2011 Ford EXPLORER - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2011 Ford Explorer SUV FWD has not been rated for safety by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in various crash tests, including front crash, side crash, and rollover tests. However, it does come equipped with standard electronic stability control, and has the option for forward collision warning, although it does not have lane departure warning.

In terms of complaints and recalls, this vehicle has a high number of complaints, with 998 reported, which may indicate potential issues that drivers have experienced. Additionally, there have been 7 recalls issued for this model, which suggests there are safety concerns that have led to official actions being taken by the manufacturer.

Overall, while the safety ratings are not available, the presence of electronic stability control is a positive feature for improving vehicle safety. However, the high number of complaints and recalls should be taken into consideration when evaluating the safety of the 2011 Ford Explorer SUV FWD.

auto generated summary, may be inaccurate.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

998

Recall Count

7

Investigation Count

4

Safety Rating

Not Rated

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Safety Features

2011 Ford Explorer SUV FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2011 Ford Explorer SUV FWD

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.

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.

No

2011 Ford Explorer SUV FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2011 Ford Explorer SUV FWD 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 2005 Score 2011 Score 2022 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated Not Rated
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 4 Not Rated Not Rated
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 Not Rated Not Rated

Side Crash Ratings

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

Test 2005 Score 2011 Score 2022 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 Not Rated 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 Not Rated 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front Not Rated Not Rated 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear Not Rated Not Rated 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5

Rollover Ratings

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

Test 2005 Score 2011 Score 2022 Score
Rollover Rating Not Rated Not Rated 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating Not Rated Not Rated 5

