One problem related to steering wheel vibrate has been reported for the 2003 Ford Explorer. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2003 Ford Explorer based on all problems reported for the 2003 Explorer.
While driving on hwy 38 in SC, the steering wheel started shaking real bad and then the entire SUV started shaking and we veered off the right side of the road into a field. The front left tire came off and we came to a complete stop. Upon further investigation I saw that 2 of the 5 lug posts were sheared off and the other 3 were bent. In addition the molding around the front right tire came off and the driver's side door was jammed shut. After everyone was out safely the SUV has been towed and is with an auto center for repairs and body work. I searched online and this is a known problem for this vehicle yet Ford has not had any recalls despite the frequency of this issue. If you search "2003 Ford Explorer problems" it will come up. This needs to be looked into before someone gets killed. I can see that several people have paid for their vehicles to be repaired only to have it happen again on another wheel.