7.7
pretty badTypical Repair Cost:
$514.00
Average Mileage:
84,946 miles
Total Complaints:
40 complaints
Most common solutions:
- replace coil spring (37 reports)
- replace coil spring yourself (2 reports)
- not sure (1 reports)
suspension problem
Helpful Websites About 2002 Ford Explorer rear coil spring failure
2008Oct 08
Explorer
- Automatic transmission
- 98,000 miles
While getting new tires put on, my mechanic noticed a coil spring was broken about in the middle. I was about to go on vacation. I told him we'd fix after the vacation. While my daughter was on her way to pick me up from the airport, she reported that she heard a loud crack when she hit a pothole. It was the second rear coil spring. Needless to say, when I took it to the shop, I had to replace both coil springs. That could be really dangerous!
2010Jan 21
Explorer Limited 4.6L V8
- Automatic transmission
- 90,000 miles
I just had the transmission fixed last week at a cost or 2600. and now this, coil springs broke and of course had to replace the struts too. This is the worst Ford I have ever owned, and Ford will not stand behind any of the repairs. I looked at the coil springs and they look like they had be laying in a junk pile for years, they just rusted into! I assume they are foreign made junk.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2009Dec 18
Explorer XLT 4.6L V8
- Automatic transmission
- 67,400 miles
I took my explorer into the local Ford dealer to get an unrelated recall accomplished. The dealer offered a free 17 point inspection while I was there. At the end of the inspection they told me the right rear spring was broken at the top of the spring. I didn't believe them, so I asked to see the break. Sure enough, it was broken clean through. It being broken with only 67K on the vehicle really ticked me off. But what really made me mad, was there was no indication that it was broken while driving the vehicle. The family and I are about to hit the road for the holidays and now I have to get if fixed or fix it myself in the next three days. I called the dealer back after finding out on-line that these springs seem to fail at about 70K and asked if there was an improved spring part number to replace this spring. They had nothing to report and blamed salt on the roads and corrosion for the failures. All I know is I won't be buying any Ford parts to replace my springs.
2009Oct 26
Explorer Limited V8
- Automatic transmission
- 43,496 miles
From reading other complaints it looks like Ford has a Safety issue.Want to buy North American ,not sure if I will in the future.
2009Jun 26
Explorer 4x4 4.0L
- Automatic transmission
- 140,000 miles
I hate this suv. Bad COIL SPRINGS, bad WHEEL BEARINGS/HUB, MUFFLER fell off. What is next!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2008Apr 16
Explorer ES 4.6L
- Automatic transmission
- 92,000 miles
So the rear spring just cracked in half and came down and popped my tire, again with my KIDS in the car!!! I got the stupid thing towed home and just cut the bottom half of the spring out.
2009Apr 15
Explorer Eddie Bauer V8
- Automatic transmission
- 70,000 miles
I had a camry and an accord....we traded the cars to start buying AMERICAN,, but((((AMERICAN CARS SUCK)))) THAT'S IT. next cars are honda and toyota.
2009Aug 14
Explorer XLT 3.2L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 85,000 miles
I took my car into station for basic oil change and inspection and they found 2 rear coil springs broken. This is a major repair for not towing or using vehicle for anything but local driving.
2009Jul 10
Explorer Eddie Bauer V8
- Automatic transmission
- 101,148 miles
Both springs were broken at the top of each coil. I don't very much rust on anything of the vehicle but the coil springs both have rust flaking off.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2009Jul 31
Explorer LTD V6
- Automatic transmission
- 59,000 miles
Ford POS engineering. Thousands of people are dealing with spring failure. Mullaley is earning millions of dollars running Ford. Take his freakin private planes away, his Florida mansion and make him live in downtown Detroit. This really sucks. I'm unemployed, disabled wife who just suffered a burst appendix, 40K in hospital bills and now this POS Explorer needs HUNDREDS of freakin dollars thrown at it.
