Electric Power Assist Steering System Problems of Ford Explorer - part 1

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the steering wheel was locked. The contact stated that there was a message displayed that the steering wheel was locked. The vehicle was towed to a local mechanic where a diagnostic test was performed. The mechanic stated that the power steering had failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 159,000.

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The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer . The contact stated that the power steering assist feature was inadvertent activated while driving at 40 mph. The steering wheel was stiff making the vehicle difficult to steer. The vehicle struck a street pole. The driver sustained neck injuries but did not receive medial treatment. There were no discharged airbags, or a police report filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the power steering assist needed to be replaced. The manufacture was notified of the failure , and the contact was informed that the part required to remedy the recall is longer in production. The contact believes the vehicle may be associated with NHTSA campaign number: 14v286000 although the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was 200,060.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while reversing, the "electronic power steering assist" message displayed, and the steering wheel became difficult to turn in either direction. After turning off and restarting the vehicle, the failure had self-corrected, and the vehicle operated normally. The vehicle was later driven to the local dealer who diagnosed that the steering gear was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the vehicle was previously serviced under the NHTSA campaign number: 14v286000 (steering). The contact was concerned that the same failure had occurred after the recall repair had been performed. The failure mileage was 80,639.

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The contact owns a 2012 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 mph, and turning left onto a street, the steering began to stiffen and the power assist had stopped functioning. The contact stopped and turned the vehicle off and placed it into neutral (n) and with help was able to push the vehicle off of the road. The contact stated he did not notice any lights being illuminated. The vehicle was towed back to the residence and later driven to a dealer. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that both of the rear toe link suspensions needed to be replaced. The vehicle had been repaired. However the contact stated that the steering failure had reoccurred. The contact had researched online and related the failure to a manufacturer "customer satisfaction program" number 15n01 (epas steering efforts). The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 107,000.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 50 mph, the power steering warning light illuminated and the steering wheel became difficult while turning the steering wheel. The contact stated that the steering wheel shuddered as he had attempted to steer the vehicle. The contact stated that he pulled into a parking lot and turned the vehicle off. The contact restarted the vehicle and the power steering warning light illuminated and the vehicle lost power steering assist. The contact had the vehicle towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering rack and electric power steering assist system needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 109,000.

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The power assist warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the electric power steering (eps) needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact referenced the manufacturer campaign number 15n01: electric power steering (eps). The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the recall expired and to call the NHTSA hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

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The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 mph the steering wheel became difficult to turn left. The contact accidentally hit the curb; however, there were no injuries. There were no warning lights. There was minor damage to the front end of the driver's side. The vehicle has not been diagnosed with failure or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximately failure mileage was 75,000.

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The contact owns a 2011 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while his wife was driving at approximately 60 mph, the vehicle lost power steering functionality. The driver was able to safely pull over and stopped the vehicle. The contact stated that the hydraulic system failure warning light was illuminated. The driver turned the vehicle off and, on several times, and the power steering functionality returned. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the electric power steering gear needed to be replaced. Additionally, the mechanic stated that the failure was similar to NHTSA campaign number 14v286000 (steering) and 14e001000 (steering) however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 148,000.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 70 mph, the power steering assist failed, and the steering wheel was stiff and became difficult to turn. The power steering assist and traction control warning lights were illuminated. The contact was able to drive to his residence. The dealer was made aware of the failure and scheduled an upcoming appointment for diagnosis. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 82,410.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while his wife was driving 55 mph, the power steering assist warning light illuminated. The steering wheel locked up when the warning light illuminated. The vehicle was restarted, and the driver pulled over to the side of the road. The driver was waiting on the two truck to arrive to tow the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 118,000.

I drove to a soccer tournament with my wife and 3 small kids over 2 hours away from my home. About 5 mins away I received an alert that my advance trac system was disabled. When I was pulling in the hotel parking lot I received a warning that I had a steering system failure and to stop the vehicle. At this point it the power steering was totally disable and I barely missed hitting a parked car due to lack of steering control. I was able to guide the Explorer to an open space in the hotel parking lot. I was totally frustrated and terrified because if the failure had happened just two minutes earlier I would have likely crashed at highway speeds! so I was stranded in a new town 2 hours away from home with no idea how I was going to get home or how to get my Explorer diagnosed. I had the Explorer towed to a nearby dealership. (midland Ford in midland michigan) to get it diagnosed. In the meantime I had to find away to get my kids and my wife back home 2 hours away before Monday morning (school & work) without a car and on a Sunday. I was able to to find a way home but we arrived very early Monday morning. I am now facing a repair job of $2600. I surely do not think that I should pay for what is apparently a common and known defect for my Explorer. A clear safety issue that put me and my family at risk while leaving me stranded 2 hours from home.

