2018 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #2101102
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING filed June 16, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2101102 (ODI reference 11667283) concerns a 2018 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on June 16, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on April 16, 2025. The vehicle had 119,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to South Carolina based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as engine and engine cooling, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD EXPLORER cohort independently describe similar engine and engine cooling failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2018 FORD EXPLORER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed the vehicle and retrieved DTC: P0303 (Misfire in cylinder #3). The vehicle was not repaired. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer, who confirmed the failure. The dealer replaced the spark plugs and ignition coils. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, after the contact had the tires serviced, and the engine overheated. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer and was diagnosed with coolant intrusion into the cylinders, causing engine failure. The contact was informed that the torque converter and engine needed to be replaced; however, the vehicle was not repaired for the most recent failure due to the cost. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate fai
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2101102 |
| ODI Number | 11667283 |
| Date Filed | June 16, 2025 |
| Failure Date | April 16, 2025 |
| VIN | 1FM5K7DH7JG |
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The contact owns a 2018 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. Prior to the failure, when the vehicle was started, th
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Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.