I was driving on a major hwy when I lost the ability to properly steer the vehicle at 55 MPH, luckily I was able to get to the side of the road with a lot of effort. At the time my 4 year old and 4 month old were in the vehicle and luckily no one was injured. I called my husband in a panic and he came to pick me up. When he got there the power steering fault light was on and the terrain management system would not engage. After turning the vehicle off and on the steering came back but the warning light was still on. He drove the vehicle straight to the dealer and they are in the process of figuring out what is wrong.
2011 Ford Explorer steering complaints
Page 23 of 26: complaints 641 to 670 of 743, newest first, as owners wrote them.
This vehicle has experienced multiple (20+) power steering failures. It typically occurs while I am driving on the taconic state parkway, a 55 MPH road in westchester county, ny. The power steering failure occurs quickly with little time for the driver to react. You simply get a small chime with an indicator on the dash stating "power assist failure' followed by a message stating 'power steering failure'. By the time you read the message, you already know what has happened as you have no power steering the moment the chime is heard. The latest incident occurred as I was turning off the exit ramp for the taconic state parkway onto a local road to go home. Half way through the turn, the power steering failed and I almost drove my car into another car at the intersection. With my strength, I was able to turn the wheel to complete the turn. Otherwise, it would have been a head on collision intop a car stopped in the intersection. Had this been my pregnant wife, it would have been a scary result. This car was brought to the local ford dealer (pleasantville ford) several months ago to have this issue addressed. They claimed at the time that it was due to a crossed wire that was fixed. The problem has continued to occur, and they presently have a new rack and pinion steering system on order from ford to try and address the issue. Based on the latest occurrence, as well as a slew of other electrical issues with the vehicle, I am dropping it at the dealer today as I no longer deem it safe to be driven. I am extremely upset with ford and their product over this issue.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. The contact stated that while stopped, the traction control and power steering warning lights illuminated. The contact turned on vehicle and the power steering assist failed. The contact had to turn the vehicle off and restart in order to resolve failure momentarily however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection but the technicians were unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was made not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 26,000. The current mileage was 27,000. Updated 10/17/12*lj the consumer stated the last time the failure happened, the dealer replaced the power steering unit and reprogrammed the control module. Updated 10/18/12
Driving slow speed with 1year old and 3 year old babies power steering failed. Warning light came on. Gladly I was close to home and vehicle was picked up by roadside assistance will see what ford says tomorrow.
Power steering stopped working. Cannot drive car. Error message "power steering assist fault".
As coasting to a stop light from approximately 35 MPH down to 5 and maybe even completely stopped, the service advance trac warning light came on and then noticed power steering was nearly lost. I was in the left lane and was able to pull over to a side street, stop and restart the car, and then it drove fine. Taking it into a dealer for evaluation today and have notified a ford person via online message board.
I was making a left hand turn, when the warning message came on letting me know the "power steering assist failed" and then lost all power for steering. I was able to pull over, stop & restart the vehicle and the power steering came back. I immediately took the car to the dealership and the electrical power steering unit will have to be replaced along with the 'rack & pinion' attachments. I tow a boat from time to time and this could have developed into a dangerous situation, as the vehicle was extremely difficult to steer. Fortunately, I was close to a parking lot at the time and I was able to perform the restart.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 MPH, the steering wheel locked and the steering warning indicator illuminated. The contact suddenly crashed into the proceeding vehicle. There were no personal injuries. The vehicle was driven to an authorized dealer where the radiator, front bumper and grill were replaced. The technician was unable to determine the cause of the steering malfunction. The manufacturer was notified of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 15,000.
While turning right at about 6 - 10 MPH the steering failed and vehicle was extremely hard to control. Luckily no damage or injury, would have been very unsafe if happened at higher speed.
"terrain management assist fault" and "power steering assist fault" warning lights pop up and steering locks up while vehicle is in motion. Hard to regain control of steering and have to muscle car over to curb and turn off engine and restart car to get drivable this has happened on two occasions. Vehicle again at ford dealer. First occasion last week and dealer could not replicate issue, reprogrammed computer and released us. Problem happened again this morning and car taken to dealer.
