Cruise control failure on the 2002 Ford Explorer
4 crashes 7 fires 2 injuries 13 of the 43 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 cruise control failure gets reported
Owners of the 2002 Ford Explorer report cruise control failure at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 62,500 miles and a quarter after 127,500 miles, from 35 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 72,000 miles. It is the 19th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 210,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 188,704 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.
17% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20,600 miles | 61,950 miles | 90,000 miles | 128,500 miles | 209,304 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, 4 a crash, 7 a fire and 2 an injury 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 $200–$1,400 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 22 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2023, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2014 at 145,000 miles.
By volume the 1998 carries the most reports, with 67; the 2002 has 43. 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.
While driving, and after setting the cruise control, vehicle would accelerate beyond the set speed. Problem occurred five times. Manufacturer and the dealer had been informed of the problem.*ak
Cruise control, vehicle keeps accelerating after cruise control set button is released also when coast button is pushed vehicle will accelerate. Buttons are free and not sticking. This is an intermittent problem. Almost rearended cars on two occasions. Just bought car and have not had a chance to get to delear.*ak
While traveling at about 45 MPH, the throttle on my 02 ford explorer suddenly would not return to idle. The cruise control was not on at the time. The cause was a plastic sheathing between the throttle cable and the exterior housing of the cable. I believe this material is used for lubrication? The material appeared to pull out of the housing and bunched up inside the driver footwell. When my foot was removed from the pedal, it would not return fully to idle because this tan material bunched up at the base of the housing where the cable comes through the firewall. By cutting the excess material away, I was able to get the pedal to respond properly. The dealer replaced the throttle cable under warranty.
Also reported on the 2002 Ford Explorer
Other powertrain problem
Liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure
Complete transmission failure
Differential or transfer case failure
Other suspension problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 43 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 cruise control failure happen on the 2002 Ford Explorer?
Across 35 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 62,500 miles and a quarter after 127,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cruise control failure on the 2002 Ford Explorer?
43 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