While driving on a side street in my neighborhood my steering locked up & a light came on that said steering fault I could not move the steering wheel at all I turned car off & looked under hood had no idea what I was looking at closed hood got back in car started up default light was off & car seemed fine next day driving in my neighborhood same thing happened turned car off and on and car seemed fine I drove straight to dealership where I purchased they told me it's a defect in electric power steering rack its gonna cost a lot to fix because I bought car in march 2015 it's no longer covered because we are now in august after doing some research I see many people are having this same problem & it was a recall in 2014 models same exact problem this is a safety issue & should be recalled before someone gets killed
2015 Ford Explorer steering complaints
Page 11 of 13: complaints 281 to 310 of 348, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. While driving 35 MPH, the steering wheel seized and the traction control and steering wheel warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was not able to restart after the contact turned off the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 54,000.
While driving in the city the steering became difficult, then the notification system said steering failure please stop, the drive selector failed and the blinkers failed all at the same time. After stopping the steering was unturntable by the average person. Had this failed at freeway speed it would have been deadly if not fatal. After towing the vehicle to the dealer they refused to do anything warranty wise. The vehicle has 37k miles. They failure was the eps and the rack and pinion had to be replaced. 2k dollars. I read on the internet of over 65 instances of this happening on the same year make and model, all with low miles.
Loss of power steering while driving
While driving "steering fault" displayed and power steering stops working making it nearly impossible to steer.
While turning the steering wheel to the right a knocking sound can be heard. Took vehicle to my local ford dealer and it was diagnosed with having a bad steering gear and it needed to be replaced for $1600 plus tax. The vehicle has 35,766 miles on it and is over the 3 year warranty by 5 months. Ford would not give assistance on replacing the part. Someone needs to look into these faulty steering components before someone is seriously injured. Power steering gears should not go out with that few miles. Seeing by the complaints on this page I am not the only one with this issue.
My wife was driving at 30mph when power steering failed took it to shop and they said it was electronic power steering module that failed. A 3 year old vehicle with 40000 miles on it .looks like alot more people have had same problem.
I have had the same problem for some time, and would normally be resolved by turning off the vehicle to 'reset' the warning and turn back on and it would be fine. But today, the steering assist fault service soon warning came on and did not go off. And I have no power steering function in my ford explorer and the advance trac system fault warning also indicated. In the past I have had this happen while driving down a highway and loosing power steering function and have had it happen when pulling out of my garage and lost all power steering function and while driving at low speeds in a town area and lost all power steering function. There is a ford recall for this exact problem in ford explorers years 2011-2013, but I believe this is the exact same issue I am having with my 2015 ford explorer.
My wife has for a while heard some noises from the steering and we believed this to be a minor issue. We have had the car in for service a number of times and to our surprise they have not found issues. Now the mileage of the car (38k+) and age (3y+) is beyond warranty and at our last visit to the ford dealer we were informed that it was an issue with the "rack and pinion" and it needed to be replaced at a cost of $1800 ! We have complained and the dealer will check with ford to see if they will cover this. I urge all ford owners to have the rack and pinion checked specifically before the warranty runs out as this seems to be a common problem.
Steering failed at 65 MPH not allowing me turn the vehicle. Hurt wrist trying to avoid others cars.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. While driving various speeds on six different occasions, the steering wheel seized and an abnormal noise was heard coming from the steering column. In addition, the advance trac service indicator illuminated. As a result of the failure, the vehicle struck a curb. There were no damages to the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to darcars ford lanham (9020 lanham severn rd, lanham, md 20706, (301) 459-1100) and was waiting to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not included in a recall. The failure mileage was 59,000.
The electronic power steering assist (epas) went out while while my wife was manuevering through a parking lot one time and while driving down the road another time. Luckily no accident resulted from either occurence.
While driving down a gravel road at approximately 35 MPH, the power steering stopped working. The vehicle displayed a message advising the power steering assist had failed and a service advancetrac was showing. I was able to drive the vehicle home, but it was very difficult to turn. Luckily, my wife was not driving down a busy highway or in a curve as that would have easily resulted in a bad accident. The local ford dealership advised the steering gear assembly is bad.
Power steering locks intermittently while driving the car. It happened about a week ago, when I started the car the next day it was ok. It happened again this last friday july 6, 2018 on a city street while driving the vehicle. I was able to drive it home. It is parked on my driveway now, I won't drive the car its dangerous.
