Tire blowout or tread separation on the 2007 Ford Explorer
Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When tire blowout or tread separation gets reported
There are 3 reports of tire blowout or tread separation on the 2007 Ford Explorer, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 38,000 miles. It is the 21st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 54,200 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 $200–$1,500 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.
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 14 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 145,000 miles.
By volume the 1998 carries the most reports, with 166; the 2007 has 3. 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 traveling at about 30-MPH on smooth pavement I experienced tire failure. No road hazard was noted. When I removed the failed tire I was shocked by the extent of side wall deterioration at the bead and the perpendicular site wall separation. The side wall separated from the bead for approximately one quarter of the diameter. Tires: goodyear fortera hl p235/70r16 photos may be downloaded at: http://whatllama.com/tirephotos/tires080703.gz. *tr
While traveling at highway speed of 70-MPH on smooth pavement I experienced a tire blowout. No road hazard was noted. The tire exhibited significant side wall deterioration at the bead and the perpendicular site wall separation. The side wall separated from the bead for approximately one quarter of the diameter. This is the second incident for this vehicle, tire brand/model, and DOT number. The tire carcass has been retained for inspection until june 30 2009. Tires: goodyear fortera hl p235/70r16 photos may be downloaded at: http://whatllama.com/tirephotos/tires081001.gz. *tr
On april 25, 2011 at a approximately 10 am, my wife and I were traveling in our 2007 explorer going southbound on rt 5 passing stockton ca. I was driving; my wife was in the front passenger seat. We were in the middle lane of this 3 lane highway in moderate 75 MPH traffic and about mile north of exit #473 when suddenly and without any previous warning (such as the way a vehicle handles when a tire is going flat or a wheel is coming loose), there was a loud bang accompanied by high vibration and a loud rumbling noise like a tire blowout. The noise and vibration lasted a second or so, then stopped for a second or so, then resumed again for another second or so after which the vibration stopped and the loud rumbling noise was replaced by a loud steady scraping/grinding noise. I got onto the shoulder of the highway in about 15 seconds. During this I had no significant difficulty in steering or controlling the explorer. The passenger side rear wheel had come off. All 5 lug bolts were fractured through and all but their short portions that are threaded into the hub, were missing. A long skid mark from the #2 lane over to the shoulder…
Also reported on the 2007 Ford Explorer
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 3 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 3 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 tire blowout or tread separation happen on the 2007 Ford Explorer?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is tire blowout or tread separation on the 2007 Ford Explorer?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 143 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