I was traveling approx 60mph when an alert from the dash sounded, the steering wheel vibrated and 2 messages appeared on the onboard messaging system: 1) "power steering assist fault" and 2) "service advance trac". At that time I lost all power steering ability. I am very fortunate that I was driving on a straight stretch of road at the time as I am unsure if I could have kept the vehicle from going off of the road. I pulled over at a gas station and turned the car off. I restarted the car approx 5 min later and it had no warnings and the power steering had been restored. The next day, the exact same thing happened, except I was going approx 10mph turning left into the ford dealership to let them look at this problem. They informed me today that they needed to order a new "rack" and that the part was "backordered" and had a delivery date of november (today's date is 8/27/12).
After stopping at a stop sign, I began to accelerate through an intersection. Approximately half way through the intersection, the power steering was lost and a chime sounded with a message stating"power assist failure" and then another message of "service advancetrac" were shown in the dashboard display. I was able to continue through the intersection and pull over to the side of the road. I turned the vehicle off and when I restarted it, the power steering was working again. This is the second time it has happened in this vehicle. The first time was in june of 2012, but I wasn't aware of this website to report the problem. I also did not make an appointment at the dealership for it to be looked at as it seemed like a rare event.
Driving along and the power steering has failed three times. Turn car off and restart and it works again. Taking to ford dealer on august 27 for review. Same as iagency action number: pe12017.
The management terrain and power assist warning lights came on. Then I had no power steering. It became very difficult to steer and control car. This has happened at low speed 3 times and at a dead stop 3 times. I have been able to reset by turning the car off and re-starting.
I was driving down a steep and curvy road and the steering locked and the power steering failure light came on along with the all terrain assistance failure light. Luckily no one was behind me and I was able to pull over ... I turned the car off and the failure light remained for both the power steering and all terrain. I turned the car off when I arrived at my destination and the fault came back about 10 minutes later when I was driving home. I have an 8 month old child and I am afraid to drive this car. We have had nothing but problems with this vehicle ... About a year ago the sync system totally crapped out and the vehicle was sitting at the dealer for about a month. We pay about $700 a month for this on a lease and can't wait to turn it back in.
A warning message saying "service autotrac" came on, following quickly by a power steering warning message. At that point, I could no longer steer the vehicle enough to continue driving.
I was pulling out of my garage and only got about 6 feet out of the garage and I immediately lost power steering - there was a message showing on the dash "power steering module fault". 2 days before this happened there was a very hard shaking in the front end. You could see the front passenger seat shake. The ford dealer said that was caused by a problem with the drive shaft. And also said that ford is aware of people having problems with the drive shaft also.
I was slowing down and getting into the left turn lane. The light was green so I started to turn left and the traction light system came on, both lights, and the steering system failure alert came on and I lost all power steering and almost hit a pole. It was a nice day, no rain or moisture. The pavement was dry.
Started parked explorer and went to back up. The power assist steering fault light came on at the same time as the service advance trac light. I was unable to turn the vehicle at all.tried backing up and going forward but the steering wheel would not move. Next I shut the engine off and turned it back on. The failure lights would not clear and the steering was still locked. Called our local ford dealer and they me try restarting several times. Eventually the process worked and the steering came back.dealer advised to bring the vehicle in right away.local dealer provided a rental car. Dealer called the next day and said our explorer was not safe to drive. Dealer ordered replacement steering rack. Projected date for replacement part is november 9. Our dealer has been great. I am not sure even when the car is repaired will I trust it.
On three separate occasions within the past two weeks the power steering has failed. The most recent event occurred while my wife was driving at highway speeds. She said the car was uncontrollable and she had to brake to a stop in the travel lane. The problem can be resolved temporarily by shutting off the ignition and power and restarting, but it is obviously a recurring issue.
