Explorer Reliability Issues?

"Tony Wesley" wrotenews: snipped-for-privacy@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Suziki ultimately lost that case, and so did Sharper Image - Ionizer Air Cleaner.

Consumer Reports has never lost a case and they've been up giant corporate interests and hordes of pricey lawyers.

Reply to
Lt.Fuzz
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You're correct on the second part. Sharper Image did lose.

Suzuki did not lose. Suzuki & CU settled out of court, with CU issuing a partial retraction. Here's the bit from the "joint statement" issued by CU & Suzuki that I refer to:

''CU's 1996 statement that the 1988 Samurai "easily rolls over in turns" was limited to the severe turns in CU's short course avoidance maneuver. CU's use of the adverb "easily" may have been misconstrued and misunderstood. CU never intended to state or imply that the Samurai easily rolls over in routine driving conditions.''

CU says this isn't a retracation, it's a "clarification."

Reply to
Tony Wesley

Don't forget about the Isuzu Trooper... While they jury didn't award damages to Isuzu, they did find a good number of CU's claims to be invalid, one of which damagingly so. Ya gotta have something big on the front cover to help sell the magazine, no? I think some of their factual data is good - such as the report that listed used cars to avoid...such as specifically the

1994 Plymouth Acclaim/Dodge Sprit. We had one...piece of junk. Unfortunately, I saw that article long after we had the car. :-) Now, when it comes to something more subjective, such as a driver's ability to make a vehicle tip when making a swerve...well...I don't see any way you can scientifically test that. Seems the government has agreed. So why do they keep doing it? Makes a nice front page story? Seems their latest target is the 2001 Mitsubish Montero...

Wesley

Reply to
Wesley

I find it interesting that SUV manufacturers are now developing anti-roll systems (e.g.. Nissan's "Vehicle Dynamic Control"), just like anti-lock braking systems. I wonder what stimulated them to spend the R&D money to do that? Bad press, maybe?

I don't think they'd do it if it didn't have at least some likelihood of performing as described.

Reply to
Chris Cowles

I think Volvo also uses such a system in their SUV.

hey... your SUV can tip over, we'll install a anti-roll system... hey... your rig can sway... we'll install a anti-sway device...

makes the manufacturer look good by installing band aids to the problems!

Mel

Chris Cowles a écrit:

Reply to
meldx

"Wesley" wrotenews:aa228$426461f6$d80c464f$ snipped-for-privacy@NAXS.COM:

That SUV is a death trap.

I used to sell those POS and none of the salesmen would demo them when it was raining becuase they would constantly spin out; the back end would break lose under the slightest pressure and spin the whole vehicle in a cirle or two!

I finally had to leave that place because we couldn't sell anything, especially when there was a Toyota and Honda dealer right next door. I was starving.

The Mitsibshi van is now the worst made van in the world according to some consumer magazines.

Reply to
Mapanari

"Chris Cowles" wrotenews:o0_8e.81058$f% snipped-for-privacy@bignews1.bellsouth.net:

That's because the Izuzu trooper and Suzuki almost went out of business due to the bad publicity; just like the Audi with the sticking gas pedals. They still haven't recovered and are an also-ran now, besides making overpriced pieces of crap that is.

The Bridgstone/Firestone tire fiasco is another reason....about 1/2 the problem was not the tires, it was the high center of gravity and no anti- roll and weak suspensions.

See, many SUVS are simply car-like boxes loaded on top of small pickup truck frames and axles; old technology, too high and too heavy.

Pickup trucks have always been exempted by the crooked politicos and congress from more stingent safety rules and regulations and thus putting a SUV box on top of an already unsare/old desiegn chassis is a recipe for disaster. SUVS are classified as trucks also, hence their bad desiegns, low gas milage and immense profits to the car companies, and millions of dollar in annual bribes...errr...campaign contributions to the congress and senate.

