Other brake problem on the 2001 Ford Ranger
When other brake problem gets reported
Owners of the 2001 Ford Ranger report other brake problem at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 80,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 69,000 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.
42% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12,700 miles | 24,250 miles | 47,530 miles | 55,750 miles | 81,700 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 $300–$1,800 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 16 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 1,400 miles, and latest on the 1999 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 28; the 2001 has 23. 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.
Ford ranger 2001 4x4 premature brake system wear pads totally worn at 19000 miles and rotors already resurfaced twice. Pads replaced at my cost on third visit to dealer for brake squeal. *ak
Dt: contact states: she bought a brand new ford ranger in 2000 and she has had to put 2 transmissions and 2 torque converters on the vehicle within 70,000 miles. The dealer said there was nothing they were going to do about it. She wrote a letter to the president of ford and to the new motor vehicle board and to consumer affairs. She has talked to consumer affairs at ford. She has also talked to the representative in dearborn mi. There was 34,000 miles on the first transmission she replaced. The second transmission was rebuilt. *nm the consumer began to feel a slipping sensation when going up an incline. The brakes were replaced.*jb
Dt*: the contact stated the brakes lock up and have to be pumped to work properly. When the rear wheels were removed, the brakes fell apart. The front brake pads and shoes have been replaced twice. The rear brake pads, shoes, and drums have been replaced once. These components must be replaced every 20,000 miles. The dealership determined this is how the brakes were manufactured.
Also reported on the 2001 Ford Ranger
Other body or interior problem
Other suspension problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Rust or structural corrosion
Other wheel or tire problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 23 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 brake problem happen on the 2001 Ford Ranger?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 55,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other brake problem on the 2001 Ford Ranger?
23 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