Other fuel system problem on the 2003 Ford Ranger
2 crashes 2 of the 11 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 other fuel system problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Ford Ranger report other fuel system problem at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 90,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 98,300 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.
27% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11,200 miles | 32,300 miles | 56,000 miles | 78,360 miles | 109,500 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 a crash 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 $300–$2,200 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 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 26; the 2003 has 11. 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 2003 ford ranger regular cab 2 wheel drive truck. On 5 occasions the emergency fuel shutoff switch located inside the cab on the passenger side fire wall has been dislodge by the passenger getting there foot on the connector and disconnecting the power plug from the switch this causes the truck to stall immediately. I have only owned this truck for approx 90 days. If this happens at the wrong time this could get someone hurt or killed.
Two things on my 2003 ford ranger supercab 2 wd : 1.) front brakes are bad, and continue to be bad, due to bad design of front rotors. The original oem rotors fail, due to warping, resulting in a most the aggravating pulsing when brakes are applied. This results in inadequate stopping when needed, and could cause a very severe accident !!! 2.) the fuel cutoff safety switch ( whatever it is called) above the front passenger leg area (on wall -inside cab) is defective, causing serious consequences to the occupants, due to vehicle losing all power during operation. This has happened to me now 10+ times in the last 6 months. Sometimes while in heavy traffic, with no where to go when all power is lost, gauges go wacky,lose steering control, etc. As soon as the switch is "reset", by pushing in on it from the top of it, and turning vehicle key to on position for 3-5 seconds, then back off ( per owner's manual) the vehicle seems fine,,,until, randomly it happens again when you least expect it. The manual says this switch is for "safety" concerns , when after an accident, it shuts off fuel supply, etc....but my truck has never been in any…
The inertia switch located at the top of the passenger floor board engages at the slighted bump. I've had this car for 5 years and continue to get false information from the ford dealership about avenues of recourse or rectification. Its a faulty design for the inertia switch to be located near possible contact with a passenger. Legal recourse will be pursued. *tr
Also reported on the 2003 Ford Ranger
Other speed control problem
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
Other suspension problem
Rust or structural corrosion
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 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 fuel system problem happen on the 2003 Ford Ranger?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other fuel system problem on the 2003 Ford Ranger?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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