Complete transmission failure on the 1999 Ford Explorer
When complete transmission failure gets reported
Owners of the 1999 Ford Explorer report complete transmission failure at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 24th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 55,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 63,380 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53,620 miles | 79,104 miles | 83,444 miles | 113,750 miles | 117,000 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
Putting it right typically runs $2,800–$8,000 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 286; the 1999 has 13. 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.
Odometer problem, and costly repairs on a car/SUV not disclosed as being from canada. Within 18000 miles, transmission failed, odometer didnt work, been through 2 sets of plugs and wires in 6 months.
The transmission in my 1999 ford explorer xls failed completely while driving. The transmission had been slipping intermittently for a couple of weeks when shifting from first into second gear. I took it to the dealer for service and repair. The dealer flushed the transmission and said to drive it for a couple of days. The flushing did not work and three days later the transmission failed. This is the second time the transmission has failed in this vehicle. The first transmission was replaced under warranty but the dealership will not pay for the replacement of this transmission because it is over the mileage limit of the warranty by 4000 miles. *la
I purchased my 1999 ford explorer in may of 2004 and within a month, I began experiencing problems with my transmission. More specifically, the vehicle would loose power while driving, the transmission could be heard shifting and also shifting movement was felt while driving. I took the vehicle back to rio valley in espanola, new mexico where I paid cash ($8700.00) and was told that I did not purchase the warranty and my vehicle needed a new transmission and it would cost me $3200.00 to have it repaired. I complained and was told that my gasket was sealed with a sealant that went in to my gaskets and damaged my solenoid. I has just taken it for a transmission oil change and thought well that could be, however, after talking to the owner of hindi's oil stop, I felt certain that this was not the cause. Rio valley ford did clean out the transmission a couple of times and charged me $340.00 and I was told that this was basically going to have a band-aid effect and I would ultimately need to get my transmission fixed. It was getting me around for awhile but lately the same shifting noises and feelings I had heard and felt are…
Also reported on the 1999 Ford Explorer
Other wheel or tire problem
Wiper or washer failure
Other body or interior problem
Other speed control problem
Tire blowout or tread separation
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 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 complete transmission failure happen on the 1999 Ford Explorer?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 115,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is complete transmission failure on the 1999 Ford Explorer?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 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