2023 Ford EXPLORER GAS - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2023 Ford Explorer Gas SUV RWD received an outstanding overall safety rating of 5 out of 5. This SUV excelled in various crash tests, including front crash, side crash, and side pole crash ratings. Additionally, it offers electronic stability control as a standard feature, which enhances the vehicle's stability on the road. The Ford Explorer Gas also includes both standard and optional forward collision warning systems, providing an extra layer of safety to drivers and passengers. Furthermore, the SUV comes equipped with standard lane departure warning technology, alerting drivers when they unintentionally drift out of their lane.

Despite its impressive safety features and ratings, it's worth noting that there have been 21 complaints filed regarding this model. Additionally, there have been 5 recalls issued for the 2023 Ford Explorer Gas SUV RWD. Overall, while this vehicle offers top-notch safety features and performance, potential buyers should be aware of the reported complaints and recalls to make an informed decision.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

21

Recall Count

5

Investigation Count

0

Safety Rating

5/5

Search Vehicle Details

Advanced Search

The advanced search lets you search by safety ratings and features. This will return a list of vehicles that match your search criteria.

Safety Features

2023 Ford Explorer Gas SUV RWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2023 Ford Explorer Gas SUV RWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

Standard & Optional
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

Standard

2023 Ford Explorer Gas SUV RWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2023 Ford Explorer Gas SUV RWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2023 Score 2024 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating 5 5
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2023 Score 2024 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating 5 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear 5 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating 5 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2023 Score 2024 Score
Rollover Rating 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating 5 5

Complaints for the 2023 Ford EXPLORER GAS

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"on 11/27/2023, my family and i were in this vehicle as i was driving on a side street. suddenly the engine shut down while i was driving. i was fortunate enough to pull the car into a parking lot to be towed to a nearby ford dealer. after a week of research the problem, they could not find anything wrong and returned the car to me. a week later, as i was driving to a major intersection, it shut down again. i called for a tow truck and was able to bring it to a ford dealer nearby in greer, sc. again, they could not find out what the problem was and returned the car to me. i am currently driving the car but i am fearful for my life because i dont know of when this engine shut down would happen again? what if it could happen while i am driving in the middle of a major national highway? if it shuts down on a highway while an 18-wheeler truck behind me, i do not think that i will be alive to write this report. i urge your office to review this matter with the ford corporation for me to return the car to them. thank you, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)"
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
Date of incident: 2025-03-11

Complaint:
"every time i was traveling in sport mode, shifting was delayed & was very rough transition to next gear. car was not accelerating or decelerating properly. burning smell came from the engine. car’s electrical momentarily went haywire. wrench light came on. this happened within 18 hours of purchasing this new car. and several times over the subsequent week. indicator light went on intermittently & so did same problems described above. my safety was put at risk because my car was not driving properly which caused distraction. i was confused about what to do. it also made it difficult to change lanes or speed up/slow down because it was jerky. the dealership i bought it from said a ford engineer came out to inspect the car & that several parts were ordered to fix it, including a battery for the electric motor & a wiring harness. they said it was a big issue and those parts were hard to come by, but i only learned this after 30+ days of the vehicle being under their control. i only dropped it off for a “test.” they did not make documentation of any of this work and would not release records to me. they also declined to release the car to me when i was tired of the lack of transparency. they said they couldnt give it back j til it was fixed but never provided work order with estimate or details of coverage. i never signed anything giving them permission to replace or repair the parts, especially because they would not disclose the ford engineer’s findings to me until a few weeks later after i threatened to invoke my rights under lemon law. they had already taken the car apart & ordered parts by then-without my informed consent."
Components Involved: POWER TRAIN, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
Date of incident: 2025-01-10

FORD Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

FORD ranks 1 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

Related Vehicles

Why not check out other FORD vehicles?

2012 ESCAPE
FORD
  • Overall Safety Rating: 3
  • Complaints Count: 554
  • Recall Count: 2
View Car
2015 F-350 SUPER CREW
FORD
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 163
  • Recall Count: 3
View Car
2018 F-150 REGULAR CAB
FORD
  • Overall Safety Rating: 4
  • Complaints Count: 1119
  • Recall Count: 15
View Car
2010 FUSION HYBRID
FORD
  • Overall Safety Rating: Not Rated
  • Complaints Count: 761
  • Recall Count: 0
View Car