Complete transmission failure on the 2016 Ford Explorer
When complete transmission failure gets reported
Owners of the 2016 Ford Explorer report complete transmission failure at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 17 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 17th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 150,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 116,160 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.
12% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31,640 miles | 66,000 miles | 70,000 miles | 123,519 miles | 147,800 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 $2,800–$8,000 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 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 100 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 286; the 2016 has 32. 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.
On two separate occasions my 2016 ford explorer sport four-wheel-drive, with approximately 6100 miles, the automatic transmission failed to stay in the park position. On the first occasion in june 2016 the vehicle rolled away after exiting the vehicle at a shopping center parking lot and had to be chased down! Thankfully caught up with it and jumped back in before it hit someone or another vehicle! The second occurrence was on august 1, 2016 parked in front of a commercial building and again the vehicle's automatic transmission did not stay in the park position and began to roll away, thankfully this time before exiting the vehicle. Initially thought the first time was a fluke but since it has happened twice it is a safety concern that needed to be reported.
2016 ford explorer accelerates while driving. My vehicle has been in and out of dealership since 12/26/17. I am currently in a loaner vehicle. Receive update first week of feb 2018 that the transmission dept was behind and that they will let me know as soon as possible if I need a new transmission.
2016 ford explorer accelerates while driving. My vehicle has been in and out of dealership since 12/26/17. I am currently in a loaner vehicle. Receive update first week of feb 2018 that the transmission dept was behind and that they will let me know as soon as possible if I need a new transmission.
Also reported on the 2016 Ford Explorer
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other steering problem
Water pump failure
Exhaust leak or fumes in the cabin
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 32 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 complete transmission failure happen on the 2016 Ford Explorer?
Across 17 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is complete transmission failure on the 2016 Ford Explorer?
32 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