Other powertrain problem on the 2012 Ford Expedition
2 crashes 2 of the 50 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 2012 Ford Expedition report other powertrain problem at a median of 110,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 142,500 miles, from 41 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 65,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 172,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 108,000 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.
7% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65,000 miles | 79,318 miles | 109,000 miles | 142,200 miles | 173,000 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, 2 a crash is 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 2012 has 50. 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.
On many occasions from around may or june of 2013, when the car is accelerating from first to second gear it "jumps". It feels as if someone has hit the back of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken back to the dealership 3 times. Each time they have updated the software and supposedly solved the problem. After each return of the vehicle the problem had only gotten worse. The second time after being "fixed" by the dealership the very next day someone almost rear ended the vehicle because the "jump" was so impactful that I suddenly applied my brakes thinking someone had rear ended me. The car behind me stop just an hair short of hitting the vehicle. Beyond getting whiplash from the constant "jumps", I am afraid that something very serious will happen if this is not fixed or corrected. *tr
Could hear a loud metal to metal grinding sound. Finally had the expedition towed to dealership. 3 struts need to be replaced as well as the shocks. Driver side bearing was worn out. The passenger side is almost there. The expedition only has 50,000 miles. After getting this information from the dealer we read the power train warranty. The warranty will only replace the driver side bearing. When the passenger side is making the same noise dealership said to bring it in.
Vehicle downshifts abruptly while being driven at approximately 55 to 60 miles per hour. Very dangerous, it can cause an accident. Some vehicles were recalled but ford says my VIN number was not in the vehicles that were recalled. The description of the problem is exactly as the one described to the recalls in 184,000 ford vehicles from 2011-2012. A wrench shows up in the dash board and a sign that shows low gasoline levels. When this problem occurs the only option is to pullover as fast as possible. I stopped turned of the car and turned it back on. After the car would drive normally without showing anything on the dashboard and without any problems. I have experienced this in the last 3 weeks at least 7 times. When a scanner is connected it does not show any signs or problems. Very dangerous experience every time it happened. It usually happened at a high speed in the highway which makes it even a more dangerous situation. It happened while the vehicle was in motion and being driven over 55 miles per hour. It feels like it downshifts from 5th to 1st gear without any reason. Only while driving 55 miles per hour or more. It…
Also reported on the 2012 Ford Expedition
Instrument cluster or gauge failure
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 50 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 2012 Ford Expedition?
Across 41 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 142,500 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 2012 Ford Expedition?
50 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.6 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