2009May 17
Explorer XLT 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 70,000 miles
This should not have happened at 7yrs old and only 70,000 miles. We were on our way back home from a 300 mile round-trip visit and crossed a low spot in a state route that was an area where a new culvert had been put in a few months ago. It's not like we hit a crater! After we crossed the dip in the road the SUV felt like the strut had given out. It swayed and rode stiff. When my husband jacked the vehicle up and started to remove the visibly broken coil spring it fell off in 3 pieces. It took a while to figure out how to put it back together since he didn't have to take it apart. There are definite signs that this one has been broken for a long time. There was very little area that showed new breakage - maybe about one third of the diameter of the spring in one place. Not only did this spring break side to side but also had a 2" area that was split in the middle longways. When he took the second one off it was in 2 pieces. This one had also been broken for quite some time and had little new breakage area. It probably finished breaking when the other one broke and separared from itself. It only cost us $125 for a set of springs at Advanced Auto and we were able to borrow a set of coil spring compressors. I feel bad for people who have to have it done at a garage. You can't find a set of springs around here at a junkyard. We were told that they are sold faster than they can get them off the vehicle. Makes me wonder just how bad this problem is.
I was quoted $150 per side for labor and $106 for each spring, plus tax. When I called for the quote the Ford garage had another 2002 Explorer in there for the same problem. I feel very lucky that there was not any other damage to my Explorer and very very lucky we didn't have a wreck. Ford really nneeds to do something about this. These vehicles are already top heavy and this could cause a real problem. I hate to think what might have happened if we had been off-road on a slight grade.
2009Jul 11
Explorer Eddie Bauer 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 93,720 miles
drove out of my driveway today and heard a squeek from the rear of the car everything was fine yesterday. Looked under the car today and found the coil spring broken in 2 places. I've already had the tranny replaced and the stereo system. My wife is a stay at home mom and barely drives this car. It just baffles me how it could happen overnight
2008Nov 14
Explorer Eddie Bauer 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 93,048 miles
Took my explorer in for NYS Inspection and they found the right rear coil spring had rusted and broken completely. Cost 192.49 to replace both rear coil springs. Ford should not use such cheap parts. Coil springs should not be shearing and breaking with under 100k miles, or with any mileage for that matter.
Update from Aug 22, 2009: I took my explorer in for NYS Inspection and they found the right rear coil spring had rusted and broken completely. I bought the parts from Advance for $101.10 and took them to a small local shop to have them installed, this cost me $192.49 for labor to replace both rear coil springs. Total cost $293.59. Ford should not use such cheap parts. Coil springs should not be shearing and breaking at any mileage, let alone under 100k.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2009Jul 02
Explorer Eddie Bauer V6
- Automatic transmission
- 62,932 miles
While rotating tires on my wife's Explorer, as I was jacking up the rear a piece of the right spring fell out. After closer inspection I found both rear springs are broke. I have been a mechanic for 25+ years and anytime I see problems like this it is due to poor materials or workmanship. After seeing this website I realize I am not alone on this. I will be contacting Ford about this. I realize I have a 7 year old car but it has never towed any heavy loads, or been used off road.
2008Sep 15
Explorer XLT 3.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 106,000 miles
While my wife was driving down the road she heard a loud clunk noise and then it sounded like something was rubbing. Had to have the truck towed to the dealership to find the rear spring broke. Had to replace both rear springs and struts. I now know of 3 other people in my area that have had the same problem. I called FMC to complain and was told "you live in northern Indiana and snow and salt are what caused the problem." seems funny no other car companies have had this problem. I guess you are not supposed to drive 4 WD in snow!!!!!
