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Dodge Durango vs Ford Explorer

Which one, and which years, drew fewer problems per car sold

The short answer

Across the 2012 to 2022 model years the two are close, at 538 and 565 owner complaints per 100,000 sold. For newer cars the picture flips: from 2019 to 2022 the Dodge Durango has the cleaner record. The best years to target are 2019 and 2023 for the Durango and 2019 and 2022 for the Explorer.

Dodge Durango 5.7 Limited V8 2016

Dodge Durango

Complaints per 100k sold538
Recalls since 201239
Average crash rating4 of 5
'12'13'14'15'16'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Best2019, 2023
Avoid2012, 2014
2020 Ford Explorer XLT (2), front 9.7.20

Ford Explorer

Complaints per 100k sold565
Recalls since 201278
Average crash rating4.9 of 5
'12'13'14'15'16'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Best2019, 2022
Avoid2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020

By age group

Model yearsDurangoExplorerFewer problems
Older (2012 to 2015)1,109805Explorer
Middle (2016 to 2018)299629Durango
Newer (2019 to 2022)198273Durango

Owner complaints per 100,000 cars sold, pooled across the years in each group. Lower is better. A model counts as ahead only when it is at least 10% lower.

Year by year

YearDurangoExplorer
20121,503505
20131,0541,163
20141,221802
2015787729
2016234992
2017311632
2018353280
2019215162
2020131554
2021315210
2022110131
2023Too newToo new
2024Too newToo new

Complaints per 100,000 sold for each model year. Green is a good year for that model, amber average, red a year to watch out for.

Most reported problems

Questions

Is the Durango or Explorer more reliable?

Across the 2012 to 2022 model years the two are close, at 538 and 565 owner complaints per 100,000 sold. For newer cars the picture flips: from 2019 to 2022 the Dodge Durango has the cleaner record. The best years to target are 2019 and 2023 for the Durango and 2019 and 2022 for the Explorer.

Which Durango and Explorer years should I avoid?

For the Durango: 2012, 2014. For the Explorer: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020.

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