Other visibility problem on the 2009 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 other visibility problem gets reported
There are 3 reports of other visibility problem on the 2009 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 75,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 67,000 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 $150–$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 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2006, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 96; the 2009 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.
I have a 2008 ford explorer and the rear defroster wire that was attached to the rear glass door fell off. It is only held on the window by a small weld the size of an eraser head. I called my dealership weisleder ford in point pleasant nj, said they could not replace it because they said we pulled it off and its not under my extended warranty. I cannot believe that anyone in this country has not had this problem. I was told it will cost over a thousand dollars to fix! I didn"t break it! I called ford and they said they could not do anything for me. Im am upset that nothing can be done for me from ford, and I would like you to check into if anyone else has had this problem to see if it is a problem so it can be corrected because when it gets cold im going to need my defroster! My family has bought over 8 vehicle from this dealership and we our loyal ford customers, also this car did have 20000 miles on it when I bought it, so this problem might have been there already! I would like this fixed and would like to get some feed back from you on this problem. Thank you *tr
I have found out that it is a common issue that ford has a problem on several of its models that the sun visor mirror pops out when you try to use it as a shade. This is a dangerous situation for a driver while driving in heavy traffic to have this surprise distraction. My wife almost ran off the road when it happened. I currently have it taped up on drivers side and now it happened on the passenger side. Ford will not replace with any discount leaving the owner in a precarious situation. I guess once someone has a wreck maybe then ford will do a recall. *kb
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford explorer. While the vehicle was stationary, the hinges on the rear hatchback window disintegrated and caused the window to detach itself completely from the frame. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 95,000.
Also reported on the 2009 Ford Explorer
Other body or interior problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
Other engine problem
Other powertrain 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 other visibility problem happen on the 2009 Ford Explorer?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 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 other visibility problem on the 2009 Ford Explorer?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 429 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