Complete loss of basic steering of the car while under operation.
2016 Ford Explorer steering complaints
Page 9 of 19: complaints 221 to 250 of 532, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Beginning of day; felt like I was in a major windstorm & in a constant battle with the car steering. Middle of day: Power Steering Fault light came on and feeling like I was in a major windstorm & in a constant battle with the car steering GETTING WORSE. End of the day: Then Power Steering Failure "Pull over Safely" came on.. I didn't just lose power steering. I lost TOTAL STEERING capability at 57,400 miles... Car is at dealership now. Had my 90yr old mother been driving there would have been an accident. This is gonna get someone killed. I had just dropped off my Grandson before I lost total control.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while his son was driving 40 MPH, the power steering failed, and the steering wheel was stiff and difficult to steer. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed with steering rack failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 123,000.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, excessive force was needed to steer the vehicle without warning. The contact then took the vehicle to an independent mechanic where they informed her that the electrical rack and pinion needed to be replaced, followed by an alignment. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed her that the vehicle was not under recall or warranty. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 48,000.
At approximately 102,000 miles, vehicle started making loud grinding noise when turning the steering wheel in either direction, very noticeable both inside and outside the vehicle, both when stopped and when driving. The steering wheel sticks in certain positions while driving, requiring extra force to maintain the vehicle's direction. Issue is worse at highway speeds, creating a dangerous condition that was getting progressively worse. Made it to a Ford dealership who indicated that a new rack and pinion assembly is required at $2,900. They also recommended not driving the vehicle in that the condition was unsafe.
Ecoboost Base 76k miles had a steering rack failure . Over looking all other complaints, looks like I’m not the only one with the 2500$ bill . Ford dealership acknowledged that it was a very common issue and was easy to diagnosed . I was met with light flashing on dash then would disappear after I restarted the SUV . Until I turned it on one day at a sonic drive in and would not steer . I’ve read reports where people are driving on the freeway when it happens and I could only imagine how that would’ve been like especially since I drive with my child onboard . Dash says “ Advance Track Failure; Hill Assist Needs Maintence “ . It was quickly diagnosed over the phone but still took it to get looked at, at Ford . 100% should be a recall at such a low mileage, just thought since police use them in their fleet they had to be reliable . For it to be a 300$ core as well, sounds like it’s still a valuable part broken
Lost steering all at once could not turn wheel luckily i was in my drive way when it happened i paid yes ford 1600.00 dollars for a new rack and pinion on 8-13-21 was given a release date on part for 8-24-21 then 8-25-21 and now 9-3-21 this is an emergency order thru ford they was quick to take my money but cant deliver part.I have turned in a complaint to ford and it has not helped no calls back from ford. Looks like this is a huge problem ford has with its explorer rack and pinion failure I guess there waiting on somebody to get killed with faulty racks before they do anything. My explorer has 65000 miles on it and it looks like this is a common failure for this vehicle.
Power Steering Assist Failure indicator appeared on dashboard resulting in inability to steer car. Vehicle was towed to dealership and reprogramming was attempted with no success. Requires replacement of EPS steering.
El rack an pinon ya fue remplazado. Entiendo que es muy prematuro para remplarlo. Es un falla de fabrica. Translation: "the rack and pinion was replaced. To my understanding is too premature to be replaced. It seems like is a manugacturing defect"
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH, the power steering and power steering assist failed. The contact was able to drive the vehicle home, however, the steering was manual making it more difficult to maneuver the vehicle. The contact had not taken the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
Over the last year or so, my 2016 Ford Explorer would suddenly out of nowhere say on the dashboard that there is a steering fault that needed to be serviced. The steering would be a little off but after turning the car on and off, it would reset and wouldn’t happen again for a week or two. I took it in to the dealership to get a recall fixed and had them take a look at my actual steering issue (with videos and pictures of the problem) but they could not replicate the problem as the dashboard would reset. Fast forward to last Thursday when the problem was more persistent than normal. A few times in the last couple months or so, my steering wheel would LOCK UP completely because the power steering would give out and a few times I was ON A FREEWAY. I had to manually hand crank a very very stiff steering wheel and pull over which was extremely dangerous. Once I would, I would turn the car on and off again which then it would reset. The dashboard warning about the steering fault would come on more often than the steering wheel locking up but the several times it did lock it, proved a very dangerous situation. It happened again this past week which I had to drive slowly to my local mechanic. Due to it being a power steering/programming issue, the recommended me going back to the dealership. At that point, my car would no longer reset the issue and I was unable to drive home that day because the power steering permanently gave out. Thank god I was at the mechanic already. Currently, I have the car towed to the dealership and they are working on the problem. Because my extended warranty ended 2k miles ago, I am supposed to pay $3800 out of pocket for this?? It should be a RECALL situation. Extremely dangerous. Forum related issue that I did research on and it seems to be a common problem!!! : https://www.carproblemzoo.com/ford/explorer/2016/steering-rack-and-pinion-problems.php Please help make Ford do a recall for this dangerous issue!!
