Owners have filed 872 complaints on the Ford Excursion, covering 2000–2005. The system named most often is Tires (196 reports). Worst years by volume: 2000, 2001, 2002; cleanest: 2005, 2004, 2003. 61 reports describe a crash, 75 a fire, 4 a death. On average the car was 4.9 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Ford Excursion
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 872 Excursion complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Tires 196 Read
The contact owns a 2003 ford excursion with copper replacement tires, model discovery ht 265/70r/16. While driving at 65 mph, the casing fractured from the rear passenger side tire. The tire was replaced. One year later, the exact same failure occurred on the driver side tire where the contact was involved in a crash.…
The consumer noticed a vibration while driving. The front driver's side tire exploded like it was over pressured. *ak the vehicle was thrown across another traffic lane, spun backwards and left the road sideways into the median. The vehicle did not roll but received extensive damage. *la
While traveling at 60 mph, consumer states that the drivers side tire blew causing vehicle to hit a guard rail. Took to mechanic, and mechanic change tire. Cause of blow out is unknown. Please provide any further information. Ts
Engine And Engine Cooling 144 Read
The contact owns 2005 ford excursion diesel. The contact stated that while driving 60 mph, the vehicle began smoking and stalled. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle but to no avail. The vehicle was taken into a local repair shop and diagnosed as a faulty engine. The vehicle was repaired. In addition, the…
My 2003 excursion had a major turbo failure while traveling on I-10 on 12-26-03. My family and myself were traveling to houston. The vehicle only had a total of 1,049 life to date miles. While on the interstate for about 30 to 45 minutes we hear a larger pop noise and a large drop in the engine power. I only had a…
The vehicle caught on fire under the hood while being parked in the driveway for more then 10 hours or more. The local fire department arrived to extinguish the fire. The cause of the fire was not determined. The consumer notified the dealer and the manufacturer. *ak the main body of the fire was coming from the…
Electrical System 107 Read
The contact owns a 2004 ford excursion. After the vehicle had been parked for eight hours, the contact smelled something burning when it was restarted. He noticed smoke coming from the engine compartment and the vehicle burst into flames two minutes later. The fire burned through the air conditioner hose and erupted.…
Vehicle had been driven the most of the day without any incident. Towards the end of the day vehicle caught on fire. The fire department indicated that fire was located behind the third row seat, near the spare tire
Driver used cruise control on tollway, got off tollway fire started 1/4 mile from exit. Ford excursion v 10 gas engine, cruise control deactivation switch failure got hot causing engine fire. The diesel engines were recalled for the same reason. This vehicle is a limousine/qvm. NHTSA campaign # 07V078000 manufacture…
Service Brakes 66 Read
Dt: vehicle was involved n an accident due to brake failure. The ABS went out. When opened the hood for investigation the master cyclinder separted from the brake booster cylinder. No lock on bolt and the nut sheared itself off. Called ford and left message. Had to put new transmission at 16,000 miles as well. Had 2…
While traveling on the road at about 45 mph consumer had to slam on the brakes, seat belt did not lock and driver hit the windshield. *ak (second consumer for this letter: christopher erosion walters) the tires blew out and the vehicle flipped over. The driver's seat belt problem remained the same
Pavement was wet...cit was dark ....a car suddenly stopped in the roadway..my anti lock brakes locked up causing me to skid into the car in front of me..causing rear damage to it...my airbag also did not deploy..was going about 25mph..but seemed to increase in speed skidding on the pavement it caused me to lose my…
Vehicle Speed Control 52 Read
The contact owns a 2004 ford excursion. In july of 2009 the vehicle was taken to the dealer for recall 09V399000 vehicle speed control; however, the repair didn't correct the failure. On july 30, 2010 while driving the contact noticed smoke under the hood. The vehicle was towed to a local mechanic who stated that a…
When applying accelerator pedal it will go to the floor intermittently, engine will not revv, and vehicle will not move forward. Vehicle was rearended after consumer was at a stop. Then, started to accelerate, and vehicle did not respond. Damage to vehicle unknown at this time.*ak there were 6 injuries in accident
When the brake was applied, the engine revved and vehicle surged foward into oncoming traffic. The vehicle was struck on the drivers side, and the vehicle finally stopped. *jb the idle air control and headliner was replaced
Suspension 51 Read
Truck keeps pulling and jumping across lanes at speeds of 50 it has been at freedom ford 3times and the last time had an accident hitting into a tractor trailor as it jumped from right lane to left smashing my mirror and door I use this vech. As a livery (limo) and are afraid it might kill me or some one else fmcc…
While driving 55-60mph vehicle hit a small pothole and began bouncing erratically, and consumer lost control. Consumer was not able to keep vehicle in lane,and was only able to regain control once vehicle came to a complete stop. Problem has occurred twice; 1st incident 06/03/02, and 2nd incident 07/16/02. Vehicle is…
Dt: the contact stated when attaching trailer to the vehicle the suspension on the vehicle did not support the weight. After the trailer was loaded the rear suspension dropped seven inches, causing the front suspension to raise seven inches. This shift in the suspension made it very difficult to control the vehicle…
Steering 38 Read
My husband was driving our 2001 ford excursion with myself and our 19 month old baby down the highway, when it began to smoke and ignited a fire directly under the steering column. We were in traffic, made it a point that we could pull over, get out, removing the baby from the child's seat, and the front seat was…
Was traveling approximately 65mph on the freeway merging onto another freeway when the truck suddenly stalled. There were no brakes, no steering, and the truck would not restart. We had four children with us, three of them small and in car seats. We had to transfer the children into a tow truck with moving traffic on…
While merging onto 75mph highway, without warning, vehicle lost all power making steering nearly impossible. We were able to move onto shoulder just at the point where highway and on ramp met. We could not restart vehicle and had we made it onto highway, could have very easily been rear ended by oncoming traffic. This…
Power Train 37 Read
Car was sitting, engine running, in park for 10 minutes and then suddenly with no one inside, moved forward and crashed into the window of a business. There was a witness there
The contact owns a 2001 ford excursion. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, it rolled away independently without the engine started. The vehicle crashed into a residential mailbox and a mobile trailer. The contact's right leg and left ankle were injured while attempting to stop the vehicle, and…
During normal operation of vehicle underside became engulfed in flames. Driver was directed by others to pull over, and fire was put out with a fire extinguisher. Dealership examined vehicle and determined that transmission cooler line broke and leaked fluid onto exhaust manifold, resulting in a fire. There were no…
Excursion years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Air Bags | 2 | 1 | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 4 | 2 | |
| 2003 | Electrical System | 5 | 7 | |
| 2002 | Air Bags | 9 | 8 | |
| 2001 | Air Bags | 14 | 19 | |
| 2000 | Air Bags | 27 | 38 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 395 |
| Average complaints per series | 2.2 |
| Worst single series | 15 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 4.9 years |
A model average of 2.2 hides a worst series at 15. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Excursion?
By complaint volume, 2000, 2001, 2002 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Excursion years are the cleanest?
2005, 2004, 2003 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Ford Excursion have?
872 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2000–2005. Of those, 61 describe a crash and 75 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.