While driving at 65 miles an hour on a busy highway the steering wheel on my 2015 Ford Explorer experienced a complete failure. The power steering assist warning illuminated and my vehicle was unable to safely move from one lane to the next. I was approaching a curve in the road and I applied my brakes and turned on my hazards to avoid wrecking into the highway barrier. I was nearly struck by a large semi-tractor trailer and a few other vehicles as I attempted to get to safety. I thought for sure I was going to be struck by passing vehicles. Once I was able to get to safety, the messages read "power steering assist fault" and then I saw another message that read a terrain management function fault as well. I immediately called my wife to tell her I was stuck on the side of rt 280 in West orange, NJ. Just in case something happened to me. I the called aaa to request a tow. I turned off the engine and the terrain management fault was still illuminated. I attempted to move my vehicle to a safer place and kept hearing a whining noise and the steering would go in and out of faults. Once I was in a safe place I advised aaa of my location and awaited their service. I was surprised to hear that this is not an unknown issue to Ford by the tow truck driver. We had the Explorer towed to beyer Ford in morristown, NJ. I received a call today from the Ford dealer that the power steering rack has to be replaced. I looked this issue up on-line and found many complaints regarding the same issue and not just on Explorer, but other Ford vehicles and different years. I am extremely concerned about this problem because it literally came out of nowhere while I was driving at 65 mph. That possibility that I could have had my family including my 6 year old daughter in the vehicle and giving different circumstances, it could have been a catastrophic event. We also own a 2011 Ford Explorer.

- Randolph, NJ, USA

Driving 45mph down on a major road my steering went out. The dash read an error "steering fault" and I could barely control the car. I was luckily able to pull over and turn the car off and back on. Steering was restored. It appears there was a recall for this exact issue for model years prior to mine (www.thecarconnection.com/news/1092388_ford-recalls-914000-escape-Explorer-SUVS-for-power-steering-issue). I called the local dealership and they told me there were no active recalls and I was out of warranty so I would have to pay to get it looked at. I then called Ford corporate and was told the same thing. I told them about the previous recall and that it was a major safety issue but they did not care. They actually told me that it was not a safety issue!

- Mullica Hill, NJ, USA

This past winter my wife complained about a popping sound when backing our 2015 Ford Explorer Sport into the garage. The problem has now become intermittent and occurs while driving on the roadway.

- New Haven, IN, USA

Power steering failed at a high rate of speed.

- Millersville, PA, USA

Multiple times steering faults while driving. Locked steering rendering car not able to steer, car in motion. Most recent incident on 6/26 also happened prior. Body damage to car due to lack of steering. No other cars involved. No physical injury. "crash" on next question is overstating although object was hit causing damage

- Toms River, NJ, USA

While making a left turn on to a residential street the power steering failed. It became extremely difficult to keep from running up on the sidewalk. Had my wife been driving she would not have been able to steer the vehicle, most likely resulting in a serious accident. Steering system failure alert appeared on dash read out. Was able to pull over safely to the side of the road. Shut the engine off, re-started, no change. Shut off a second time, restarted and alert disappeared and the steering was functioning. Was able to drive home, called Ford to make arrangements to have the vehicle inspected. While backing out of my driveway the next day in route to the dealership, a heavy clunk sound was heard. I went through the same motions again but could not repeat the clunk noise. Drove the vehicle approximately 20 miles to the dealership for inspection. They removed and replaced the steering gear which is the entire rack. I asked an adviser if they knew the cause of the failure and or if the new part being installed is the same as what was removed or if there was an upgraded version. They were unable to verify any upgrades relating to the failure which has me worried since my wife also drives the vehicle and there is no assurance that the failure won't occur again. My extended warranty covered the majority of the costs.I paid a $100. Deductible. I am reporting this because I'm convinced that is not an isolated incident due to other year and model Ford displaying the same problems. I also want it documented in case it happens again. Copy of repair order attached.

- Benicia, CA, USA

A power steering warning came up, then later the power steering failed. It later returned. We took it to a dealer and they has to replace the power steering angle sensor assembly. About 6 weeks later 4-17-17 warning comes on again. Take it back to dealer and they now say it is probably power steering motor with a cost of $2000+. when my wife originally felt the loss of steering she was on the highway going down the road, not turning. She felt it tighten up.

- Broxton, GA, USA

Clicking and popping noise when turning left. No lights or codes showing in the dash, but steering has a lot of play. Dealership seems not to see a problem. Just had an O2 sensor replaced and the accessory drive belt tensioner. This vehicle is more trouble than its worth....

- Clinton, MS, USA

The electric power steering turns itself off without warning. In 30000 miles, this has happened three times. We get an error screen on the dash telling us to take the car to the dealer for service. Two times I was driving slowly in a parking lot, and the third time my wife was driving over the skyline bridge in Florida. Each time we safely pulled over, shut the car off, and when restarted the power steering recycled on. I took the car to the dealer each time, and was told that no error codes were in the computer, so the car was fine. Of course it is not fine, or it would not shut off the power steering. The car was under bumper to bumper factory warranty. Being concerned with the safety of my family, I traded the car in for a 2017 Explorer hoping the issue has been resolved.

- Betterton, MD, USA

I was driving steering wheel locked as I was making a right turn, locked it as I was half way on the turn. This happened on the 10th of March. Today 3/17/17 as I was reversing it locked again good thing I wasn't on freeway or in high traffic area. I purchase vehicle from Hyundai gilroy in gilroy ca which they werent help at all. I just bought this vehicle end of December 16'. they just blew me off and I was told I wasn't under warranty nor any recalls on this vehicle. I did some research looks like I am not the only one dealing with this issue.