2009Jun 16
Explorer XLT 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 114,500 miles
Well, let's see: Have had the transmission rebuilt twice. Have had the shocks replaced prematurely, gone through three sets of tires, replaced the rear hatch window twice, brake rotors on all four corners twice. Driver's door window controls fail to operate about 40% of the time. Driver's seat back needs constant tightening. Undiagnosed hard starting problem whenever the weather is damp. All this, and I am by no means rough on the truck (I put about 18K miles on per year), and I have it maintained exclusively by my dealership! Rarely go off road, and then only on soft sand, no rough stuff. BUT: I love this damned truck! When it's right, it runs like a champ, is as comfortable as a Lincoln, and gets respectable mileage (I average 17 mpg combined, on regular). And my service adviser has been EXTREMELY helpful: She had the trans rebuilt the first time on Ford's dime, even after the extended warranty ran out, and covered the brake job the first time as well, also out of warranty. Would I buy another one? After 20+ years of Fords (from Mustangs to F-150's to this Explorer), I guess I'm used to the lack of quality.
And from the horror stories I've heard from GM & Dodge/Jeep owners - no thanks!
2009Mar 18
Explorer
- Automatic transmission
- 110,000 miles
Lets add another to the list of FORD sucks list! Coil springs seem to be a pretty important problem. The only recall that i have received from FORD is to fix the rear latch.....hum! rear latch, broken coil, seems priority is pretty screwed up.... thanks FORD for helping me make my next purchase decisions easier NO FORD!
2009May 21
Explorer Limited V8
- Automatic transmission
- 110,000 miles
broken coil spring just like 100s of other ford exploder owners.why does ford not recall this?guess it will take a death or a bunch of serious accidents to get their attention.This is a safety issue and should be recalled.they got the money to recall all the defective coil springs after all they did get a bail out now bail me out of this expensive fix
2009Apr 17
Explorer XLT 4.6L
- Automatic transmission
- 86,000 miles
Another F.O.R.D. failure. The rear coil spring cracked at the top of the spring. They are sold in pairs, so I replaced both. This is an endless and continuing failure rate for the parts on this particular vehicle.
Please do your research before buying one of these used. Many other parts have failed and now tops $20,000 in repairs (with documentation) to this vehicle since purchased new in September of 2002. We made the dealership throw in the extended warranty when the purchase was made. Now we are paying for all the repairs since the time limit on the warranty has run out.
2009Mar 13
Explorer XT 4.0L
- Automatic transmission
- 117,000 miles
Now that the my left rear coil spring has broken, I have spent over $6,000k in repair costs with this vehicle. I had to replace the engine, four wheel bearings, the front drivers side window control, rear passengers window motor and left rear control arm. I'll have rebuilt the truck here shortly. I just can not understand why there is no coil spring recall? Even my Ford Focus' springs were replaced for free. They know there's a problem with them and it should be dealt with because its clearly a safety issue.
2009Feb 21
Explorer XLT 4.0L
- Automatic transmission
- 81,000 miles
Ford has lost alot of its customer base with the 2002 Exploders it sold.
Soon as mine is fixed its getting traded in... I haul my children in this thing and luckily they weren't in it and i was stopping as it broke. I think it would make a good centerpiece for Ford's corporate office... maybe I should drive it in their front door and park it in their lobby. Driving a Ford for 20+ years and will not buy another one.. Trading this in and my F-250 diesel for another auto makers product.
2007Jul 18
Explorer XLT 4L 6 cyl
- Automatic transmission
- 125,000 miles
Never towed with this vehicle. Pulling out of my drive way I heard a noise like something made of metal break and the vehicle sunk to the right rear. Took it to the dealer who said the right rear coil spring broke and the left was cracked. Had to replace both. Since then I have had to replace an airbag switch in the steering column, both front and rear wheel bearings, complete transmission, and it is in an engine shop now trying to diagnose why the engine failed. I have been a "Ford man" since I was old enough to have an opinion of my own, but this will be the last one I buy.
2009Jan 01
Explorer XLT 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 86,000 miles
never towed or off-road. spring made of lousy steel
2008Oct 14
Explorer
- Automatic transmission
- 110,000 miles
I have an 2002 ford explorer and from the start I have nothing but problem with it.Last year I replaced both my rear hub bearing costing me $1200.Coming home from work and hear a noise took it in to Sear and found both my spring on my strut are broken,call my Ford dealer who gave me the run around.I'm not trying to locate parts after market as ford parts cost too much.I know I will never buy Ford again.
