The electric system went on the fritz when it was significantly hot outside. This caused the power steering to falter and the car to be essentially inoperable. This happened 4 times throughout the summer, and it seemed to happen on extremely hot days. It would always occur while driving and caused significant danger to not only myself, but other motorists as well. At high speeds when the steering went out the car was hard to control, and got even worse as momentum was lost.
2015 Ford Explorer steering complaints
Page 10 of 13: complaints 251 to 280 of 348, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Driving 55mph on I-94 last night in a steady rain and check battery message came up in the left ip display. Within a few seconds I lost the power steering, then the center console entertainment/info screen, then the instrument cluster went black with the headlights and windshield wipers which were on highest setting slowed but continued to operate only while in the highest setting. This scenario continued off and on for the next 30 miles with intermittent electronic steering failure, internal ip and console screen failure and exterior lighting failures. We pulled over each time and within a varied amount of time from a few seconds to a few minutes, a sound similar to a squealing belt would be heard and the system would "reboot" and all functioning would be restored for a limited time. We limped the vehicle home over the course of the next hour and a half for 35 miles as I was not leaving the car on the side of the freeway or in detroit if I could safely avoid it. This morning (sunday) I tested the battery and had the battery and alternator tested under load at an auto parts store and both were within normal parameters. Belt looked good with visual inspection and 1 hour of idle and drive time close to home in damp puddling roads could not get any adverse symptoms to reappear. It will go to the ford service department at our local dealer tomorrow for a thorough inspection. This is my wife's daily driver and if no issue can be found we will be replacing the car as she would have been in extreme danger without steering, lights and ip, especially on a saturday night driving through the city of detroit's I-94 expressway.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. The contact stated that the power steering failed to function and the steering wheel seized more than once. In addition, the electric power steering, low battery mode, and other unknown warning indicators flashed. The vehicle was coasted off the road, shut off, and restarted; however, the failure recurred. Bruce walters ford (302 s mayo trail, pikeville, ky 41501, (606) 444-2200) was notified of the failure and a diagnostic appointment was scheduled. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was not available.
We have owned many fords in the past but after owning a 2015 ford explorer sport it may be the last. My explorer has only been out of warranty for less than a year. As soon as it went out of warranty there was a problem with the link so they said. Maybe it was't a link after all. There was a loud clunking noise under my car when the steering wheel was turned. Now less than a year later the clunking noise is horrible and the power steering even went out temporarily. That's scary. I took it to the ford place today and they want $3000 to fix the steering gear. This is a safety issue. Are you going to wait until someone is seriously injured or killed before you issue a recall on this problem with the steering gear????? I see there are already 94 complaints about the steering issue. You need to issue a recall on this problem with the steering gear. This is serious. And $3000 is ridiculous. I want some kind of discount and this isn't the last you will hear from me on this matter if I don't get one.
While driving the vehicle it lost power steering. Warning lights came on stating power steering assist fault service advance trac terrain management system fault this is not new to ford explorers apparently there was a recall 2011-2014. My vehicle is a 2015. It is a shame that ford or natsa would allow this risk to continue. I encourage you to recall any vehicles in all years to prevent accidents. My vehicle has been in the shop for a week already and when they told me three other ford explorers were fixed last week for the same problem I gasped that this is not part of a recall.
Over a period of a few days, I noticed that the power steering was becoming increasingly tight as I merged into other lanes or made turns on both the local roads and highway. There were no warning lights to indicate that there was a problem. I stopped driving the vehicle until I could have it evaluated by the ford dealer. The dealership mechanic identified a problem with the steering shaft assembly and said that it needed to be replaced.
While I was driving my vehicle on icy road conditions, my vehicle's steering failed without notice. Thankfully I was driving slower due to road conditions. I was unable to steer my vehicle down the road. This was the steering gear that went causing the issue. When I contacted ford, I was told it's not under warranty. Not our problem. The vehicle is only a 2015.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. While turning the steering wheel in either direction, a clunking and grinding noise was heard coming from the steering column. On two separate occasions, the steering wheel became stuck momentarily while turning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who was unable to diagnose the cause of the failure. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 22,000. The VIN was invalid.
I pulled into a coffee drive through and got my coffee order. Upon driving away after a short stop in drive gear while at the drive through window, my power steering was not working. I drove out of the parking lot while fighting the wheel to steer. I pulled over and parked and turned the engine off. After restarting, the problem was gone. I just purchased this SUV with 72000 miles on it from a dealer.
A knocking/popping noise could be heard when turning the steering wheel. It first started when turning the wheel to the right in reverse when the SUV was in motion. I brought it to my mechanic and he couldn't find the cause of the noise (no damage was visible). The noise became progressively worse over the next few months. The knocking/popping noise happened whenever the steering wheel was turned (left or right, forward or reverse, stationary or in motion). Then the power steering seized. This happened while driving 25 miles an hour on a secondary road. I was turning around a bend to the right and lost the power steering. There was no warning at all. Luckily, the power steering returned after a few seconds. I returned home and immediately scheduled service at my local ford dealer. It took them five weeks to diagnose and fix the problem.the steering gear needed to be replaced. Since my 2015 explorer xlt only had 29,000 miles on it, the mechanic tried to get ford to cover the entire cost (bumper to bumper warranty expired, and this was not covered under powertrain warranty). Ford agreed to cover half, which tells me that they admit that the steering gear is defective, and shouldn't fail at 29,000 miles. This is a serious defect and ford needs to issue a recall before someone is seriously injured or killed!