I was making a right turn onto a service drive to go on the expressway. As I was completing the turn I lost the power steering & the car started to decelerate. I got 2 messages on the dashboard, the only one I paid attention to was "service advance track", I think the 2nd message was about a loss of power steering. If it was, it was because of the advance track breaking. I was able to pull over to the side of the road & stop the car. Shutting the car off & restarting did nothing to clear the problem. When I looked up advance track in the owner's manual it explicitly said if the advance track broke the car would decelerate & power steering would be lost & the car would need to be towed, it should not be driven if this happened. I then called the dealer & was told I would need to have the car towed in. When I called the next day I was told the part had been ordered & should be in on wed & then it would be installed. When I called on wed I was told the part was on a 2 week national backorder; which meant the part would not be in until aug 9. It is now aug 20 & the part has still not been received, I have no idea when the dealer expects delivery. The dealer has been very good about it & I am driving a rental car, paid for by ford, until the repair is complete. Earlier in the year I had another problem with the throttle boot needing to be replaced & I wonder now if the 2 problems are related.
While traveling down a highway at approximately 70 MPH the power steering went out on our ford explorer. Obviously this was not a good situation. We almost caused an accident. We pulled to the side of the road. Shut the car off. Eventually restarted the vehicle and continued on our travels. When we returned home from vacation we contacted ford and they now have our explorer in their shop and we have been driving a rental car for 2 weeks. Several weeks prior to this when I started the vehicle to back it out of the garage the power steering had failed and the warning light was on. I shut the vehicle off and restarted it and the power seemed to work fine. I had no other issues with it until the 7/28/12 incident described above.
Vehicle was traveling on an interstate when three warnings came up, all referring back to the power steering. The vehicle became extremely difficult to turn. We were able to move the vehicle off to the side of the road. Vehicle was turned off and seem to reset. We then drove the vehicle to the dealership where it still sits.
Power steering failed in my 2011 ford explorer while on the highway. Was able to pull to the side safely but was a very dangerous situation with my 2 young boys in the car.
Power steering failure when driving at speeds of 10-15 miles per hour. The power steering locked up without warning and then the power steering fault light came on. I was able to pull over to the side of the road with but with great difficulty. I shut the vehicle off and immediately turned the vehicle back on and the power steering did not return. I shut the vehicle off a second time and let it sit for 60 seconds and the second time the power steering returned. Two days later when driving in a parking lot the power steering went out again, I shut the vehicle off and restarted it after 60 seconds and the power steering came back on.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. The contact stated that while driving 5 MPH the power steering assist failed message came on the instrument panel, immediately after it became extremely difficult to make any turns or maneuver the steering wheel. The contact mentioned that after powering off and restarting, the vehicle was performing as normal. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the manufacturer was made aware of the failure who filed a report and did not offer any further assistance. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 28,472 and the current mileage was 29,600. Updated 09/21/12*lj the consumer the ABS and traction control failures and related messages appeared on the instrument panel's message center. The dealer found a diagnostic code for the speed sensors. The vehicle was repaired. Updated 09/27/2012 *js
Driving my explorer at a speed of 45 MPH a warning light came on and said the power steering had failed. Which it had. Also received warnings my traction control had failed. Stop vehicle and turned off and restarted. The problem reset it self. This occurred twice within 5 days.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 ford explorer. The contact stated that while driving 35 MPH, the power steering failed with the illumination of the warning light. The steering wheel then seized and the contact was barely able to maneuver the vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for inspection or repairs. The manufacturer was notified and they stated that there was nothing that could be done and to take the vehicle to the dealer for inspection. The failure mileage was 30,000.
This has happened twice now about 3 weeks apart from each other. We are driving under normal conditions and the power steering will fail. An alert on the dash will say power steering failure. Once we turn the car off and restart it the power steering engages again. I took it to the dealer and since the computer didn't submit a code and they couldn't reproduce the problem they sent me home with it. This is extremely unsafe, if we happen to be turning when it all the sudden goes out we would have ended up going off the road or in to oncoming traffic. These cars are mainly owned by families with kids since it has three rows of seats, can something be done before it results in more serious consequences?
On several occasions after starting the vehicle, the steering will not function, its stiff as a brick, wheel can not be turned. Shutting off the vehicle and restarting corrected the problem. One occasion, while pulling out of a parking lot, the steering became very stiff and the wheel would not turn. It was momentary and corrected itself.
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