2008Sep 18
Explorer XLS Unk
- Automatic transmission
- 117,000 miles
I heard a noise from the car, which happened to be the wheel bearing. I took it to Wal-Mart in Council Bluffs, IA who put it on the hoist, looking for a bad tire. He found the rear coil springs, 2, had broken. I took this to my local mechanic, All Pro in Omaha, who fixed this and the wheel bearing along with all 4 of my brakes all at once. OUCH!
2008Oct 25
Explorer XLT V6
- Automatic transmission
- 80,350 miles
The challenge I have with this piece of JUNK is that there has been no recall on it, but I've found another site that says that we should submit complaints to the Safety Board. I do agree with this, as there are "original" manufacturer parts and they are made to go off road, take the bumps, as well as water that might get "stuck" in their. When we went to our mechanic to have it fixed they told us "This happens a lot." Called 2 dealers and they say "We don't ever see that problem." Now someone is just LYING through their teeth or they don't want to have to pay for the problem. These are definite safety issues and I think it needs to go further. Had an explorer in the past and didn't have this problem before. The cost to fix includes the strutts! What a bogus piece of junk and I let the dealer know.
2008Sep 17
Explorer XLT 6 cyl
- Automatic transmission
- 70,000 miles
My Explorer has a lot of bounce to it. With about 70,000 miles, I figured it is time for new shocks. This animal takes struts all away around, so my mechanic checked them out. While checking the struts, he found a broken coil spring on the right rear side. His estimate to replace all 4 struts and front realignment is $720. He said the springs need replaced in pairs (rear axle). So, with the two coil springs included will have me a bill of about $1200 (which includes the struts and alignment).
Last week I just had the emergency brakes replaced (they fell apart in the drum). This past June I had to have the transmission (a real piece of junk) rebuilt. Now worn out shocks and a broken spring too !!!
This WAS a great SUV to own until now. I owned many vehicles in my lifetime (many Fords too), but never had so many problems at once with only 70,000 miles. If Ford had any honesty or pride, they should contact us and offer to rebate some of the costs for such a poorly built/designed vehicle (or the parts they used). If Ford or other automakers expect the public to continue buying "American Made" vehicles, then they better start backing up their product and treat their customers better.
I wish someone would start a class-action suit against Ford on this Explorer model to wake them up!!!!
2008Jun 11
Explorer XLT 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 48,500 miles
i took the car in for a pre road trip check up and had to have brakes replaced; when removing wheel they found i had a broken rear coil spring, never had that happen before;
additionally i had to have the rear bearings replaced as well. i have never had that happen before, (spring) and with only 49000 miles on the car it doesn't make sense. no off road or heavy hauling, this is a family car
2006Nov 22
Explorer XLT V6
- Automatic transmission
- 60,000 miles
One night when I was driving over to a friends house, I went over a Speed bump... A SPEED BUMP! next thing I know I feel the whole back right end of the car drop, the spring had broken but was still drivable so I ended up driving home and the next day taking it to a shop, they said BOTH of the coils were crumbling into nothing... wtf?? I never towed anything, never went off road with it, just highway driving...
I'm so glad I got rid of that POS!!
2008Jul 10
Explorer XLT V8
- Automatic transmission
- 85,000 miles
I find it hard to believe that this massive spring would fail. I don['t do any off road driving just primarily on normal paved roads. The US government National Highway & Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA ) has about 30 complaints for rear coil spring failures listed on their site. If you want to file your complaint their the website is http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints
It's free.
2008Jun 03
Explorer XLS V6
- Automatic transmission
- 71,000 miles
Well, we have been getting a lot of road noise.
The tires looked poor, so I sent [I was working] the wife to get new tires,
and change the oil while she is at a shop.
Well after $440.00 for tires, they say for $660.00
they will replace the rear struts[1 leaking] , and the 2 broken rear
coil springs.
So, new tires, we still have the humming noise.
After some Internet searches, I find the Hubs seem to go out a lot on this make, and model.
