10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 11 / 1
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 4 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 78,432 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
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« Read the previous 20 complaints
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.
- Ayden, NC, USA
Suspension toe link
- Earlysville, VA, USA
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.
- Colcord, OK, USA
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.
- Mckinney, TX, USA
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.
- Chico, CA, USA
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.
- San Antonio, TX, USA
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.
- Coral Gables, FL, USA
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
- Mount Morris, MI, USA
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!
- Temple, TX, USA
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 Explorer, 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!
- South Portland, ME, USA
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 NHTSA 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 NHTSA to file a complaint. The failure mileage was approximately 65,000.
- Modena, NY, USA
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 NHTSA 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 NHTSA. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown.
- Shelbyville, IN, USA
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
- Coopersburg, PA, USA
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.
- Port St. Lucie, FL, USA
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
- Miami, FL, USA
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.
- Indian Head, MD, USA
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.
- Bayonne, NJ, USA
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 Ford 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.
- Millersville, MD, USA
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 NHTSA campaign number: 14V286000 (steering). The approximate failure mileage was 154,000. The VIN was invalid.
- Boston, KY, USA
- West Roxbury, MA, USA