2003 Ford Explorer: steering wheel locks up

Filed Aug 28, 2015 · Brakes, Steering · 142,000 miles · OR

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. While driving approximately 30 MPH, the check engine and ABS indicator illuminated. The contact mentioned that the brakes failed and the steering wheel seized. The emergency brake was engaged in order to come to a complete stop. The contact restarted the vehicle after few minutes and it functioned normally. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic but the failure could not be duplicated. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 142,000.

Filed Nov 4, 2009 · Steering · 165,000 miles · NC · crash · 1 injury

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford explorer. While driving 45 MPH the steering wheel locked without warning. Suddenly, the driver loss control of vehicle and crashed into a bridge. The air bags deployed with the massive impact. The police was called to the scene. The driver was taken to the hospital. The driver sustained moderate injuries to the back neck and chest. The vehicle was towed to an auto collision center. The cause of failure has not been determined at this time. The failure and current mileages were 165,000. Updated 11/23/09. *lj updated 11/24

Filed Jan 24, 2008 · Engine · 99,780 miles · CO

Sat. Jan. 19, 2008; approx. 99,780 miles - engine stalled while we were turning off the highway to a side street. We had just driven approx. 20 miles, so the engine was warm. The steering wheel locked up when the engine turned off, which caused us to go into the oncoming traffic lane. Fortunately no one was coming towards us so we could stop, put it in park, and restart the engine. This is about the fifth or sixth time it happened.

Filed Dec 9, 2007 · Steering · 57,420 miles · CA

I was driving on the 118 fwy west,exited off the balboa exit, which has an incline, I started applying my brakes to reduce my speed so I could turn left. When attempting to make a left turn, my steering wheel locked, it felt like no gas was going to my engine,therefore I had to really try to force my vehicle to go left. I was able to get the wheel rotate about an inch-the vehicle coasted to the right (we avoided going over the overpass). I shut the car engine off, waited a couple of minutes ,turned the ignition on and the car started up again. Needless to say, I'm scared to death to drive my car. I keep it maintained, I have relatively new tires on it and it has approximately 57,400+ miles on it.

Filed Sep 15, 2004 · Electrical · 13,000 miles · CA

While driving at any speed, all of the indicator lights illuminated on the dashboard. As a result, the steering locked. Please provide additional information.

Filed Sep 8, 2004 · Steering · 27,100 miles · CA

2003 ford explorer...during yield to turn left and then making left turn steering wheel locked as if someone had pulled key out of ignition causing vehicle to steer left into oncoming traffic. Vehicle was moving between 5-15 MPH at time of failure. Turning off vehicle and restarting we found that steering again released and we were able to drive vehicle home. I took vehicle into dealer next day and they said they "could not duplicate concern" of course it happened for the first time at 27,000 miles,,,very unlikely to get it to happen the day they look at it. They did however replace the complete steering column to remedy an additional problem where the shift selector would pop into drive(after accellerating)even though it indicated the selector was in drive already. I need immediate remedy to this problem and have since contacted ford motor company hoping for help. Consequently not related to the steering locking problem the rear window on the left rear has had 3 repair attempts to fix a intermitt inop problem,,,and the blower motor was replaced because it makes noise...I have 4 fords in my family(f150 and f250) that we have been very happy with however we have now lost complete confidence in this particular vehicle...seems the dealer just doesnt know or want to do anything additional!