Keep in mind that Ford sells an average of about 750,000 Explorers every year... for every one you read about here that has a trans that fails at 80,000 miles, there are literally tens of thousands of them that just keep chugging along with several hundreds of thousands of miles on them.
I wouldn't call it a 'flaw', it's just something that wears out. Do you complain when your brakes wear out every 15,000 miles because you spend your entire commute in rush hour traffic? People that spend a lot of time on the freeway might go 50-60k on a set of brakes.... it's all in how much stuff gets used.
Every machine is going to wear out eventually, and need some parts. Those parts can be stock replacements, or heavy-duty parts that may last longer than the machine they're in... It's just the way things are. Nothing lasts forever.
Remember the days when you had to adjust lifter clearances every month or 10,000 miles? Or rebuild the trans every 30k? (50k was livin' on borrowed time) Or re-tune the carb every time the outside temp swung from hot to cold? How often did cars go through spark plugs back in the 70s?? Remember when odometers were only 5 digits long? Wasn't that long ago.... I had a 90 Ranger that only had 5 digits on the odometer....
FWIW, I've done nothing more than fluid and filter changes every 30,000 miles since 1998. I'm at 170,000 miles, and it still shifts like it did the day I brought it home. I used it to tow my boat for the first three summers I owned it.... It was a 4650 lb Bayliner... Still chuggin' along just fine on the stock trans (knocking feverishly on wood).
