) and suddenly lost control of 1999 ford explorer which jumped curb and slammed into a tree. No other vehicles involved. Apparent cause: right rear tire -- goodyear wrangler ht -- seemed to have blown to pieces. Vehicle had traveled approximately 2 miles prior to incident ( from cold start, so no significant pre-incident travel time).
I purchased my explorer about 1 year ago. I have had nothing but problems with it since I bought it. Just in the last 3 months it has been in the shop at hometown motors at least 4 or 5 times. And everytime they get it in they charge me a hundred dollar deductable plus what the warranty won't cover. I had to pay 1300.oo for my warranty and I have had to pay almost 700.00 since then on the work for everything going wrong with the explorer. I have all of my receipts being gathered .