Other visibility problem on the 2011 Ford Explorer
When other visibility problem gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Ford Explorer report other visibility problem at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 18th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 134,060 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
38% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9,940 miles | 22,000 miles | 49,982 miles | 104,000 miles | 144,000 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 2011 has 16. 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 2011 ford explorer and the sun visors do not allow me to make small adjustments to block the sun. When the visor is fully opened I cannot make 1/4 or 1/2 inch adjustments. I almost have to bring the visor half way down before it holds in place. Then it blocks my view of traffic. I've notified champion ford katy and they didn't know what to do. I can make small adjustments when the visor is facing me. This leads me to believe that it is manufactured or installed backwards. *tr
Purchased this vehicle for my wife a little over a year ago. At first everything was fine but then at about four months we started having issues with the window not rolling up. The dealer took care of that issue with no problems. Then we take it in for the scheduled maintenance (oil change/tire rotation) & our tires had inside cupping in which the dealer does nothing about & still have not. At around 22k miles my wife notices the vehicle starting to jerk when stopped or moving. Over the past 8k miles this gets worse & gets to where the vehicle has stalled out numerous times (still or moving). I have made an appointment with the dealer to resolve this issue. Not sure the cause yet. *tr
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. The contact stated that while driving at 65 MPH, the contact heard a hissing noise coming from the front passenger side of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a dealer. The technician diagnosed that the a-pillars needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 18,500.
Also reported on the 2011 Ford Explorer
Other steering problem
Loss of power steering
Other body or interior problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 16 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 2011 Ford Explorer?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 20,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other visibility problem on the 2011 Ford Explorer?
16 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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