Complaints for the 2011 Ford EXPLORER

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:
"we were driving down the road and lost complete control of steering. me and my family's safety as well as other drivers on the road was very much at risk as we lost steering at 60 miles per hour. the problem was reproduced and there was a recall issued 14s06 but ford motor company will not repair as it has been too long (in their opinion) at the dealership and calling ford motor company there was no warning prior."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2025-03-01
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. the contact had received a recall notification two years ago for the power steering. the vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that because there were no codes displayed, to bring the vehicle back when the code displayed. the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the power steering was inoperable. the contact stated that the steering malfunction warning light was illuminated. the contact stated that the steering wheel was difficult to turn. the vehicle was taken to the dealer. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to report the failure to the nhtsa hotline. the failure mileage was approximately 128,037."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2025-05-01
Complaint:
"this is the second complaint for my 2011 ford explorer for the same issue: steering rack. i replaced my seering rack at a cost of 3k. drove it a day and had a failure again. new motorcraft part as i was told from the dealer. the nhtsb had ford issue a recall some metal a-frame issue but not one for a more serious issue of a steering rack failure! no right."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2026-02-01
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. the contact stated that upon start of the vehicle, the power steering assist warning light appeared on the instrument panel. despite the failure, the contact drove the vehicle to the dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed with a defective power steering module and power steering assembly. the contact was informed that the part needed to repair the vehicle was initially under warranty; however, the warranty expired. the manufacturer was also notified of the failure and referred the contact to the nhtsa hotline. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was a 111,300."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2025-09-01
Complaint:
"husband started vehicle, and, as he started backing out of garage, warning chime sounded, and "electronic power steering assist fault" message displayed on dash. steering locked up; he was unable to turn steering wheel. he turned car off and restarted, thinking possible computer error. no further display. ran errands. did some research, and found that ford had issued a prior recall on certain 2011-2013 explorers in 2014. safety recall 14s06 was issued. this vehicle was checked at that time for any dtcs. when none were found, the computer was reprogrammed and power steering coverage was extended to 10 years, or 150,000 miles, from date of manufacture. in these affected vehicles, if a dtc was present, it moved on to the availability of safety recall 15n01, which involved one-time replacement of steering gear. after seeing this, we phoned dealer, whose rep (actually 2 separate reps, in 2 separate calls) verified recall on this issue and assured us this would be covered. upon taking vehicle to dealer on 1/15/2024 for first available appointment, we were told safety recall 15n01 had expired and was no longer covered. repair was estimated to be between $500 and $2,500, depending on dtc results. dtcs present were: c1b00-86, u3000-49 and u3000-72. we were told the steering gear needed to be replaced, at a cost of $1,372.73 for parts, $680 labor, as well as $169.95 for subsequent alignment, for a total of $2,222.68, plus state sales tax. we feel the one-time replacement of the steering gear should still be a covered option if it was already previously deemed a potential safety risk, regardless of the vehicle now being over 10 years old, and still just as potentially hazardous. loss of steering ability is a serious safety issue, putting countless lives at risk. vehicle has only just over 70,000 miles on it, is garage-kept, original owner, in very good condition, and has always been kept up-to-date on recall repairs."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2024-08-01
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. the contact stated while driving 10 mph and making a left turn into the parking lot, the steering wheel became difficult to turn with the power steering assist warning light illuminated. the vehicle was towed to the residence and then to a local mechanic. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired yet. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 198,000."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2024-06-01
Complaint:
"i am the owner of a 2011 ford explorer limited that recently developed a power steering issue. we have only owned the vehicle 6 months and there's under 95,000 miles on it. the (2) recall notices that went out in 2014 were unknown to us at the time, because we just bought the suv in 2023. since it a safety issue, there should not be a 10-year recall expiration date associated with either recall, as we are being told by ford customer service. and since we didn't own the vehicle before the recall notices went out in 2024, why will ford not stand behind the recall and honor the time period to include our vehicle? ford motor company is stating that our vin is not covered, even though it the vehicle falls within the production recall period. additionally, ford issued a customer satisfaction program warranty, but ford regards this as a survey and will not take corrective measures to assist in getting our vehicle repaired under any forego mentioned recall notices. therefore, i feel ford should honor any recall regarding the poor design or faulty engineering of their electronic steering components regardless of the expiration date since it is a safety concern. ford is reluctant to financially assist me even though the suv has less than 95,000 miles on it and the recall press release dates were not issued until 2014. instead, ford is going by the vehicle production date and not the recall issue dates. therefore, my suv recall dates have since expired, and ford will no longer honor any of its warranties on this vehicle, even though lack of power steering is a clear safety issue, which to my knowledge, do not have expiration dates. ford customer service has acknowledged the power steering fault assist issues under the following recall campaigns: nhtsa - 14e001000 & 14v286000 and csp 15n01. i also have a case number with the ford motor company (case #47111783) associated with this issue."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2024-03-12
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. the contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel was inoperable and difficult to steer. the contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. the contact drove the vehicle to the residence unrepaired. the contact stated that the failure persisted. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 114,000."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2024-08-12
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2011 ford expedition. the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the power steering was inoperable. the contact stated that an unknown warning light was illuminated. the vehicle was towed to the residence. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to report the failure to the nhtsa hotline. the failure mileage was approximately 120,000."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2025-03-12
Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. the contact stated that while starting the vehicle, the electric power steering assist message was displayed. the vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the power steering gear needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to file a complaint with the nhtsa hotline. the contact related the failure to nhtsa campaign number: 14v286000 (steering) however, the vin was not included in the recall. the failure mileage was approximately 180,000."
Components Involved: STEERING
Date of incident: 2024-11-11

Recalls for the 2011 Ford EXPLORER

Component Recalls

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

Recall:
"ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 2011-2017 explorer vehicles. the rear suspension toe links may fracture due to stress on the rear suspension."
Consequence:
A fractured rear toe link will cause a sudden change in vehicle handling and increase the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the rear suspension toe links, and inspect both rear toe link ball joints, replacing the rear wheel knuckle(s), if necessary, free of charge. The recall began June 26, 2019. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 19S17.

Component(s) Involved: SUSPENSION > REAR
Date of incident: 2019-06-10
Recall:
"ford motor company (ford) is recalling certain 2011-2013 explorer vehicles originally sold, or currently registered in connecticut, delaware, the district of columbia, illinois, indiana, iowa, kentucky, maine, maryland, massachusetts, michigan, minnesota, missouri, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, ohio, pennsylvania, rhode island, vermont, virginia, west virginia, and wisconsin. these vehicles may be equipped with a cross-axis ball joint (cabj) replacement part that could seize, and result in a fracture of the outboard section of the rear suspension toe link."
Consequence:
A rear toe link fracture can result in a loss of steering control, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

Dealer will inspect for the presence of a CABJ. If a CABJ of any design is found, the dealer will inspect the tightness of the CABJ, and replace the CABJ, knuckle, and/or toe link as necessary, free of charge. Interim notification letters were mailed November 10, 2021. Owner notification letters were mailed on March 17, 2022. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 21S43.

Component(s) Involved: SUSPENSION > REAR
Date of incident: 2021-09-22

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

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