This complain is for ford explorer sport 2015 that I own and has 26,000miles. I bought this car brand new from the dealer and I've been having a problem with steering wheel. Every time when I get out from the parking or trying to park the car,I turn the steering wheel left and right and I get this squeezing noise. Beside this problem, the engine makes a whistle noise when is parked. I had this whistle noise 4months after I got the car from the dealer. I did send it to the dealer service for this whistle, they didn't find any issue, which it really upset me.I'm very disappointed with ford service and brand itself, and the fact that I'm find in more complains about the steering wheel noise and not being recalled as a problem to be solved. I would never ever recommand to anyone to buy ford. This is bad business!
Was driving and the steer well became lock couldn't turn the wheel, tried to pump the brakes and they didn't catch. End up driving right into a pole and the airbags didn't deploy with everyone hitting their heads and kids getting concussions.
I was leaving the cracker barrel in lake city, tn. I couldn't steer the car. I made it down the hill and turned into a convienent store parking lot. My husband looked under the hood to see if he could see anything. All he saw was a very corroded battery. We had had the car serviced one month earlier and they didn't say anything about the battery. Anyway, I called ray varner ford in clinton, tn where I had bought the car and told them the problem. They said it woul have to be towed in, so I called a tow truck.the service man said they would check it over and call me later which he did. The news was devastating when he said it was the electronic steering rack that had gone out and it would cost $1,731 plus tax. I almost fainted. My car had gone out of warrentee on april 24th and at the time of the incident, my car only had 25,896 miles on it. I is not many miles for a care that is 42 months old. That amount of money is two months of my social security. A little while later he called and said my battery was leaking acid and even though the dealer charges way more for a battery then you can buy somewhere else, I told him to put a new one in. We still wondered why the guys who serviced my car didn't notice the corrosion, unless it started after they serviced it. The total bill came to $2,166.79 and then I was really upset. I was hoping they would give me a break since I had such low miles on my car, even though the 36 month warrantee had already expired. I read on the internet that several people had problems with their power steering with their 2015 explorers, but there was never a recall. The 2011-214 explorers were recalled for the same thing, so how come not the 2015. My husband said the 2015 probably has the same power seeting rack as the ones that were recalled. I am scared to drive my car now and it has caused me a lot of stress.
Power steering loss while driving. 2015 ford explorer xlt with 40,908 miles on it. Received alerts about the steering loss after steering had gone out. No warning prior to the steering loss. Alerts included "steering loss stop safely", "service advancetrac" and "terrain management system fault" immediately had the explorer towed to closest ford dealer.
Have noticed the popping noise when turning the steering to the right. Noticed sometimes an oil leak by this side 1 year before. This leak was notified to the dealer in every scheduled maintainance appointment. Never was corrected. Now they told me I have to change the rack and pinion and warranty is expired. I don't know if this uncoreected leak could be associated with this rack and pinion problem I have now.
Traveling on highway at 60 MPH vehicle suddenly decelerated to 5 MPH within 3 seconds. Engine began running rough and stopped. Pulled to shoulder of road. Months before this incident warning light on instrument cluster would intermittently state transmission not in park when parking vehicle. Service technicians could not reproduce error. Vehicle taken in for service on 9/21/2018. Report on vehicle on 9/28/2018 stated that power transfer unit damaged beyond repair, steering column switch needed repair which meant steering unit needed replacing and interlock switch on shifter needed replacing. Total cost $5150.00. Traded vehicle in and purchased different vehicle. Vehicle not purchased from dealership which analyzed repair work.
At approximately 57,000 miles, my complete steering mechanism failed as I was driving my vehicle down a road, while out of state on a vacation. Both of my children were in the vehicle when this occurred and luckily no one was injured. The vehicle was towed to a ford dealership where the complete rack and pinion system had to be replaced ($1,900.00). While waiting for a tow truck, I located a ford recall had been completed for the previous three or four model years (2011-2014) for the exact same failure. This is a known issue and I don't understand why my model year (2015) isn't included. We were on a vacation and traveled down the interstate and glad this didn't occurred while driving 75 MPH.
This may be a duplicate complaint because I'm not sure I submitted my previous complaint form properly. Yesterday I was travelling down the freeway at 65 to 70 MPH when my steering froze up. Thank god I was in the right lane and going straight because if I had been in the process of turning and there were other veh. At an intersection there would have almost certainly been an accident. Also thank god my wife was'nt driving because she would have never been able to steer the car off the freeway. I was able to wrangle the car to a nearby ford dealership but after turning the engine off and back on the problem went away. As I have researched this problem with ford explorers further I have found that this is a reoccuring problem and has been reported on numerous occasions. In my wildest imagination I cannot believe that something has not been done about this problem. This problem will absolutely result in death or serious injury to someone soon. I hope it's not me or my family.
