Sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2015 Ford Explorer
2 injuries 2 of the 25 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 sunroof failure or glass breakage gets reported
Owners of the 2015 Ford Explorer report sunroof failure or glass breakage at a median of 10,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 400 miles and a quarter after 35,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 18th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 200 miles at the tenth percentile to 85,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 86,160 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.
77% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 240 miles | 400 miles | 12,000 miles | 35,000 miles | 86,400 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, 2 an injury is 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 $700–$4,500 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2023, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2020 carries the most reports, with 44; the 2015 has 25. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. While driving 30 MPH, the panoramic roof shattered onto the rear seat of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the panoramic glass was replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 3,354. Ma 08/11/15 updated 10/20/2017*cn
2015 ford explorer has foul smell inside the cabin. Really noticeable when the windows are down or sunroof is open. Took vehicle to dealer (varsity ford) that it was purchased from and it had a technical bulletin. Technical bulletin was performed and released back. Vehicle still has same issue. Now the dealer is saying there is nothing they can do until the ford engineers investigate. I installed a carbon monoxide sniffer into the vehicle and found 45 ppm of carbon monoxide entering the vehicle while driving down the road. Took vehicle back to the dealer and explained the issue. There telling me there is nothing at this time they can do without ford releasing a fix ????????
Leased vehicle new on october 18, 2014. Problem began immediately at approximately 200 miles. When passing another vehicle or accelerating from stop, exhaust fumes fill the cabin through the A/C vents. Occurs to the extent that all windows and sunroof must be opened in order to clear fumes. Has made driver and passenger(s) light-headed, upper respiratory irritation has happened, as well. Generally occurs when windows are up and A/C is operating. Reported to dealer, was told "there is no tsb for this problem based on your VIN" (though all prior year explorers 2011-2014 have this problem and it has not yet been resolved by ford, and there is a class action suit in fl which was given class action standing by a judge in october, 2014. My vehicle is not "yet" lemon law eligible because the number of repair attempts has been limited by health problems. Ford should offer to buy effected vehicles back without need to go through lemon law, as this is a carbon monoxide and "breathing exhaust fumes" health hazard which occurs almost every time the vehicle is driven.
Also reported on the 2015 Ford Explorer
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 25 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 sunroof failure or glass breakage happen on the 2015 Ford Explorer?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 10,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 400 miles and a quarter after 35,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is sunroof failure or glass breakage on the 2015 Ford Explorer?
25 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