2001 Ford Ranger problems
NHTSA has received 687 complaints about the 2001 Ford Ranger, and 17% of them involve body & structure. After that come suspension (13%) and air bags (9%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 687 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 17% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 85 and 10
- Injuries and deaths
- 66 and 5
- Typical mileage
- 85,000 miles 375 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 | 30 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 50 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 51 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 37 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 59 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 60 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 43 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 21 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 5 |
| 200k+ miles | 15 |
What the data shows
Among the 375 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 85,000 miles. For body & structure specifically, the median reported mileage is about 100,000 miles (88 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 85 complaints mention a crash; 10 complaints mention a fire; 66 injuries reported; 5 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2001 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 28 model years of the Ford Ranger with enough data (283 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.
The consumer was involved in an accident and was hit from the rear at a high rate of speed and the air bag did not deploy. They were at a dead stop when the accident happened.
Dayton tire separated from vehicle which caused fatal auto accident that killed my daughter (tammy renee egbert) on 21 april 2004 in rockledge, florida, bevard county on highway interstate 95.
Tl*the contact owns a 2001 ford ranger. The contact has goodyear wrangler rts tires on his vehicle. He replaced the driver side rear tire. The contact stated that the driver side front tire has a crack near the bead and sidewall. He feels that it is a safety issue because the tire can blow out at anytime. The tire has approximately 45,000 miles. The contact has pictures. The tire DOT number and VIN were unavailable. The current mileage is 80,000 and failure mileage was 40,000. Updated 12/12/07 updated
I have a 2001 ford ranger 4x that is mainly used for driving to work. It is only taken off the pavement to unload materials or remove wood, etc from the back of my property. I had new tires put on at 75,000 miles and was told that I needed wheel alignment. Since I questioned this, I took it to the dealer for the alignment. They told me that my ball joints needed replacement for $500, which I also doubted. I told them to do the alignment but not the ball joint replacement.