Before You Buy Compare

Ford Explorer vs Tesla Model 3 / Model Y

Two curated safety records, lined up. Bar lengths share one scale, so they read across the gutter. Every recall figure below is a documented public record; NCAP and complaint fields name the live NHTSA source they join from.

Head to head
  • Larger recall Ford Explorer 6.50M vs 2M vehicles
  • Higher confirmed U.S. death toll Ford Explorer 238 vs - deaths
  • Active Do Not Drive order even neither vehicle
  • Recall still ongoing even both closed
Defect tied to confirmed deaths

Ford Explorer

Ford·MY 1990-2000·SUV
238 U.S. deaths Status: closed
Recall campaign
Ford / Firestone tires
Component
Tires
Recalled
2000
Units affected
6.50M 6.5M tires recalled (14.4M produced)
U.S. deaths
238 U.S. deaths linked to tread-separation rollovers; about 500 injured.
Live data slot

Not in the v1 snapshot. Fields below name the free NHTSA source they join from - no vehicle-specific number is guessed here.

NCAP crash rating SafetyRatings API
Frontal Crash – / 5★
Side Crash – / 5★
Rollover Resistance – / 5★
Overall Rating – / 5★
Owner complaints FLAT_CMPL
Volume by component pending
Full recall count FLAT_RCL
All recalls, this make/model/year 1 landmark on file
Recall - remedy available

Tesla Model 3 / Model Y

Tesla·MY 2012-2023·EV
No confirmed deaths Status: closed
Recall campaign
Tesla Autopilot (Autosteer)
Component
Advanced driver assistance
Recalled
2023
Units affected
2M 2M+ vehicles
U.S. deaths
not asserted - A driver-monitoring defect; NHTSA has investigated Autopilot crashes separately.
Live data slot

Not in the v1 snapshot. Fields below name the free NHTSA source they join from - no vehicle-specific number is guessed here.

NCAP crash rating SafetyRatings API
Frontal Crash – / 5★
Side Crash – / 5★
Rollover Resistance – / 5★
Overall Rating – / 5★
Owner complaints FLAT_CMPL
Volume by component pending
Full recall count FLAT_RCL
All recalls, this make/model/year 1 landmark on file
Both records, in numbers
Field Ford Explorer Tesla Model 3 / Model Y
Recall campaign Ford / Firestone tires Tesla Autopilot (Autosteer)
Component Tires Advanced driver assistance
Model years 1990-2000 2012-2023
Units affected 6.5M tires recalled (14.4M produced) 2M+ vehicles
U.S. deaths 238 -
Do Not Drive No No
Recalled 2000 2023

⇆ Swap sides · All vehicles

Both cases are documented public records from the v1 curated snapshot; see the Methodology for what is verified versus illustrative. Check any specific VIN free at nhtsa.gov/recalls.