Used car guide · 1997–2026

Ford Explorer common problems and MOT failures

What goes wrong on a used Ford Explorer, year by year: known faults from UK buying guides, the parts flagged at MOT more than on other cars (from 872 MOTs done during 2023–2025), and what to check before you buy one.

872MOTs done in 2023–2025, all years of this model
22,991on the UK register

Pick the year

Most years have their own guide. The year is when the car was first registered (it’s on the logbook, or check the reg below).

202620252024200520012000199919981997

What usually goes wrong with a Ford Explorer?

We haven’t found widely reported faults for the Ford Explorer in the UK buying guides we use yet. That doesn’t mean it has none, so check the car carefully and look at the MOT weak spots below.

Ford Explorer MOT pass rate by year

Older cars fail more, so compare each year with all cars registered the same year.

YearPass first timeAll cars that yearMOT tests
200570%57% +13115 (small sample)
200068%61% +7223 (small sample)
199964%63% +1206 (small sample)
199865%65% +0209 (small sample)
199771%65% +6119 (small sample)

Looking at a Ford Explorer?

Check the actual car: its own MOT history and what to ask the seller. Free, no sign-up.

Where this comes from: MOT figures are the DVSA’s anonymised results for every MOT test done in Great Britain during 2023–2025, grouped by the year each car was first registered. How many are on the road is from the Department for Transport’s vehicle licensing statistics. Known faults are from UK buying guides, in our own words, with links. How we score