- Hollister, CA, USA

This car was bought new with less than a 100 miles on it, at about 7000 miles while entering I 495 from a ramp I stepped on the gas and the steering locked up I quickly took my foot off the gas and the steering unlocked, I visited the dealer and complained the car was checked no problem was found, at 32000miles I started hearing noises from the front of the car sometimes while backing up this was intermittent and I was never able to duplicate the noise at the dealer until I had a complete failure at 42700+ miles the noise was occurring constantly, the dealer' S diagnosis was failure of the steering box, I am not an expert but this is a dangerous problem the failure occurred while I was driving at 20 miles per hour on city streets, if I had been on the freeway at 70 miles an hour it could have created an accident with injuries and who knows what else talking to the manufacturer is useless my complaint was and is been ignored I think this car has a defect in the steering system that is worth your investigating for the cause before someone is seriously hurt in an accident.as I write this the defective part is being replaced at a Ford dealer.

- Falls Church, VA, USA

Sport model front end has had a loud popping/ creak noise when going over bumps at a angle and also sharp low speed manuevers ( pulling into tight parking space) since it was basicly brand new. Loud ticking noise from front hubs at low speeds first visit to Ford was at 9,000 miles they could not duplicate it. Vehicle now has 32,000 miles roughly, the popping and creaking has gotten worse my wife was leaving work and was backing out of her parking spot and the rack and pinion locked up on her. Mulltiple wanring lights came on and she was unable to steer the vehicle. She called me and I told her to cycle the key multiple times and see if it will reset to be able to drive to my work so I could scan it and see what codes it has. She took surface streets to my work. It had codes P0022: Cam timing over retarted P052D: Cold start cam timing over retarted P193E: A/C clutch request signal U0121: Lost communication with ABS control module C1B00: Steering angle sensor this is the second time cam phaser codes came up. They replaced cam phaser this last visit and vehicle still stumbles/misfire feel at idle. They were "unable to duplicate" rack and pinion/ suspension noise. My wife does not feel safe driving vehicle. It has been getting random hard spots while driving. I took it to another local Ford dealer and they want to charge me for diagnostic if they cant "duplicate" I just got done paying for 3 weeks of rental and cant risk several hundred more dollars to have them, say they cant duplicate it. So I will be picking up the Explorer and I am now stuck with a unsafe vehicle as the steering could "lock up" again at any point. There are multiple cases just like mine that I found and I am not willing to risk having my wife and child have the rack and pinion fail while she is going down the freeway we got lucky with it locking up while at low speed the first time.

- Clovis, CA, USA

Very loud popping sound occurs when turning vehicle to the right and loose steering control felt momentarily while car is in motion. Most noticeable at slower speeds. Diagnosed as steering gear assembly has to be replaced. This was within 42,000 miles (just after expiration of warranty). Vehicle has electronic driver assist and has a 3.2 liter engine..

- Houston, TX, USA

My tie rod and rod and navigation system which are electric broke while I was driving my vehicle. There was no forwarning of the event. I was on the highway, driving at traffic speed, fast moving cars everywhere, left, right and centre, front and back all going above speed limits, no steering control, no safety ramp visible for a few kilometres. Suddenly I found myself unable to steer my wheels, the instrument panel listed "loss of navigation systems" and in red 'loss steering control stop safely'. the car has had a single owner, never involved in any high impact collision, was driven mainly in urban areas, only 58,813 miles, purchased directly from the dealership. I had only 6 miles on the speedometer when I took ownership of the car.

- New York, NY, USA

Steering inoperable during driving. 41000 miles, vehicle had difficulty starting at 6pm est. 30 minutes prior to failure, vehicle was washed and taken to a gas station to fill up. Upon leaving filling station car would not start until after 15 minutes. Steering was very laborious to turn steering wheel to make a left or right (unable to move steering wheel more than 1/4 of inch in either direction). Speed limit was 40 mph on local road and 15 minutes of drive time. Tow truck was necessary to move vehicle as operator couldn't turn and stop operation to avoid fatality. No previous indication in vehicle symptom notice until failure occurred.

- Wyandotte, MI, USA

Total failure of steering no warning. Driving I-26 turned off to get gas without warning total loss of steering.

- Moore, SC, USA

While driving 30 mph coming up on a left hand turn my power steering went out, the advance trac light came on and the stability light also came on making it really hard to make the turn. Luckily there was no cars turning on my right allowing me to use up both lanes. I was able to pull to the side of the road turning it off for a couple of minutes while I looked to see if I had turned something off. I started it and everything was fine as before.

- Horizon City, TX, USA

1st. Steering needs service warnings, took to dealer they could not replicate message and get a computer code, 3 days in the shop. 2nd power steering completely went out while driving on the highway, difficult to steer & make turns, got it to the dealer they saw the problem, however, after turning off car they could not replicate and get a computer code, could not get approval from Ford to repair. 10 days in shop this time, picked up & not repaired. Told to return when happens again, now driving an unsafe car. Dealer helpful, furnished rental car, no approval from Ford co. For warranty repairs with out computer codes, maybe something is wrong with the computer also!

- Montgomery, TX, USA

At least on four occasions (first time in September 2015 in Florida), while driving (on highway & city streets), suddenly lost power steering. Had warnings and icons displayed including "service advance trac" and "steering assist fault." Vehicle was difficult to maneuver. Upon turning vehicle off then on, messages were extinguished and power steering was restored. This presents a dangerous situation for the driver.

- Chesapeake, WV, USA

While driving at highway speeds, suddenly lost power steering. Had warnings and icons displayed including "service advance trac" and "steering assist fault." Vehicle was difficult to maneuver but was able to exit highway and pull into parking lot. Upon turning vehicle off then on, messages were extinguished and power steering was restored. Needless to say, this presented a dangerous situation especially being caught off guard.

- Roanoke, TX, USA