Popular Ford SUV is rugged and fun to drive, but it’s also riddled with major issues that have yet to be addressed with a recall. Thus, the 2015 Ford Explorer has a lot going for it, but is difficult to drive with confidence.
Key Points
- The 2015 Ford Explorer currently holds seven recalls, four investigations, and 975 complaints on file with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- Recurring suspension issues have been addressed with a string of recalls, but with somewhere around two million Fords having been recalled, owners have been left waiting on replacement parts.
- An exhaust odor has been reported in over two thousand 2011-2017 Fords, with an investigation currently underway.
- Unexplained steering failure has been reported in several units at around 50,000 to 70,000 miles, with no investigation or recall being launched as yet.
- Ford has launched some reliable Explorers in the last few years, but the 2015 might not be one of them. You may want to consider a newer Explorer like a 2018, or even a 2010 to work on as a project car.
Recurring Suspension Problems Reportedly have 2015 Ford Explorer Owners Waiting on Replacement Parts
The 2015 Ford Explorer has been recalled seven times total, five of these having been for suspension issues. First, in April, 2016 for a rear suspension toe link that may have been improperly welded in 75,364 units. Then for potential hub unit detachment in 630 units in August, 2017. The toe link fractures were recalled again in June, 2019, this time for over one million Ford Explorers, model years 2011 to 2017. The same issue came up again in October, 2020, with Ford recalling nearly a half-million units, and finally in July, 2021, for over half a million Explorers.
In the complaints department, the 2015 Explorer’s suspension has generated 48 reports, with many of the recent complaints having to do with recalled SUVs having to wait on repairs, thanks to the parts being in short supply. Which is, of course, to be expected when around two million of these vehicles have been recalled over the last few years.
To be clear, the fix is in the works. The issue is not that any Explorers were left out of the recall, but that, with so many Explorers being recalled, there simply aren’t enough parts to go around just yet.
Exhaust Odor in Some 2015 Ford Explorers Still Under Investigation
To date, the NHTSA have launched four investigations into the 2015 Explorer. Two of these were for potential failure in the front brake hose. These investigations were already closed with the conclusion that there was no safety-related defect present.
The other two investigations address an exhaust odor reported in 2,400 complaints total, across various 2011-2017 model year Fords. The first investigation was closed for the engineering analysis, which kicked off in July 2017 and is still open.
Long story short: several Explorer owners have reported an exhaust odor, and this makes up a good chunk of the complaints filed under “unknown or other” on the NHTSA complaints page for the SUV. The NHTSA are looking into it. They’ve found enough evidence to continue the investigation, but we’ve yet to see if there will be a recall.
The good news is that this is an easy enough problem to identify during a test drive. You should be able to smell a sulfur/rotten egg odor when you get the car in motion. If the SUV’s cabin is packed with air fresheners and plug-ins, that’s a red flag in itself. 2015 Explorers are no longer covered under Ford’s CPO warranty program, so you’ll have to kick the tires yourself and make sure you’re not buying a lemon.
Steering May Go Out at Under 100k Miles, and Required One 2015 Explorer Owner to Pay over $3k for Replacement of Steering System
Of nearly a thousand complaints on the NHTSA page, close to one in four are categorized under steering.
It’s easy to identify the pattern right away. A Maryland driver reports that their rack and pinion steering went out at around 55,000 miles, requiring total replacement of the steering system to the tune of $3,300. In Alabama, a driver reports that the power steering went out and the vehicle jerked to the right. They took the car in and spent $2,500 replacing the whole steering system.
In New York, at 69,000 miles, a driver’s rack and pinion system had to be replaced as there was a rubbing sound when turning, and the wheel would stick in the left and right positions. And the list goes on and on like this.
No investigations have been launched into the problem. There was a recall related to the wheels, as the bearings in some models had a tendency to come loose, leading to wheel detachment. But this didn’t directly affect the steering, and this recall covered just 630 units total.
We can’t speculate as to why an investigation has not yet been launched, but the symptoms here point to a problem in the steering column, and the first tip-off will usually be a clunking sound when turning. So keep an ear out on the test drive and listen for anything funny.
With So Many Unfixed Problems, Explorer Fans may want to Skip the 2015
The 2015 Explorer comes with too many “wait and see” problems, and is hard to recommend with much confidence. We don’t know if the exhaust odor problem will ever be recalled, and there’s no telling what, if anything, is to be done about the unexplained steering failure. In another five years, this might be a great project car, but you don’t want to drop twenty grand on an SUV and then spend another three thousand for a new rack and pinion system a week later.
As an alternative, a 2015 Dodge Durango starts in the same price range and delivers similar four-wheel-drive performance, but has fewer than four hundred complaints on file with the NHTSA, and hasn’t been recalled since 2018.
If you really want a Ford Explorer, you may want to shop around for a 2010, which has just over one hundred complaints on the record and has only been recalled twice after more than a decade of service, or shell out for a 2018 model or later with a Ford-backed CPO warranty.
Photos: Ford