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I noticed a "clunking" in my steering, when I turn steering wheel. So husband put it up on jack stand to see if anything was loose. While up on jack stands and turning the wheel, it done a "shutter" feeling. When pulling back and forth on tire, it moved fine. I made appointment with local Ford dealer and they inspected the front end and steering rack. I paid 100. 00 for the diagnose. They told me I needed to replace steering rack. Costing up to 2500. 00 if the price hadnt been bad enough news, they told me it was not recalled, but complaints were high. Also, told me that they can not get parts to fix it for a month or so??? which means, I am paying for a car that I can not drive. Something needs to be done!! as I read through all the complaints on here about steering rack issues, they need to watch over our saftey and others. Im not happy with this situation.

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while reversing out of her driveway, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The vehicle was able to be restarted and regained functionality. The contact stated that the power steering assist message was displayed. Upon investigation, the contact associated the failure with NHTSA campaign number: 14v286000 (steering) however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was taken into a local dealer where it was diagnosed with needing the power steering control module software to be updated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 110,000.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while in his driveway the steering became inoperable. The power steering message was displayed. The contact called the local dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA for assistance. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA campaign number: 14v286000 (steering). The failure mileage was 78,662.

Was pulling out of my driveway and when I went to go forward the steering became hard so I had to get help to push it back into my driveway.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, excessive force was needed to steer the vehicle without warning. The contact then took the vehicle to an independent mechanic where they informed her that the electrical rack and pinion needed to be replaced, followed by an alignment. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed her that the vehicle was not under recall or warranty. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 48,000.

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My son-in-law was driving our car with his family and the power steering went out while on the highway. The error message on the car was “steering assist fault service required’. He could barely control the car to get it off the highway and back home. My husband took it to the dealership the next day but the error message had disappeared. The dealer was unable to diagnose the problem because they couldn’t get the diagnosis code for the issue. Then I was out with my step daughter driving the car and the power steering went out, same error message along with a new error message that read “steering fault service now”. This has happened several times so we took the car back up to the dealership and they have told us that they can’t replicate the problem and can’t get the diagnosis code so they can’t fix anything. The car has been with them for five days. I explained to the service writer that this issue keeps happening and the car keeps giving us the error message. Are we supposed to just wait until it goes out again and we end up in a horrific car accident? I have read incidents on this site with the same year, make and model all talking about the same issue yet Ford hasn’t recalled the 2015 Explorer to fix this problem. We have photos of the error messages and showed the service writer yet as it stands now they can’t do anything.

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at a low rate of speed, the power steering locked as the power assist warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. Due to the failure, the contact had the vehicle towed to his home. The contact then had the vehicle towed to a dealer where he was informed that the extended warranty on his vehicle had expired. The contact then had the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic who informed him of NHTSA campaign number: 14v286000 (steering) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired and remained in the possession of the mechanic. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while at a standstill, the steering wheel was difficult to turn. The contact stated that the power steering warning message was displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic and was diagnosed but not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not under recall. The failure mileage was approximately 195,000.

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 55 mph, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The contact had to turn the steering wheel with force to steer the vehicle. The contact stated that the cruise control was disabled, and the traction control warning light was illuminated when the failure occurred. The contact drove the vehicle home. The contact started the vehicle the following day and the power steering warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 143,310.

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 30 mph, the power steering and traction control warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel and the power steering assist failed to operate. The contact used excessive force to steer the vehicle while driving to the dealer. While at the dealer, the contact was informed that the vehicle was previously serviced under NHTSA campaign number: 14v286000 (steering). The contact was provided an estimate for the repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle remained in the possession of the dealer and was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 89,000.

Power steering assist failure indicator appeared on dashboard resulting in inability to steer car. Vehicle was towed to dealership and reprogramming was attempted with no success. Requires replacement of eps steering.

At approximately 102,000 miles, vehicle started making loud grinding noise when turning the steering wheel in either direction, very noticeable both inside and outside the vehicle, both when stopped and when driving. The steering wheel sticks in certain positions while driving, requiring extra force to maintain the vehicle's direction. Issue is worse at highway speeds, creating a dangerous condition that was getting progressively worse. Made it to a Ford dealership who indicated that a new rack and pinion assembly is required at $2,900. They also recommended not driving the vehicle in that the condition was unsafe.

About 2 weeks ago my steering wheel started making a noise whenever I turned the wheel both parked or moving. Since then it has progressed into a loud grinding noise. The wheel is sticking while driving on the highway and I have to force it to move at times. It does not return freely anymore on it's own to a straight forward position. After having the vehicle inspected atva local suspension shop, they told me it's dangerious and I could loose my steering entirely while driving and to have the rack and pinion replaced. I can see this is a common problem with this model and there was a similiar recall a few years prior for a similar problem. I don't think the proper improvements to the rack and pinion where ever applied in later models and there should be another recall or the prior recall should be extended. Thank you.

