2003 FORD RANGER — Owner-Reported Problems

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation Snapshot 2026-08-22 238 complaints · 5 recalls
Most-reported system: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL (36 complaints · 15.1%)
Safety signals:
  • Crashes 35
  • Fires 11
  • Injuries 39
  • Deaths 1
Compare with 2002 →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Component Problem Distribution

Share of owner complaints filed for each vehicle system (unaffected by sales volume)

Component Problem Distribution VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL appears in 36 of 238 owner complaints (15.1%) in this vehicle snapshot. VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL: 36 complaints, 15.1% of reports VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 36 · 15.1% · 10 crash reports 1 fire reports STRUCTURE: 30 complaints, 12.6% of reports STRUCTURE 30 · 12.6% · 1 crash reports SERVICE BRAKES: 26 complaints, 10.9% of reports SERVICE BRAKES 26 · 10.9% · 5 crash reports AIR BAGS: 21 complaints, 8.8% of reports AIR BAGS 21 · 8.8% · 8 crash reports ENGINE: 20 complaints, 8.4% of reports ENGINE 20 · 8.4% · 1 fire reports FUEL SYSTEM: 15 complaints, 6.3% of reports FUEL SYSTEM 15 · 6.3% · 2 crash reports 2 fire reports SUSPENSION: 15 complaints, 6.3% of reports SUSPENSION 15 · 6.3% ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 13 complaints, 5.5% of reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 13 · 5.5% · 6 fire reports POWER TRAIN: 13 complaints, 5.5% of reports POWER TRAIN 13 · 5.5% · 1 crash reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER: 120 complaints, 50.4% of reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER 120 · 50.4% · 12 crash reports 4 fire reports 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER is an NHTSA classification artifact and is always listed last.

View component data as a table
System / Component Complaints Share of Reports Safety Reports (Crashes / Fires)
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 36 15.1% 10 crashes · 1 fires
STRUCTURE 30 12.6% 1 crashes · 0 fires
SERVICE BRAKES 26 10.9% 5 crashes · 0 fires
AIR BAGS 21 8.8% 8 crashes · 0 fires
ENGINE 20 8.4% 0 crashes · 1 fires
FUEL SYSTEM 15 6.3% 2 crashes · 2 fires
SUSPENSION 15 6.3% 0 crashes · 0 fires
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 13 5.5% 0 crashes · 6 fires
POWER TRAIN 13 5.5% 1 crashes · 0 fires
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 120 50.4% 12 crashes · 4 fires
NHTSA Consumer Complaints, NHTSA Safety Recalls, and NHTSA Defect Investigations Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Problem & Recall Timeline

Observed complaint volume and manufacturer recall actions over time

Problem & Recall Timeline Owner reports in this snapshot begin in Oct 2002; the first recall shown was reported in May 2006. 2002-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2003-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2003-Q2: 7 owner reports 7 2003-Q3: 7 owner reports 7 2003-Q4: 15 owner reports 15 2004-Q1: 13 owner reports 13 2004-Q2: 6 owner reports 6 2004-Q3: 6 owner reports 6 2004-Q4: 10 owner reports 10 2005-Q1: 9 owner reports 9 2005-Q2: 6 owner reports 6 2005-Q3: 7 owner reports 7 2005-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2006-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2006-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2007-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2007-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2007-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2007-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2008-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2008-Q2: 4 owner reports 4 2008-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2009-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2009-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2009-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2010-Q1: 5 owner reports 5 2010-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2010-Q3: 5 owner reports 5 2010-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2011-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2011-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2011-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2012-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2012-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2012-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2012-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2013-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2013-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2013-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2013-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2014-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2014-Q2: 4 owner reports 4 2014-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2014-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2015-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2015-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2015-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2015-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2016-Q1: 6 owner reports 6 2016-Q2: 4 owner reports 4 2016-Q3: 6 owner reports 6 2016-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2017-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2017-Q4: 6 owner reports 6 2018-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2018-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2018-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2018-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2019-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2019-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2019-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2020-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2020-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2020-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2021-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2022-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2023-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2025-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 Owner reports Oct 2002 Jul 2025 Recall campaign 06E049000 ◆ Recall campaign 06E049000 Recall campaign 06E065000 ◆ Recall campaign 06E065000 Recall campaign 09E012000 ◆ Recall campaign 09E012000 Recall campaign 09E025000 ◆ Recall campaign 09E025000 Recall campaign 09V399000 ◆ Recall campaign 09V399000 Investigation PE05066 ● Investigation PE05066
  • Campaign 09E025000 was reported 2,112 days after the first earlier complaint mapped to its component.
View timeline records as a table
Date Record type Count Record identifier
2002-Q4 Owner reports 1
2003-Q1 Owner reports 2
2003-Q2 Owner reports 7
2003-Q3 Owner reports 7
2003-Q4 Owner reports 15
2004-Q1 Owner reports 13
2004-Q2 Owner reports 6
2004-Q3 Owner reports 6
2004-Q4 Owner reports 10
2005-Q1 Owner reports 9
2005-Q2 Owner reports 6
2005-Q3 Owner reports 7
2005-Q4 Owner reports 4
2006-Q1 Owner reports 1
2006-Q2 Owner reports 1
2006-Q3 Owner reports 3
2006-Q4 Owner reports 1
2007-Q1 Owner reports 3
2007-Q2 Owner reports 3
2007-Q3 Owner reports 2
2007-Q4 Owner reports 3
2008-Q1 Owner reports 2
2008-Q2 Owner reports 4
2008-Q4 Owner reports 3
2009-Q1 Owner reports 3
2009-Q2 Owner reports 2
2009-Q4 Owner reports 1
2010-Q1 Owner reports 5
2010-Q2 Owner reports 2
2010-Q3 Owner reports 5
2010-Q4 Owner reports 4
2011-Q1 Owner reports 2
2011-Q2 Owner reports 3
2011-Q4 Owner reports 4
2012-Q1 Owner reports 2
2012-Q2 Owner reports 1
2012-Q3 Owner reports 2
2012-Q4 Owner reports 1
2013-Q1 Owner reports 2
2013-Q2 Owner reports 2
2013-Q3 Owner reports 3
2013-Q4 Owner reports 1
2014-Q1 Owner reports 3
2014-Q2 Owner reports 4
2014-Q3 Owner reports 2
2014-Q4 Owner reports 3
2015-Q1 Owner reports 2
2015-Q2 Owner reports 2
2015-Q3 Owner reports 2
2015-Q4 Owner reports 3
2016-Q1 Owner reports 6
2016-Q2 Owner reports 4
2016-Q3 Owner reports 6
2016-Q4 Owner reports 2
2017-Q1 Owner reports 1
2017-Q2 Owner reports 1
2017-Q3 Owner reports 3
2017-Q4 Owner reports 6
2018-Q1 Owner reports 1
2018-Q2 Owner reports 3
2018-Q3 Owner reports 2
2018-Q4 Owner reports 1
2019-Q1 Owner reports 1
2019-Q3 Owner reports 3
2019-Q4 Owner reports 1
2020-Q2 Owner reports 1
2020-Q3 Owner reports 3
2020-Q4 Owner reports 1
2021-Q2 Owner reports 2
2022-Q3 Owner reports 1
2023-Q2 Owner reports 3
2025-Q3 Owner reports 1
Recall campaign 1 06E049000
Recall campaign 1 06E065000
Recall campaign 1 09E012000
Recall campaign 1 09E025000
Recall campaign 1 09V399000
Defect investigation 1 PE05066
NHTSA Safety Recalls Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Safety Recalls (5)

