2016 Ford Explorer: lane keeping assist jerks the wheel

Filed Mar 24, 2026 · Driver assistance, Electrical · NJ · fire

Driving down the NJ Turnpike the dashboard started displaying lane assist no longer available along with a check engine light. Once stopped the front of the car had been burned with parts of the bumper melted. No visible fire at that time. Had the vehicle towed to Holman Ford. They assessed the damage to the Explorer and it was determined that the front facing camera had shorted causing an electrical fire that damaged the camera and front bumper writing harness along with the engine wiring harnesses. The car has been deemed a total loss due to the fire. The vehicle on has 67000 miles on it to date.

Filed Aug 23, 2024 · Electrical · VA

All of my warning notifications (911 Assist, airbag, front camera, parking assist, lane departure, lane keeping, etc.) turn on after 10 minutes of driving or turning on ac/heat. I was told by Ford dealer that the steering column control module cluster needs to be replaced and that there is a backorder for the part meaning it is unknow when the part will be available ($1450 for repair plus $175 for diagnose). I have been waiting a month already and still no update. Dealer also said that they hope it will fix the problem but no knowing until it is done.

Filed Jul 4, 2023 · Steering · KS

The steering felt stiff as I was pulling out this morning. It was fine yesterday, and today it felt as if the lane assist was trying to be active when it didn't need to be; I can street the car, but it feels like it's constantly trying to correct the course and keep the car going straight forward. I tried turning off the land assist to see if it changed, but didn't really see a difference. Speed did not matter; it was noticeable at all speeds. The car was recently repaired due to a turbocharger failure, and at that time they discovered and also repaired the front drive shaft; it has operated perfectly until today.

Filed May 30, 2023 · Steering · 49,000 miles · MD

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the Lane Keep Assist warning light illuminated. Additionally, the steering wheel seized. The contact stated the failure was intermittent. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who informed the contact that this was a common failure with the year, make, and model vehicle. The dealer was able to duplicate the failure, and the vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to file a complaint with the federal safety agency Hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 49,000.

Filed Jan 12, 2023 · Driver assistance, Steering · WI

"Steering Assist Fault" and Lane Keeping Sys. Malfunction" faults appeared on my dash display. The vehicle is available for inspection if requested. When the faults lit up, I was unable to steer the vehicle. It was as if the steering was completely locked up. Fortunately I was driving down the driveway at the time and was able to stop before entering the roadway. If this would have faulted while on the road at any speed I'm sure an accident or death would have resulted from not being able to steer the vehicle. I took it in to a repair shop where they said to fix it would require the rack to be replaced and programmed. They recommended taking it to a dealership to be repaired. This appears to be a known problem to the vehicle manufacture but no recalls have been put out. Parts alone I was quoted $2,500 not including labor and programming costs. Vehicle has only been inspected by a repair shop. Symptoms prior to failure - I bought the car used from a dealership. Took the car back to the dealership a few weeks after purchase because I kept hearing a grinding sound coming from the front end while traveling at highway speed. They test drove it and inspected and said they could not find anything wrong. They ended rotating the tires. This did not help. Drove the car for a year feeling like something was wrong under the hood. Summer of 2022 the air vent control actuator went out and the car would not switch off from defrost mode. I had that replaced by a repair shop. December 22, 2022 as I pulled into the driveway I heard a popping sound coming from the front end as i turned into the driveway. The next morning, Dec 23, 2022 while heading down my driveway the faults appeared and I was unable to steer.

Filed Jun 26, 2022 · Driver assistance, Steering · IN

Steering wheel locked up going 40mph.Received warning for steering fault and for lane keeping system. Restarting vehicle did not help.

Filed Jan 24, 2020 · Steering · 69,479 miles · NY

While driving 70 MPH on i81 in va the power steering on our 2016 ford explorer with less than 70,000 miles died. The only warning was a message on the dash saying "lane keeping syst malfunction" and "steering assist fault." after wrestling the car to a safe site I shut if off. Upon restarting the car the steering returned to normal. While driving to the nearest ford dealer to have it checked out if failed again. The dealership performed pinpoint test b for u3000 code stored in the pscm. Their recommendation was replacement of the electric power steering gear asy (p/n fb5z3504w) at a cost of $2,300. I inquired if there were any recalls or safety bulletins issued regarding premature failure of the power steering in which they indicated there wasn't. This is a safety issue, the car is difficult to control at high speeds and almost impossible to control at slow speeds especially if your making a turn. Without strong upper body strength, you can easily have an accident. Based on my experience with this issue, I strongly recommend a safety bulletin and a recall be issued.

Filed Sep 14, 2016 · Electrical, Steering · 10,900 miles · LA

This is the second time this happened to me while driving my 2016 explorer limited. My car has every option available. A few months ago as I was turning onto the highway a "lane keeping sys malfunction" alert came across my display and my steering locked in place. I could not turn my steering wheel at all. I had a sketchy vehicle for my first vehicle and knew that I needed to put the car in park and turn it off for a few seconds and restart the car. Doing this freed my steering wheel and I was able to drive to the dealership. The dealership ran diagnostics and came to the conclusion that the sensitivity was set too high. Ffw months later. 9/13/16 I am driving back at about 65 MPH, from a dr. Apt on a busy road and the car tells me my steering is malfunctioning to service my vehicle. My game plan was to pull over safely and run a vehicle health report and call the dealer. Seconds later I get the same message along with lane keeping malfunction & my steering locked. I had to come to a complete stop on the middle of a busy hwy with a car coming at my rear and throw it in park and kill my engine and restart my car for the steering to unlock. I spoke with the service dept. After they ran diagnostics and my vehicle is "spitting out codes like crazy" and was told it may be a module in my computer that controls steering & lane keeping systems or my key fob is not being detected by my computer and is not sending an alert and my car thinks it is being stolen. Crazy. Definitely not safe. This is my daily driver. I have 4 small children. I live in my car. Please research this and issue a recall. This is not safe at all. Thankfully I was not on an interstate going 70+ MPH. Also my car was purchased dec 2015 and was a dealer trade from a tx dealer.