Ford Explorer vs Chevrolet Tahoe

Reliability comparison based on 54,878 federal complaints.

Source: NHTSA Complaint Data

The Verdict

Based on federal complaint data, the Chevrolet Tahoe has a stronger reliability record than the Ford Explorer. This reflects complaint patterns across all model years — individual years may vary.

Head-to-Head

MetricFord ExplorerChevrolet Tahoe
Years of Data3532
Total Complaints42,30912,569
Avg Complaints/Year1208.8392.8
Recent 5-Year Rate433.7198.8
Crashes Reported2,323587
Deaths Reported28240
Total Recalls360162

Lower complaints and crashes = better. Green highlights the better number in each row.

What Breaks Most

Ford Explorer

STEERING 3,435
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 2,718
POWER TRAIN 2,161
TIRES:TREAD/BELT 2,040
POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION 1,992
STRUCTURE 1,845
ENGINE 1,832
TIRES 1,800

Chevrolet Tahoe

AIR BAGS 1,416
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1,248
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 936
SERVICE BRAKES 773
ENGINE 625
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:ANTILOCK/TRACTION CONTROL/ELECTRONIC LIMITED SLIP 494
STRUCTURE:BODY 437
POWER TRAIN 434

Best & Worst Years

Ford Explorer Best
2024
21 complaints
Ford Explorer Worst
2002
4,095 complaints
Chevrolet Tahoe Best
1994
20 complaints
Chevrolet Tahoe Worst
2007
1,532 complaints

Year-by-Year Comparison

Click any year to see full details.

Ford Explorer

1991 (764) 1992 (848) 1993 (1151) 1994 (1531) 1995 (1048) 1996 (1818) 1997 (2149) 1998 (2374) 1999 (1737) 2000 (1203) 2001 (500) 2002 (4095) 2003 (1368) 2004 (1647) 2005 (604) 2006 (788) 2007 (271) 2008 (215) 2009 (49) 2010 (155) 2011 (1481) 2012 (1013) 2013 (2757) 2014 (2011) 2015 (2138) 2016 (2940) 2017 (1927) 2018 (819) 2019 (306) 2020 (1544) 2021 (492) 2022 (308) 2023 (126) 2024 (21) 2025 (111)

Chevrolet Tahoe

1994 (20) 1995 (296) 1996 (390) 1997 (515) 1998 (315) 1999 (677) 2000 (341) 2001 (607) 2002 (541) 2003 (628) 2004 (548) 2005 (379) 2006 (144) 2007 (1532) 2008 (683) 2009 (386) 2010 (405) 2011 (571) 2012 (252) 2013 (308) 2014 (118) 2015 (880) 2016 (345) 2017 (217) 2018 (123) 2019 (155) 2020 (55) 2021 (551) 2022 (216) 2023 (250) 2024 (82) 2025 (39)

Complaint counts reflect consumer-reported issues to NHTSA and do not represent failure rates. Higher sales volume typically means more complaints. This comparison is based on aggregate data across all model years — reliability can vary significantly between individual years. See our disclaimers and methodology.

Page generated: 2026-03-29