I was driving my 2015 ford explorer with approximately 34,200 miles 55-60 MPH on us 141 in northern wi when I suddenly lost power steering and traction control. I had an alarm triggered and a fault warning on the dash indicating a steering fault and cleared by pressing the ok on the dash, but had very heavy steering and an indication that the traction control was off. I was able to get to a ford dealer but they were no able to look at the car for several hours. They suggested I restart the car to see what would reset. The systems did reset and I was able to continue on my trip home without incident. No codes were triggered and I now have an appointment with my dealer to check out the problem. In searching the internet on explorer steering problems, I noticed that there was a recall on steering loss for 2011-2014 explorers and yet there are still many complains of steering loss for model years 2015 forward. It seems that this very dangerous issue has not been resolved.
I was in downtown des moines and received a "service steering fault now" warning. I continued to drive to find a parking spot. While parallel parking, I recieved the warning again but this time the steering went out. I was unable to turn the wheel at all. I was on the railroad tracks as a train was coming at this point. I continued to try to move the steering wheel anyway I could to at least get off the tracks. O finally turned the car off and restarted it and was able to move the steering wheel and get off the train tracks. We then took it back to the dealer and they had it for 3 days. All they did was reset the computer system telling me it could happen again. We then contacted ford xorp. And they also did nothing because they didnt see it as an issue. If a company doesn't care about the people buying their products, how am I suppose to feel safe in their vehicles?
The steering wheel locked up while going 55 miles an hour over a bridge going straight
I just filed a complaint on my vehicle steering problem and as I have been surfing the web I find that many other people have had the same problem. I am a retired utah highway patrolman with 36 years experience and I have never seen a more dangerous problem than this. I cannot believe tjhat something has not been done about this problem. I can guarantee it is only a matter of time until someone is killed or seriously injured as a result of this problem.
The "electronic steering gear" is defective at 80,000 miles. The part makes loud noises on turns. Repair shop says inordinate number of problems have come in with this part & failure could cause steering to freeze up & cause serious wreck. Shop says can't be repaired & must be replaced. Part & labor costs over $2k. This critical, expensive part should not fail at such low mileage & cause such high risk of injury or death.
We were driving at about 45 miles an hour when advanc trac and power steering light came on. The steering got suddenly very hard to maneuver husband had both hand trying to keep it steady, he had to pull very hard to be able to pull in gas station to get out of traffic. Blinkers no longer worked, terrain knob turned off and didn't work. This could have been a fatal accident if we were going at higher speeds! This problem needs to be recalled so that no one gets killed
All steering stopped while going 45/50 MPH on a main road! Got the steering sensor fixed for $551 and 2 days later the light is on again so it's going back in..... I'm pregnant with 2 boys u der 2 and a 7 yr old and this os ridiculous!!!
Operating vehicle in motion. Warning lights and errors showed on dash without any warning that something was wrong. Power steering instantly stopped working while vehicle was operating on city street. Vehicle became very difficult to handle. Pulled over and shut vehicle off.
Currently own a 2015 ford explorer sport which has 56000 , while driving east bound on the i84 doing the speed limit at 65mph suddenly no steering! Completely locked'-whoa'- talk about scary' almost crash into an 18 wheels beside me , I quickly hit my hazards and came to a crawl at the side of the road into a bank' I truly thought I was good as dead.. I had to tow the car to my home because ford dealership was closed at the time '-this has been a common problem with ford across their fleet for years'. As of right now I have a 50k car with 57k miles just sitting'. Will be bringing in to my dealer asap and a cal to corporate.. They will have to handle this asap ''. They will kill somebody if they haven't already
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. While driving at a low speed, the steering column seized and the service steering warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to cowles ford (13779 noblewood plaza, woodbridge, va) where it was diagnosed that the electric power steering failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 36,000.
While driving w on m-81 highway 5 miles west outside cass city, ni. Suddenly lost power steering assist entering curve.. Vehicle departed onto gravel while trying to crank wheel ccw to get back in lane.. Then while trying to correct wheel cw to stay in westbound lane, vehicle crossed into eastbound lane before regaining control and reducing speed - power steering remained in manual mode until reaching home - no pre-warning, power assist disengaged upon display warning for "steering fault", "terrain management", and "advtraction". Would have been manageable if fault occured on straight road, but at entrance to curve at highway speed, was unable to have enough time to muscle vehicle under control. Bad situation if wife or daughter had been driving. Taking vehicle to dealership today, started up with power assist functional once again, still shows faults for terrain and traction control. Power steering should not disengage if a fault is detected in terrain management or traction control. No injuries, but some wrist strain in maneuvering the steering wheel under manual control. No medical treatment sought.
Us service member overseas (which complicates the solution). Purchased vehicle in us in august 2015. Currently about 45,000 miles on a 2015 ford explorer sport and loud pop from steering column at low speeds. Local mechanic says entire steering column needs replaced and over 2600 euro ($3000). Shouldn't happen at low miles. Others experiencing similar issues across model years.
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