Reply to
Mapanari

Funny...I own 2 Troopers and have never had anything near that sort of problem. Unless you count driving around on slick snow-covered roads and intentionally making it spin. When were you trying to sell them? Right after CU trashed their sales?

Reply to
Wesley

Reply to
Tom Shaw

The "Ford towing Guide" lists different towing capacities for several of their vehicles depending on which tire size is purchased with the vehicle.

Reply to
Ed H

"Wesley" wrotenews:7d5d$4282c87d$d80c464f$ snipped-for-privacy@NAXS.COM:

Well, no no one is saying that the IZuzu trooper hasn't changed drastically in the last 10 or 20 years.

Izuzu for too long, knowingly kept an unsafe vehicle on the road, like Suzuki Samurai, secret reports not made public about deaths, just like Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone did.

Once you betray my trust so you can bail out with golden parachutes and never spend a day in jail for the thousands of deaths you contribute, like the Ford Pinto and people burning alive, you've lost me as a customer for life.

Reply to
Mapanari

Reply to
Big Shoe

Okay, so from my original posting a few months ago, I have some news about our new Explorer! Turns out I got to tow out little tent trailer with my father-in-law's big F250 diesel. Here's the story:

We left around 3 p.m. on Friday to go camping. We figured it would be a 4 hour drive from South Seattle to Soap Lake, in eastern Washington. Going over Snoqualamie Pass (after going over Tiger Mountain pass - not a big one), I happened to look back and saw that we were smoking! Keep in mind, this is a 3 month old 2005 Explorer with about 2,300 miles on it! I drove to the next big shoulder, since it was running fine, with no warning lights on the dash. Got out, took a look and saw the smoke was from transmission fluid blowing all over the exhaust pipe and chassis (and on the front of the camper)! After a few hours on the cell phone with Ford Roadside Assistance (not - at least in the sticks!), they couldn't do anything for me. They wanted to tow me to Ellensburg, another 45 miles east of Seattle, instead of towing me about 45 miles back to Issaquah (a Seattle suburb). I got on the phone with my dealer from Auburn, and he set me up with a tow back to their shop. I might have to foot some of the bill, since Ford will only pay up to

35 miles (Auburn must be like 40-50 miles from where we were stuck). But it's worth it to have it close to home. In Ellensburg, we'd have no way to move the camper, or we'd need to stay in a Motel. We got home about 10:30 after having my brother pick me, the wife and 2 kids up. A flat bed took the Exploder and towed the camper.

We got up the next morning. Took the aforementioned F250 to the Ford dealer, sat in the parking lot for an hour and modified the wiring (my Mickey Mouse job...), then towed the camper to Soap Lake, for less than 24 hours of fun filled, swimming and camping. It was really literally, like not even knowing the thing was back there! Nice and straight, didn't slow down on the rolling hills with the rig in overdrive at 75. It was just diesel noisy. As for the smell, well no one was tailgating me. I don't mind the diesel smell. It's the smell of POWER.

Monday, the dealer found that the problem was a kinked breather hose for the transmission. It just built up pressure from all the heat and elevated RPM, and started blowing fluid out. They dropped the pan, checked things out, and things seem good. Runs the same, just has dirt on the undercarriage now.

All I could think about, waiting for the tow was "I wonder if this would have happened in the Honda?" I guess it's not a design problem, just a workmanship problem. I hope this is the last problem with this. Otherwise, I will really know that these have reliability issues, just like back in '94.

It is a pretty red though. And it still smells new inside. And it does have the get up and go I've come to love about the Explorers. (old Honda Passports and S10 blazers seemed to just shift, get louder, and stay the same speed) Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed the story. Sometimes, I just feel better telling it to someone. By the way, our dealer in Auburn is awesome. They literally helped to pluck us off the side of the highway.

Richard Minami

2005 Ford Explorer XLT Sport 4x4 (red!) 1994 Honda Accord LX 1997 Coleman Yukon

Reply to
Richard Minami

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