Other powertrain problem on the 1997 Ford Expedition
7 crashes 1 fire 2 injuries 2 deaths 12 of the 46 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 1997 Ford Expedition report other powertrain problem at a median of 130,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 105,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 90,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 165,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 75,714 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90,000 miles | 107,000 miles | 130,000 miles | 143,141 miles | 165,714 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 7 a crash, 1 a fire, 2 an injury and 2 a fatality are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $400–$4,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2014 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2020 carries the most reports, with 151; the 1997 has 46. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Problem with gear shift on 1997 ford expedition. The problem is a "sticking" shifter that won't allow the vehicle to placed in park. Therefore, the vehicle can't be properly secured and/or restarted since the vehicle can't be shifted to the start postion. The indicator indicates "p" for park but the transmission is still in reverse. Vehicle must be shifted to neutral for starting giving the opportunity for potential roll offs. Could be related to NHTSA campaign # 97v-171nsa-111 although local dealer states my vehicle id doesn't fall under this recall. Local certifed mechanic states the problem is in the actual cable that be the result of vehicle recall defect. He has personnally fixed 3-5 of these defects within the last 3 months in a small rural shop.*ak
Vehicle was placed in park. While the vehicle was running it jumped out of park into reverse and rolled down a hill into some metal poles which stopped the vehicle. This occurred on private property and there was no other damage to property or person other than the rear door panel of the vehicle which was damaged by the impact. The shift lever of the vehicle will not go into park properly now and appears to be somewhat loose. I have an invoice that indicates work was done under warranty to correct a problem with the shifting cable on 12/29/1997, but the dealer and ford claim no such work was ever done. *jb
Changed lanes at speed of aprox 35 MPH right rear axle of vehicle broke off at axle end by wheel causing damage to wheel, tire and backing plate. Replaced all parts and old parts are available at my home . *ak
Also reported on the 1997 Ford Expedition
Other suspension problem
Other body or interior problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other electrical problem
Misfire or rough idle
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 46 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other powertrain problem happen on the 1997 Ford Expedition?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 130,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 105,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 1997 Ford Expedition?
46 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed