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Ford problems by generation and mileage

39 generations across 12 models, built from 118,971 complaints that record mileage at failure.

Ford models and generations

Pick your car. Each generation has its own page: what owners reported breaking, at what mileage, year by year, and its recalls.

How long do Fords last?

Complaint records can’t measure how long a car lasts; they show when reported failures happened. Across the 39 Ford generations here — 24 of the 39 generations here left production more than ten years ago, and older ones have had longer to reach high mileage, so read the figure against that mix — half of the 118,971 complaints that record an odometer reading were filed by 70,000 miles and 90% by 140,000 miles. 9,594 came in past 150,000 miles and 2,054 past 200,000 — each one a car that got there, not one that failed there.

At what mileage do Fords start having problems? A quarter of those reports came by 39,000 miles, and 10% within the first 12,000 — the window this site treats as manufacturing defects rather than wear. That is the start of the reports, not the onset of problems on any one car.

For one car, open its generation in the list above: each page gives its own figures, year by year.

Mileage at failure, generation by generation

Each strip places that generation’s mileage-tagged reports on a linear 0–200,000-mile scale: whisker = middle 80%, box = middle half, line = median. † marks recent generations — their fleets are young, so their reports can only have come at low mileages. Compare generations of similar age.

Edge

• 2007–20146,05561,000
• 2015–2024†2,29963,000

Escape

• 2001–20074,34995,000
• 2008–20127,01676,000
• 2013–20196,67775,000
• 2020–2025†69039,000

Expedition

• 1997–20022,025100,000
• 2003–20061,24079,000
• 2007–20171,01470,000
• 2018–2024†51464,000

Explorer

• 1991–1994175104,000
• 1995–20011,53493,000
• 2002–20054,95375,000
• 2006–201098061,000
• 2011–20197,91161,000
• 2020–2025†62230,000

F-150

• 1992–1996506120,000
• 1997–20034,31399,000
• 2004–20083,96361,000
• 2009–20147,52168,000
• 2015–20204,60448,000
• 2021–2025†55830,000

Fiesta

• 2011–20192,43745,000

Focus

• 2000–20075,03658,000
• 2008–201172554,000
• 2012–20189,10760,000

Freestar

• 2004–20072,26986,000

Fusion

• 2006–201210,71478,000
• 2013–20205,13475,000

Mustang

• 1994–20041,00359,000
• 2005–20142,37837,000
• 2015–2023†83433,000

Ranger

• 1993–1997339108,000
• 1998–20112,05070,000
• 2019–2023†17419,000

Taurus

• 1996–199976780,000
• 2000–20075,01480,000
• 2008–200921556,000
• 2010–20191,25670,000

What the strips show across Ford

Of the 39 Ford generations here, 35 with failures spread across the mileage range; 2 with failures concentrated late; 2 with failures concentrated early. The shape matters more than the median: a generation whose reports cluster tightly at one mileage is describing a part that fails, while one spread across the whole range is describing ordinary wear, and the two need different decisions from a buyer. The most common shape across this make is failures spread across the mileage range, on 35 of 39.

Comparing generations of the same age

Medians fall as generations get newer, and that is age, not decline: a car built three years ago has not had time to reach a high odometer reading, so its reports cannot come from one. The only honest comparison is inside an age band, and here is this make split into three. The spread inside a band is a comparison worth making; the same numbers set against a generation from another band are not.

Ford built in the last decade

15 generations, median of medians 60,000 miles. Among those built in the last decade, the earliest reports belong to the Ranger 2019–2023 at 19,000, the latest to the Fusion 2013–2020 at 75,000: a spread of 56,000 miles.

Ford built between ten and twenty years ago

15 generations, median of medians 68,000 miles. Among those built between ten and twenty years ago, the earliest reports belong to the Mustang 2005–2014 at 37,000, the latest to the Escape 2001–2007 at 95,000: a spread of 58,000 miles.

Ford older than twenty years

9 generations, median of medians 99,000 miles. Among those older than twenty years, the earliest reports belong to the Mustang 1994–2004 at 59,000, the latest to the F-150 1992–1996 at 120,000: a spread of 61,000 miles.

Where the reports concentrate

The middle half of the reports — between the 25th and 75th percentile — is the part of the curve that says most. On the Freestar 2004–2007 it spans 50,000 miles, the tightest of any Ford generation here: half the reports arrive inside that window, which is what a single failing part looks like in this data. On the F-150 1997–2003 the same half spans 76,000 miles — a curve that wide is describing a fleet ageing, not a part failing.

The largest body of evidence for this make is the Fusion 2006–2012, with 10,714 reports that record an odometer reading. Generations with a few hundred reports describe their own owners more loosely, and every number on this page carries that weight with it.

Model by model

Within one model the generations are the fairest comparison this data allows: same maker, same intent, often the same platform carried forward. Where a median moves sharply between two generations of the same model, it is worth asking whether the newer one is simply younger. Where the generation reporting later is also the older one, part of the gap is age rather than build; where it is the newer one, age alone does not explain it. The latest-reporting cell says which case each model is.

Swipe the table sideways for every column.

What fails across Ford, and when

Summed across every Ford generation on this site, the most-reported system is Power Train: 40,192 reports, 20% of the 206,008 that name a system, and it appears among the leading systems on 36 of the 39 generations here, reporting at a median of 70,000 miles.

The right-hand column is a median of medians, not an average: a generation with three thousand reports and one with two hundred would otherwise carry the same weight in a mean, and they do not describe the same amount of evidence. Read it as the middle of the range this make reports at, not as a prediction for one car.

Recalls across Ford

NHTSA has issued 598 recall campaigns against the Ford generations on this site, spread over 39 of 39. A recall is not a reliability score: it means a defect was found and a free repair is owed, and a make watched closely can collect more campaigns than one nobody examined. What it does mean for a buyer is concrete — the work is free at an authorized dealer, for any owner, and whether a given car is included depends on its VIN rather than on its model year.

• Explorer 2020–2025 — 64 campaigns
• F-150 2021–2025 — 59 campaigns
• F-150 2015–2020 — 45 campaigns
• Escape 2020–2025 — 45 campaigns
• Expedition 2018–2024 — 42 campaigns
• Fusion 2013–2020 — 35 campaigns

What this page cannot tell you

These are complaints, not failures. A complaint exists because an owner chose to file one with NHTSA, and nothing here counts the owners who did not. That makes the counts a measure of reporting as much as of breaking, and it is why this site never ranks one car against another: it describes what happens to a given car, and when.

Nor is any of this a rate. A rate needs a denominator — how many of these cars were sold — and no free model-level production figure exists. The obvious substitute, the affected-vehicle count on recall campaigns, was tested here and rejected: it overstates by a median factor of 7.6, because most campaigns span several model years. So a generation with more reports than another may simply be a generation with more cars on the road. The method page sets out every step.

Every page here is generated from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation dataset. How this is built · All makes