Lost steering all at once could not turn wheel luckily I was in my drive way when it happened I paid yes Ford 1600. 00 dollars for a new rack and pinion on 8-13-21 was given a release date on part for 8-24-21 then 8-25-21 and now 9-3-21 this is an emergency order thru Ford they was quick to take my money but cant deliver part. I have turned in a complaint to Ford and it has not helped no calls back from Ford. Looks like this is a huge problem Ford has with its Explorer rack and pinion failure I guess there waiting on somebody to get killed with faulty racks before they do anything. My Explorer has 65000 miles on it and it looks like this is a common failure for this vehicle.

Electronic steering assist gear failed and complete loss of steering was experienced. Driver was traveling at 45 mph at the time of failure which could have resulted in serious injury or death. Ford was contacted 72 hours ago and has failed to make contact.

I had recently reported a catastrophic failure of the power steering system while driving this 2014 Ford Explorer. After researching the issue with the recalls for 2011-2013 Explorer (recall 14v286000) the same component, the pscm steering module failed with our vehicle (which was the reason for the recall on these vehicles). After the dealership replaced the rack and pinion steering system, the technician contacted me to say that the vehicle was still not working properly and that they had contacted Ford for tech support. Ford had informed the dealership that they had to re-program components which included the pscm. The failure of this component led to the failure of our steering system. Why was the 2014 Explorer not included in the recall for this issue that is still a problem? many are experiencing this same dangerous issue with the 2014!.

Ecoboost base 76k miles had a steering rack failure . Over looking all other complaints, looks like I’m not the only one with the 2500$ bill . Ford dealership acknowledged that it was a very common issue and was easy to diagnosed . I was met with light flashing on dash then would disappear after I restarted the SUV . Until I turned it on one day at a sonic drive in and would not steer . I’ve read reports where people are driving on the freeway when it happens and I could only imagine how that would’ve been like especially since I drive with my child onboard . Dash says “ advance track failure; hill assist needs maintence “ . It was quickly diagnosed over the phone but still took it to get looked at, at Ford . 100% should be a recall at such a low mileage, just thought since police use them in their fleet they had to be reliable . For it to be a 300$ core as well, sounds like it’s still a valuable part broken.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the vehicle steering wheel failed when reversing out of the garage, the contact was unable to turn the steering wheel. The contact stated that the electrical service light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to have to have a diagnostic performed. The failure code for the steering power assist module was detected. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted. The failure mileage 70,000.

I was driving when all of a sudden the power steering gave out. My wheel locked tight and I was unable to move the wheel easy. The light on the dash first stated drivers assist disabled and then "service power steering". I almost ran off the road due to loss of control of the wheel. It was taken to gates Toyota where a certified Ford technician stated it was the power steering module. Upon looking this was an issue in Ford Explorer's in the past with a recall on it. Mine was not covered in this recall.

I kept getting the power steering assist failed. I got it repaired and then I found out that there was a recall previously on my car. How do I go about getting reimbursement about me fixing the recalled part.

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds and occasionally at start-up, the vehicle would suddenly lose power steering functionality. The power steering assist fault warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle several times the power steering regained normal function. The contact stated that recently the power steering failed to reset. The dealer was contacted and stated that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and referred the contact to NHTSA to file a complaint. The approximate failure mileage was 162,423.

First instance was in mid December 2020. While driving down the highway the power steering suddenly went out, showing errors "steering assist fault, service required" , "hill start assist not available" , and "service advancetrac". Pulled over and turned off the car for a few minutes, when restarted it appeared to work fine. Second instance was in mid may 2021. Similar circumstances to the first instance: happened while driving, same errors, started working after restarting the car. After this second instance we took the car to the dealership for servicing. They replaced the hub bearings, but said there were no additional errors for the vehicle. The third instance was June 24th 2021. This time the errors showed up upon startup, and did not resolve upon restarting the vehicle. Took the vehicle to the dealer, and they determined that we would need to replace the entire steering gear assembly, at a significant cost.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 55 mph, the steering wheel stiffened with the "service power steering" and service advance trac" messages on the instrument panel. Despite the failure, the contact was able to drive the vehicle home using excessive force to steer the vehicle. Once the contact arriver at her residence, the steering wheel became more difficult to steer. The contact's husband was unable to turn the steering wheel. Both the dealer and the manufacturer were notified of the failure and both informed her that the vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 14v286000 (steering). The contact also stated that prior to the failure, the steering while would remain locked in the turn position and that she had to manually adjust the steering wheel to correct the steering. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 120,000.

The contact owns a 2015 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 35 mph, the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The "steering assist fault service required" and "service advance track" messages were displayed on the instrument panel. The contact pulled into a nearby parking lot. The contact stated she turned off the vehicle and when she restarted the vehicle, the steering wheel was easier to maneuver. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving. The dealer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to take the vehicle in for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000.