Official safety recall campaigns filed with NHTSA

  1. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 06E049000

    Report date
    Component:
    Not available in the source record
    Consequence:
    WITHOUT THE AMBER REFLECTORS, THE VEHICLE WILL BE POORLY ILLUMINATED, POSSIBLY RESULTING IN A VEHICLE CRASH WITHOUT WARNING.
    Remedy:
    CK MOTORSPORT WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND REPLACE THE NONCOMPLIANT LAMPS FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL BEGAN ON JULY 1, 2006. OWNERS MAY CONTACT CK MOTORSPORT AT 1-909-610-7211.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →

  2. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 06E065000

    Report date
    Component:
    Not available in the source record
    Consequence:
    LACK OF AMBER SIDE REFLECTORS IN THE LAMPS WILL DECREASE LIGHTING VISIBILITY TO OTHER DRIVERS AND MAY POSSIBLY RESULT IN A VEHICLE CRASH.
    Remedy:
    AJ MOTORSPORT WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND OFFER REIMBURSEMENT FOR THE LAMPS. THE RECALL BEGAN ON JULY 31, 2006. OWNERS MAY CONTACT AJ MOTORSPORT AT 626-618-2026.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →

  3. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 09E012000

    Report date
    Component:
    Not available in the source record
    Consequence:
    DECREASED LIGHTING VISIBILITY MAY RESULT IN A VEHICLE CRASH.
    Remedy:
    SABERSPORT WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND OFFER A FULL REFUND FOR THE NONCOMPLIANT COMBINATION LAMPS. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON MAY 11, 2009. OWNERS MAY CONTACT SABERSPORT AT 1-909-598-7589.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →

  4. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 09E025000

    Report date
    Component:
    EXTERIOR LIGHTING
    Consequence:
    DECREASED LIGHTING VISIBILITY MAY RESULT IN A VEHICLE CRASH.
    Remedy:
    DOPE, INC. WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND OFFER A FULL REFUND FOR THE NONCOMPLIANT COMBINATION LAMPS. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON JULY 28, 2009. OWNERS MAY CONTACT DOPE, INC. AT 1-626-272-1798.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →

  5. Manufacturer action

    Recall campaign 09V399000

    Report date
    Component:
    Not available in the source record
    Consequence:
    A VEHICLE FIRE COULD OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT THE ENGINE RUNNING.
    Remedy:
    FORD WILL NOTIFY OWNERS THAT DEALERS WILL INSTALL A FUSED WIRING HARNESS IN LINE WITH THE SCDS. ON 1999-2003 WINDSTAR VEHICLES WITH A LEAKING SCDS, DEALERS WILL ALSO INSPECT THE ABS CONTROL MODULE CONNECTOR AND REPAIR AS NECESSARY. REPAIRS WILL BE COMPLETED FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON OCTOBER 27, 2009. OWNERS MAY CONTACT FORD AT 1-888-222-2751.
    View authoritative NHTSA record →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Complaint Narrative Explorer

Verbatim owner-reported defect narratives from NHTSA public records

Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · snapshot 2026-08-21
Safety incident filters
Showing 0 of 238 complaints · page 1 of 10

No complaints match the current filters.
EPA Fuel Economy Database Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Estimated Ownership Cost

EPA fuel economy ratings and annual operating cost estimates

Data: US EPA Fuel Economy Guide · snapshot 2026-08-21
Supported range: 1,000–60,000 miles per year
Supported range: $1.50–$10.00 per gallon
55% city45% highway
Estimate unavailable

EPA fuel-economy data is unavailable for this vehicle.

No estimate is shown when required EPA values are unavailable.

 Open Ownership Cost Calculator →

Adjacent Model Years

Immediate preceding and succeeding model year records

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Methodology & Data Integrity

Data sourced from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Snapshot date: 2026-08-21.

Read our complete data methodology → Sources