Steering went out while driving making a right turn. Power assist light came up when power steering gave out.
2013 Ford Explorer steering complaints
Page 17 of 29: complaints 461 to 490 of 837, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Received a message on my dashboard " power assist fault", the steering was stiff and could not turn. Turn off the car for 10 minutes and the steering was functioning ok. Later in the afternoon, I was about to hit the gas pump as my steering went stiff again. Now am scared that this may cause accident
Just today I viewed online to check for any recalls due to my passenger side heat not working....by viewing online I was notified of a recall that should have been fixed on my vehicle that I was not notified about, and was wanting to get this issue fixed as soon as possible. The issue is it states the last date to fix was in august.
Steering recall 14s06 ,my car, was manufactured 14 march 2012,,, there is a recall that included the exact same issue including the advancetrac and service power steering soon problem on explorers manufactured at the same plant until 28 february 2012,,,,, I get there has to be a line but they are unwilling to accomodate a faitful customer. Looking through the rest of nhsta there are extensions of the electric assist reprogramming to correct the advancetrac computer problem til 2023 however only if the explorer was under the 28 february 2012 original recall. Again my car came off the line, 14 march 2012. I have gotten nowhere with the customer service 800 number except were sorry you are experiencing the same exact symptoms as the cars manufactured two weeks prior to yours in the same plant, but we have to draw the line somewhere and the problem is probably related to something else. The dealer has some resources to work with you but you need to speak to them. Mean time I have not heard from the local customer service rep ed, this case was opened last week and the vehicle is sitting in my driveway hoping to hear positive news about the computer issue after spending tmy own $1200 to replace a part that should have clearly been covered in this recall 14s06 I cannot drive it since I got it into my driveway with those two messages (both advancetrac and service power steering soon) in the dic,,, I got home and shut off restarted, no steering , I reparked it in the driveway with "zero assist" I assume it will need to be towed to the next location.
I loss power on steering wheel while I was driven. Steering wheel shut down I was lucky that power came back I replace the steering wheel but they didn't tell me what was wrong with it. I'm scare driven the SUV
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving 65 MPH, the steering, traction control, and ABS warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the power steering assist was faulty and replaced. The vehicle was then taken to tomball ford (22702 tomball pkwy, tomball, tx 77375, (281) 378-3160), but was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact referenced the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v286000 (steering). The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 76,100.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving 40 MPH, the steering wheel became difficult to turn and an unknown warning indicator illuminated. The contact was able to drive home and associated the failure with the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v286000 (steering). The vehicle was taken to two different independent mechanics who stated that the steering control module and the rack and pinion unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was taken to jack madden ford (located at 825 boston-providence turnpike, norwood, ma 02062, (781) 207-9009) where it was diagnosed that the steering control module and rack and pinion unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 90,000.
Upon starting vehicle in driveway, experienced intermittant power steering failure also showing stability control error. Vehicle is 2013 explorer with 95k miles. Turning vehicle off and restarting seems to correct the issue for now. Researced and saw recall 14v286000 for same reported issues, but seems that my VIN does not fall within the designated vehicles.
Suspension toe link
Occasionally the power steering assist failure light would come on. I could kill the engine and restart it and it would return to working. However now the warning light is on and won't go off. The power steering will not work at all.
Steering wheel locked up twice in 2 days when started and displayed a warning "power steering assist default". The car had to be restarted. This is a serious problem that ford refuses to fix on our VIN.
With the car parked overnight, I started the vehicle and put the transmission into reverse to exit my driveway. There was a loss of power steering. "power steering assist fault" alert on dashboard. Drove it for about 250 meters with no power steering, stopped, powered off the vehicle, started it back up, still had limited power steering, and additional alerts including "service advance trac" with ESC off lights. Drove for a about 100 meters and power steering assist resumed. This has happened previously with another driver, so it isn't an isolated incident.
Failure of electronic power steering system. I had turned my car on and the fault happened immediately. Previously when this would occur I would restart my car and the error would resolve. This time this did not clear the error.
The power steering has failed and is reporting error power assist system failure. The stability control os also reporting an error. The behavior is the same as is described in recall# 14v286000, but the VIN check doesn't include my vehicle in the recall even though I have the same model vehicle that is the subject of the recall. I have seen reports by others reporting the same issue and are also finding their vins are also not included in the recall. Intermittently I used to get the power assist system failure message when I would first start the car, but after turning the car off and then on again everything would be fine. However, a few days ago the system failed permanently. Fortunately it occurred while tue car was stationary, in my driveway. I'm taking car to dealer for repair tomorrow, however, I'm expected the repair to cost around $2000. I dont understand why such a critical part can have such catastrophic failure when the car is only 6 years old and only has 116,000 miles on it. I have owned cars with over 200,000 miles that did require complete replacement of the steering system.
Steering locks up while driving have to slowly put on brakes to stop shut motor off and restart vehicle. Sometimes when you get in and start vehicle,steering will not unlock when vehicle is started but will move forward and backwards with steering locked have to turn key off and restart vehicle to unlock steering. Sometimes steering unlocked up in cold weather and have to turn on engine and floor heat for 45 minutes to unlock steering. After several times of steering locking up without error message on dash now error messages hill descent control fault and service advanced traction are flashing on dash. This has been happening for about two weeks between 10/29/2019 and 11/12/2019
Upon starting vehicle, steering wheel tighten up and extremely difficult to steer, could not back out of parking space at work- power assist error light came on. This is second occurrence. The first time (1 month ago) I was parked on a hill so thought may have been a fluke. Today I looked the error up and saw ford has recall for 2011-2013 but my 2013 VIN is not part of batch. Believe ford needs to extend the 'window' and add more vehicles with this same issue! This is very dangerous!