Electronic steering assist control freezes up while the vehicle is in motion, causing loss of steering control. This could result in an increased risk of a crash. The vehicle must be pulled over and turned off. The vehicle must be turned off for about 10 minutes. When restarted, the problem ceases. Sometimes the vehicle must be turned off for longer periods than 10 minutes to "reset" the problem. This error has occurred five times since january of 2016.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. While driving at low speeds, the steering wheel lost power and the power steering gear assembly indicator illuminated. In addition, the power train warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to longmont ford (235 alpine st, longmont, co 80501, (720) 771-6003) where a diagnostic test located a failure code. The contact was unable to provide the diagnosis and failure code specifics at the time of the complaint. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was 35,116.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. While turning the steering wheel to the right, an abnormal clicking noise was heard. The vehicle was taken to freeway motors of rogers (14080 main st, rogers, mn 55374, (763) 428-8488) where it was diagnosed that the steering wheel gear needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000.
My steering wheel locked up. I couldn't turn the wheel at all. Mechanic says the steering module needs to be replaced.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. The contact stated that the steering wheel seized. The dealer (casa ford, 5815 montana ave, el paso, tx 79925, (915) 779-2272) was unable to duplicate and diagnose the failure. The dealer indicated that they would test drive the vehicle and asked the contact to leave the vehicle with them for further diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact was waiting on a response to determine if the manufacturer could provide a remedy. The VIN and failure mileage were not available.
This was the 3rd time it had happened. On 5/11/2018 the steering wheel locked up in the parking lot and not on the highway like before. We had to have the vehicle towed to the dealer. The dealership verified that it was locked up and the codes were still displaying on the dash. After investigating the codes the dealer stated that the steering column needed to be replaced. Well when the steering column was replaced we went to pick it up. It was reported by the dealer that a sensor had shorted out on the column causing the issue. So my wife and I did not!!! Feel safe driving this vehicle after this knowing that it could happen again. Not a good feeling.
I was driving on the highway at 60 MPH and the car beeped a warning stating steering malfunction and my wheel just locked. I was in my car with my wife and two kids. I immediately put on my blinkers and started honking, luckily everyone around me realized my car was in trouble and safely made it off the highway. Something like this is extremely dangerous when you cannot control a car at 60 MPH
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 ford explorer. While driving low speeds, the steering wheel made a grinding noise and became difficult to maneuver. The contact also stated that the vehicle jerked when attempting to change lanes. The vehicle was taken to the dealer (jack bowker ford lincoln, 2415 n 14th st, ponca city, ok 74601) where it was diagnosed that the power steering assist failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 52,000.
Vehicle has less that 65,000 miles and the electrical power steering assist shuts down making the vehicle unable to turn. This happened to me while on the freeway going 50 MPH making it extremely dangerous to control. The vehicle now has no power assist to help with steering at all.
At interstate highway speed 80mph my power steering was lost. I had two warnings pop up as it went out; steering loss stop safely and service advance track. There was not any warning at all. This was not a typical power steering loss I have experienced this with older vehicles I have had. I had to put nearly my full body weight of 300 lbs into steering to a safe place. Had this happened to others this very well could have been a high speed impact into a wall with this loss. I am having this vehicle towed to a dealer after attempting to turn the vehicle off and restarting it to see if a reset may be needed as some codes reset this way.
Since around 40000 miles, power steering will have a loud click and pop with all turns. Since 50000 miles, during the turn, the power steering will lock and the driver will have to pull hard to change turn radius. Took it to ford - entire epas (electronic power assisted steering) needed to be replaced. This is unsafe and unacceptable at 50000 miles.
Steering failed while driving in motion resulting in a close call when crossing intersection having oncoming traffic to interstate ramp, evidently a major safety risk, due to electronic steering rack design issue. Estimate of over $2,253.00 repair with $1,343.00 part at local ford dealership.---thanks,
2015 explorer sport - have a binding, popping noise when turning the steering wheel to the right. Pops before completing a full turn at full stop and will pop multiple times when doing a k-turn or right turn at slow speed. Had thrust washer, nuts, and other items replaced nov 2017 at 34776 miles, now at 38000 and its back and of course techs can't duplicate. I also went to dealer and drove after they rotated tires and changed the oil and couldn't. Next morning in driving its doing it again, but one pop at a time at full stop. This must be a defect becuase I had the same type of problem in my 2013 explorer. My warrenty is up and I need this fixed as I'm afraid to drive with confidence.
When my car is in any kind of turn you hear a popping noise . Not very loud but noticeable. Also when on a incline or decline a crunching noise can be heard. My son borrowed my car last weekend and noticed it. Took it to dealership and they of course cannot replicate this noise. With all of the other complaints about this same issue I am appalled that ford has not looked into this. I guess not enough deaths or serious injuries have occurred yet for it to be on their radar.
With 51,000 miles and just over 3 years on the car, the steering gear box failed with popping noise occurring anytime the steering wheel was turned. Got worse quickly and had to get it fixed. Very expensive but also very scary for my safety. I always take care of my cars and keep them for 7-10 years.
I was driving and while turning I lost steering assist controls. No power steering at all. I all most crashed in mid turn.
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