2003 Ford Excursion: Reliability Data

139
Total Complaints
56,000mi
Median Mileage
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Top Issue
9
Crash Reports

When Do Complaints Happen?

Distribution of NHTSA complaints by vehicle mileage at time of report.

11,000 25th Percentile
56,000 Median Mileage
90,000 75th Percentile

What Fails?

Most reported component issues from NHTSA complaints.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
19
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:DIESEL
9
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE
8
FUEL SYSTEM, DIESEL
7
TIRES
7
STEERING
6
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
6
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
6
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:ANTILOCK/TRACTION CONTROL/ELECTRONIC LIMITED SLIP
5
ENGINE
5

Severity Assessment

9
Crashes
12
Fires
10
Injuries
0
Deaths

Sample Complaint Reports

"WHILE DRIVING AND WITHOUT WARNING DIESEL FLUID WAS LEAKING OUT OF THE FUEL FILLER ONTO THE ENGINE. DEALER NOTIFIED. PH"
"WHILE DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEED THE ENGINE SHUT DOWN CAUSING LOST OF POWER STEERING AND POWER BRAKES. PLEASE PROVIDE ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. TS"
"I HAVE A 2003 FORD EXCURSION THAT WHILE DRIVING JUST SHUTS MOTOR OFF AND YOU LOSE STEERING AND BRAKES AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS. NO WARNING AT ALL. FORD NOT VERY CONCERNED WITH IT AND BEING VERY ELUSIVE ABOUT WHATS WRONG. I CAN NOT GET AN ANSWER JUST KEEP TELLING ME THEY ARE FIXING IT, AFTER THEY FIXED IT I..."

Source: NHTSA ODI Complaints Database. Names and identifying details omitted.

When Were Complaints Filed?

Number of complaints by the year the issue occurred.

When Does Each Component Fail?

Median mileage at complaint for top components.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 19 complaints
25th: 31,600 mi Median: 85,000 mi 75th: 145,000 mi
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:DIESEL 9 complaints
25th: 600 mi Median: 1,049 mi 75th: 38,202 mi
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE 8 complaints
25th: 5,814 mi Median: 12,500 mi 75th: 85,750 mi
FUEL SYSTEM, DIESEL 7 complaints
25th: 1,285 mi Median: 34,496 mi 75th: 72,250 mi
TIRES 7 complaints
Median: 12,000 mi

Where Are Complaints Coming From?

Top states by complaint count.

CA: 19 FL: 17 MI: 12 VA: 9 TX: 9 MD: 7 TN: 7 IL: 6 NC: 6 MO: 6

Who Files Complaints?

36.7%
Original Owners
63.3%
Second+ Owners

Ford Excursion — Other Years

See how this model compares across different model years.

YearComplaintsCrashes
200063443
200124019
200215018
20041256
2005842

Data source: View this vehicle on NHTSA.gov | NHTSA ODI Complaints Database. Public domain.

Methodology: Complaint counts and mileage distributions are computed directly from consumer-reported NHTSA complaints. This data represents reported issues, not failure rates — vehicles without complaints are not represented. Full methodology.

Data through: 2026-03-28