The power steering in my car stopped functioning while I was driving. The dash said there was a power steering fault. I was able to pull the car to the side of the road, and turning it on and off seemed to reset it, and I was able to continue on. By research, this is common in 2013 explorers, and was a recall, but not on my VIN. It is going in for repair within the week. It appears the recall needs to be expanded to include more models. This is a safety hazard!
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving 55 MPH, the steering seized without warning. The contact managed to veer to the shoulder of the road and turned the vehicle off and back on, which failed to reset the steering wheel. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the power control module failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was taken to friendly ford (2250 south rd, poughkeepsie, ny 12601, (845) 462-1900) where a second diagnostic test was performed and determined that the power steering control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact referenced the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v286000 (steering). The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not selected for the recall. The contact was advised to call the federal safety agency to file a complaint. The failure mileage was approximately 65,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving various speeds, the power steering failed without warning. The contact took the vehicle to hubler ford (2605 in-44, shelbyville, in 46176, (317) 392-2557) and was informed that the steering gear needed to be replaced. The contact was given an estimate for the repairs. The contact associated the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v286000(steering) with the failure; however, the vehicle was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the federal safety agency. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.
My wife was driving down a back road by our house with our 3 children in the back and myself as a passenger. The vehicle while traveling at roughly 40mph had a light flash that read service advance trac. She then lost all power steering and could not pull off the road. She could only brake. We shut the vehicle off and turned it back on. It regained steering for a few miles and then it happened again shortly after in a parking lot. It is now at the ford garage to get looked at. It is super dangerous especially if she was traveling around a turn. It has 50000 miles on the vehicle
When my car is turning on the power steering will briefly lock up. My power steering was completely locked up as I began driving recently and only unlocked when my car was restarted.
Paint bubbling on aluminum surfaces hood and door skins, referred back to dealer who repaints and reoccurs until out of warrantee. Steering failure intermittent accutrac control requiring towing and computer reset. Can fail while driving resulting in no or difficult steering. Multiple times reset no charge. Estimate to repair $2500
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving approximately 20 MPH, the power steering suddenly malfunctioned and the steering wheel became very difficult to turn in either direction. The vehicle was towed to all american ford in old bridge (3698 u.s. 9, old bridge, nj 08857) where it was diagnosed that the steering wheel control module was faulty. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 110,000. The VIN was invalid.
While driving (second incident, it was repaired by ford motor vehicle for the same thing last year) my steering wheel became uncontrollable. The vehicle kept pulling me to the left, I almost had a head on with the oncoming vehicle. I was so shook up, I pulled off the road and waited for help. My husband tested it since and the pull is quite noticeable.
Upon starting the vehicle the warning indicator "power steering assist failure" message appears and there is no power steering. Turning off and restarting sometimes resets the warning and power steering will return but not always. There is a current recall with the same problems (14s06) but my VIN falls outside the manufacture date. Reached out to fomoco and they verified there are no recalls and there have never been any recalls for my VIN. One month ago I received a recall letter from ford for a different issue that I had fixed under the recall by ford. That recall didn't show up in fords database either for my VIN when I called today but yet it existed and was fixed. Odd that the same power steering problem keeps occurring on vehicles but ford wont recognize the problem because of a build location and date. Ford doesn't engineer us spec vehicles based on their manufacturing plant, they seem to be saying that the same engineers that designed a faulty electric power steering motor for chicago didn't design a faulty motor for another plant. Or the original "fix" didn't real "fix" the problem.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving various speeds, whether in reverse or driving forward, the power steering warning indicator suddenly illuminated. When the power steering failed, the vehicle became difficult to steer. The contact had to turn off the vehicle and wait a few minutes before they were able to start the vehicle. Once the vehicle was restarted, the power steering returned to normal. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v286000 (steering). The approximate failure mileage was 154,000. The VIN was invalid.
I have had intermittent issues with the power steering going out. Generally when I start the car. I can usually restart it and it works fine. Just recently, the power steering completely failed while driving. It is still not working. Just took it in to the ford dealer for repair. They are telling my that my VIN# is not part of the power steering recall, but clearly it has been affected by the recall of the ford explorer from 2011-2013.
After an all day event, I got into the car, started it as usual, but the power steering would not work. There was a warning on the dash, so I took it to a local mechanic. He hooked it up to the computer, and did a scan, which showed several codes related to power steering issue. I do recall on the drive to the event, my navigation went out, with a warning that sd nav card is not working, and my phone would not connect to the system via the cable. Mechanic reset the code to test it out. This has activated the power steering, radio, and even the back up camera. Yes, back up camera would only work periodically, so I thought it was camera itself. I'm worried power steering will go out during the normal drive. Is there any recall on power steering or electrical issues?
The electronic steering rack has failed and locked up. This recall has been issued for some explorers but should be expanded to include more VIN numbers as this is the same problem and the vehicle only has 40,000 miles on it. The problem started while I was driving it. I took it to a mechanic and the steering locked up fully and power steering failed during their test drive.
Tl* the contact owns a 2013 ford explorer. While driving 40 MPH, the steering wheel seized and the power assist default warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. Suburban ford of ferndale (21600 woodward ave, ferndale, mi 48220, (248) 399-1000) was contacted and informed the contact to bring the vehicle in for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. An independent mechanic came to the contact's residence and informed the contact that there was an unknown recall associated with the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 112,000.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2013 Ford Explorer?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history