So now next weekend, I need to get the Jack out and fix this junk Wagon.,
No way am I paying $300.00 in labor ..
I told the Wife Fords Sucked, and she shouldn't get this Explorer.
Now I bet she wishes she listened.
2008May 14
Explorer XLT 4.0L
- Automatic transmission
- 80,000 miles
china is destroying this country with their junk ass steel ford should learn to stop dealing with this country along with the rest of us
2008Jan 14
Explorer XLT 3.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 93,000 miles
Took the vehicle to the dealer to have three power window fixed, the ABS sensor replaced and the rear window latch replaced all costing about $1,300 They then told me the rear springs are cracked and need to be replaced!
I have gone from a happy Explorer owner to hateful one within a month. I can't believe the quality issues this vehicle has had and judging from this website it is not an isolated incident. My wife and I have only owned Fords and have had 12 of them over the last 28 years and this Explorer has had the most problems. I will be purchasing another make for my next vehicle this summer unless Ford does something to convince me otherwise. Ford, pony up and pay for your mistakes!
2008Mar 20
Explorer Eddie Bauer
- Automatic transmission
- 90,000 miles
strictly a soccer mom SUV, broken springs make no sense at all. Have yet to try to get ford to help with this.
2008Jan 01
Explorer XLT 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 95,000 miles
At 95,000 miles, Ford Service advised both rear springs were broken. After having replaced most of the drivetrain by now, this was over the top. The vehicle is used to shuttle kids and has been well cared for and never overloaded. Looking closely, yes the springs are literally crumbling starting at the top. As an engineer, my assessment is this is a design flaw or material flaw. Well beyond warranty, but FORD SHOULD ISSUE A SAFETY RECALL or they will have another Firestone class action on their hands. WHY IS FORD IGNORING THIS SERIOUS SAFETY FLAW? Everyone please check your springs to protect life of you and your family. Advise Ford in writing. Maybe they will wake up. No more Fords for me (Fork Over Repair Dollars).
2008Feb 20
Explorer XLT 4.0L V6
- Automatic transmission
- 62,758 miles
I noticed a noise from the rear axle of the vehicle and it turned out to need both rear bearings. While repairing these, the mechanic noticed both rear coil springs broken. No apparent reason for breakage as the car is driven mainly by my wife and has never been overloaded or used for off-road driving. My mechanic advised that there were recalls for other Ford vehicles with rear coil springs but there apparently is none for this model. This is not the first Explorer that he has seen this problem on. I have never used this vehicle for heavy hauling or towing. I own a heavy duty pickup which does all that type of work. NO WONDER NORTH AMERICANS ARE BUYING NON-NORTH AMERICAN BUILT VEHICLES. This vehicle is supposed to be built for heavy duty work.
2007Jul 21
Explorer XLT 4.0L
- Automatic transmission
- 59,000 miles
during the replacement of my left rear wheel bearing, the mechanic found that both rear coil springs were broke. This is bull sh*t. Ford needs to pull their head out of their ass and build a decent product instead of sticking it to everyone with junk. Until this piece of sh*t, I have owned nothing but Chevrolet. I should have never switched.
2007Nov 05
Explorer XLT 4.6L V8
- Automatic transmission
- 50,500 miles
Went to a local auto shop to get new pads and rotors. When he took the rear passenger wheel off, he found the broken spring. He was at a loss as to how this could have happened, other than design flaw in the part, since I don't load thousands of pounds inside the car, and don't tow anything heavy.
2007Nov 04
(reported on)Explorer XLT V6
- Automatic transmission
- 36,500 miles
coil spring broke on top was told due to cold and snow,salt come to find out the springs are made in China can only get as of now at Ford
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2010Mar 01
Explorer XLT 4.0L V6
Sent vehicle in for annual inspection. Mechanic told me BOTH rear springs are broken and need to be replaced. He suggested that both rear shocks be replaced also. Cost of parts alone from FORD - $407.26. I'm not happy.
2002exploder
Dickson City, PA, USA
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