On approximately July 5th, I was driving on freeway at approximately 70mph. I approached a work zone and had to move to shoulder when I lost power steering. It continued to give me issues at higher speeds for the next 40 miles and it seemed to disappear for the next two weeks of city driving. I thought it was an isolated incident and on July 16th we took the vehicle on a family vacation and when traveling on the freeway it again lost ( and never regained) power steering but we were more than 200 miles from home and the closest Ford dealer couldn't see us until early August. At lower speeds the steering was sticking but it seemed to free up some the more cornering or movement you made with the steering wheel. We were able to carefully drive the vehicle home and took it to Taylor Ford on Monday July 26th. On Tuesday July 27th I received a call from our service rep telling me nothing was wrong with the power steering but that the steering column failed and it would need to be replaced. I said that I had never heard of such a thing and he said he hadn't either. I searched on line and discovered hundreds of complaints referencing similar issues. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms prior to the problem and they never appeared during problems.
It appears Ford had a prior recall for certain model year 2011-2013 Ford Explorer vehicles manufactured May 17, 2010, through February 28, 2012 for a power steering failure. The recall was due to vehicles experiencing a loss of power steering assist and required extra steering effort at lower speeds, increasing the risk of a vehicle crash. I have a 2016 Ford Explorer and the issue appears to be occurring in later models like mine. I experienced it on July 21, 2021. I was driving on the freeway at 70mph and with no prior warning I my power steering goes out and I see the message "power steering module failure". Luckily I was able to fight the car to the shoulder, but I can only imagine what would have happened if my wife or daughter had been driving at the time. Ford needs to have a system failure alert added or better yet fix the issue from occurring, especially in a fairly new vehicle.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle lost power steering functionality and became difficult to steer. The contact also stated that the vehicle would start shaking abnormally whenever the brake pedal was depressed. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed with the electronic steering gear needing to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred a year later. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 144,000.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the electric power steering failed, and the steering wheel ceased. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the power steering rack and pinion was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the federal safety agency to file a complaint. The failure mileage was approximately 40,000.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the steering wheel was difficult to turn and would cease when turning in either direction. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the steering rack and pinion were faulty and needed to be replaced. The failure was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 46,000.
Electronic steering assist seems to fail on rainy days. Starts like a sound grinding on the bottom like it needs lubrication. Afraid to drive this thing because of other owners comments regarding the steering assist causing accidents.
The Contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while attempting to turn the steering wheel, the steering wheel was firm. The power steering assist warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was not provided a cause for the failure but was informed that the steering wheel needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and informed of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 62,000.
While driving around a corner at a speed of 45 miles an hour the power steering quit working. The message on the instrument panel stated steering fault. I no longer had power steering and it was very hard to pull the vehicle over. I shut off the motor and then restarted the vehicle and i now had power steering. It is currently at Varney Ford in Newport Maine having the whole steering assembly replaced at a cost of 2300.00. From my research I have found that the steering assembly is located near the catalytic converter which gets every every hot, and can damage the internal circuit board. This is a very scary safety concern! I do not have the invoice for the repair, as it is being worked on July 19th or July 20th
Steering locked up while driving, causing a dangerous situation, fortunalty it was at low speeds an no harm came of it. 61,000 miles on the vehicle, Failed rack and pinion steering, needed to be replaced. $2,500 .
