The Lemon Index$3,400 middle bill · most between $2,500 and $4,000
Lower than the $4,500 middle bill owners of all 175 models reported.
Owners who gave their mileage: a middle of 83,000 miles (94 reports).
Ford Explorer owners reported paying a median of $3,400 for a transmission replacement, with the middle half of bills between $2,500 and $4,000. That's from 120 owner reports (120 complaints to NHTSA). Costs vary by shop and region.
What owners paid
- Under $5000%
- $500–$1,0000%
- $1,000–$2,50018%
- $2,500–$5,00063%
- $5,000 and up19%
Share of the 120 owner reports in each price band.
By model year
- 2000 Ford Explorer4$1,800 middle bill
- 2002 Ford Explorer61$3,000 middle bill
- 2003 Ford Explorer11$3,000 middle bill
- 2004 Ford Explorer13$4,000 middle bill
- 2005 Ford Explorer5$3,500 middle bill
- 2006 Ford Explorer5$2,500 middle bill
- 2007 Ford Explorer1too few for a middle
- 2008 Ford Explorer1too few for a middle
- 2014 Ford Explorer1too few for a middle
- 2016 Ford Explorer4$5,400 middle bill
- 2017 Ford Explorer3$8,500 middle bill
- 2018 Ford Explorer1too few for a middle
- 2019 Ford Explorer2too few for a middle
- 2020 Ford Explorer8$8,300 middle bill
Reports per model year, with the middle bill where there are 3 or more. YouTube amounts count for the generation the video covers.
How often owners report the failure
- 2002 Ford Explorer312 complaints name it9% of that year's complaints
- 2004 Ford Explorer76 complaints name it6% of that year's complaints
- 2020 Ford Explorer73 complaints name it6% of that year's complaints
- 2003 Ford Explorer61 complaints name it5% of that year's complaints
- 2006 Ford Explorer42 complaints name it7% of that year's complaints
- 2000 Ford Explorer27 complaints name it3% of that year's complaints
Owner complaints to NHTSA whose own words name a transmission failure. Raw counts: popular years get more complaints. A complaint is a report, not proof of a defect.
Engines in these years
2.0 EcoBoost · 2.3 EcoBoost · 3.5 Duratec / Cyclone V6
Engines with a page of their own that this model was sold with in the years above. Owners don't always say which engine they had.
Engine codes that can lead here: P0700 P0730 P0715 P0720 P0731 P0732 P0733 P0734. A code is where a shop starts, not proof the part failed.
Keep going
- Ford Explorer reliability by year
- Transmission replacement cost on every car
- Car symptoms and what they can mean
Other repairs Ford Explorer owners reported
Steering rack replacement (114) · Steering column repair (39) · Water pump replacement (34) · Wheel bearing replacement (31) · Differential repair (29) · Radiator replacement (25) · Engine replacement (22) · CV axle replacement (15) · Wiring harness repair (12) · Brake repair (8) · Strut and shock replacement (8) · Throttle body replacement (8) · Torque converter replacement (6) · Clutch replacement (5) · Transfer case replacement (5)
The details
How we count
Every number here is a repair bill an owner reported, never a shop's price list. Two sources: the bills owners wrote in their own complaints to the U.S. government (NHTSA), and the dollar amounts owners said out loud in YouTube repair and ownership videos. A figure counts for a repair when that repair is the part named nearest to it. Left out: purchase prices, payments, rentals, towing, warranties and deductibles, amounts under $50 or over $15,000, parts-only prices ("the part was $80 on Amazon"), bills for two different repairs named together, and money someone else paid. One number per complaint (or video) and repair: the biggest, so it's the bill, not the diagnosis fee.
The range is the middle half of the bills (the 25th to the 75th percentile), so one wild number can't swing it. Owners who complain to the government often had expensive repairs, so a typical bill can be lower. Costs vary by shop and region, by dealer vs independent shop, by parts and by miles. This is what owners reported, not a quote for your car.
Check the bills yourself
NHTSA complaint numbers (search them at nhtsa.gov): 11773396, 11764997, 11739321, 11716301, 11710408, 11675031, 11660476, 11651337, 11649153, 11640250, 11638147, 11620117 and more.
Quick answers
How much does transmission replacement cost on a Ford Explorer?
Ford Explorer owners reported a median of $3,400, and the middle half paid $2,500 to $4,000, from 120 owner reports. Costs vary by shop and region.
Is a Ford Explorer transmission replacement more expensive than on other cars?
The Ford Explorer middle bill of $3,400 is lower than the $4,500 owners of all 175 models we have reports for paid.
Where do these Ford Explorer repair costs come from?
From 120 complaints to NHTSA: what owners themselves said they paid. They aren't verified bills or a shop's quote.
Which Ford Explorer years report this failure most?
In complaints to NHTSA, owners of the 2002 (312), 2004 (76), 2020 (73) Ford Explorer named it most. Raw counts, not a failure rate.
Sources: NHTSA owner complaints and YouTube videos (amounts said out loud), sorted by The Lemon Index. Owner reports, not a price quote. Costs vary by shop and region.