I was driving down the highway into a turn and my power steering failed causing the SUV to want to recall into a straight pattern almost causing me to crash my truck into a barrier wall with my child inside. With the sudden ability to fight the wheel back into a turning position I was able to narrowly avoid crashing with my child. Numerous indicators displayed (Steering Assist Fault, Service Advance Track, Hill Start Assist not available). I immediately took it to a Ford dealer , where they advised me that the power steering rack has electronically failed.
Driving on express way going 70 mph and vehicle dash started lighting up and beeping with a bunch of different things and lost power steering. It said “power steering fault” was in construction and it was extremely scary. Thankfully there was a dealership on the exit and they said it was the power steering rack.
With less than 75k miles, the steering began to grind when turning. We had to get an entirely new rack and pinion unit replaced for over $2400. Thousands of 2016 Explorers have reported this problem but it is still not been deemed a recall. Recently, at 84K miles, the clutch on the AC compressor went out causing a $720 bill for a new compressor. We have also just found out the water pump is now bad and appears to be defective. In fact there was a class action lawsuit in 2020 regarding these defective pumps but this wonderful government we pay exorbitant taxes to, threw the case out on technicalities. Absolutely shameful.
I was driving my car and received a warning that the Power Steering System Failure. Within a few minutes, the power steering in the car went out. Had to have the vehicle towed to mechanic. The mechanic reported the code of C200D-49. 2 Ford Dealerships stated that they had never heard of any issues yet my mechanic recently had another Ford vehicle in with the same situation.
First instance was in mid December 2020. While driving down the highway the power steering suddenly went out, showing errors "Steering Assist Fault, Service Required" , "Hill Start Assist Not Available" , and "Service AdvanceTrac". Pulled over and turned off the car for a few minutes, when restarted it appeared to work fine. Second instance was in mid May 2021. Similar circumstances to the first instance: happened while driving, same errors, started working after restarting the car. After this second instance we took the car to the dealership for servicing. They replaced the Hub Bearings, but said there were no additional errors for the vehicle. The third instance was June 24th 2021. This time the errors showed up upon startup, and did not resolve upon restarting the vehicle. Took the vehicle to the dealer, and they determined that we would need to replace the entire steering gear assembly, at a significant cost.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that the vehicle steering wheel failed when reversing out of the garage, the contact was unable to turn the steering wheel. The contact stated that the electrical service light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to have a diagnostic performed. The failure code for the steering power assist module was detected. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted. The failure mileage 70,000.
The electric power steering went out. On the way to get my 3 month old son from daycare, I was merging onto the highway next to a semi and a warning came on letting me know there was a steering issue. After picking my son up from daycare, I started my vehicle again and it said power steering failure. I could hardly drive the vehicle and did not feel comfortable since my son was with me. I have since taken it to our local Ford dealer and the module must be replaced.
Driving down Interstate and steering started to get sticky. Steering wheel would grab, be difficult to turn, then release. Suddenly the 'traction control' light on the dashboard flashed and then within 2-3 minutes the 'Loss of Steering' dashboard message flashed and the steering wheel froze. Fortunately we were on a flat/straight stretch of highway or this could have been catastrophic. This could easily result in a fatal crash. We had the vehicle towed to nearest Ford dealership and they diagnosed that the 'Steering gear seized internally' and the vehicle was repaired at a cost exceeding $2000.00. Tow Truck Operator communicated they have never seen a steering column completely freeze like this one did. I have the service invoice on file.
I have a 2016 Ford Explorer Limited. It has 109,000 miles, mostly highway miles on it. The rack and pinion steering needed to be replaced and it was a $2500 bill. It has happened in countless Ford Explorers from my research. This should be a recall bc it not only is a HUGE expense on cars that are not that old but what a scary safety concern. Thankfully I was able to control my car and park it before an accident happened. Please consider issuing a recall so this HUGE expense isn't the burden of a Ford customer when this should not happen to such a new model. Thank you.
The rack and pinion steering had to be replaced in my 2016 Ford Explorer Limited. I had a difficult time controlling the steering and was fearful with my 4 kids in the car but made it home. I had it replaced and had to take a loan out to cover the $2500 price tag. The car has mainly highway miles on at 109,000. I am hoping to have this reimbursed by Ford because what I am looking up this is a MAJOR problem with many Ford vehicles.
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