The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH and turning to the right following a bend in the highway, the contact attempted to turn the steering wheel back to center and the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact pulled over and turned off and restarted the vehicle and the steering functionality returned. The contact stated that the steering assist failed again, and the vehicle was parked at the residence. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle was diagnosed but was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 184,000.

- Marysville, OH, USA

2016 Ford Explorer at 81,000 miles the steering rack is considered bad. Prior to getting this checked by the dealer there were major steering issues with the vehicle that suddenly would not work. My wife and daughter were in the car at the time of the incident and had to pull over to avoid major collison. The steering went to manual. No error codes or error message prior to this. Just happened out of no where. The ford dealership determined it's was the steering rack that nees to be replaced. Confirmed by dealer.

- Oxford, PA, USA

I [XXX] went with my mom [XXX] to buy a vehicle off of [XXX]. It was a 2016 ford explorer. I payed 13,000. The began to lose control when driving on a bumpy road and while braking I took the car to a Ford dealer and had some repairs, but they didn-??t find the problem. I used the car sparingly and within two weeks it got much worse. Very unsafe to drive I brought it to another Ford dealership and I paid for substantial repairs for the suspension. The first time I drove it on a bumpy the car lost control again. I managed to regain control and drive it to the side of the road and had someone pick up the car. I went to trade the car in and learned the vehicle had been in two accidents and was reported as a total loss. Per the Carfax report. We were never told it was a salvaged vehicle or we would never purchased it for our family vehicle. The vehicle is too unsafe to put back on the road. I bought a 2017 Ford Explorer at a dealership and traded in the 2016 Ford Explorer at a significant loss. The vehicle was in my possession for approx. two months where it spent most of the time in different Ford repaid shops INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- Venus, TX, USA

The steering rack failed while operating the vehicle at approximately 40 mph resulting in a near total loss of steering. It required extreme force to turn the steering wheel to avoid oncoming traffic on a bend in the road before finally moving out of the roadway. The warning message displayed at the time of the fault was "Steering Assist Fault Service Required." The component had to be replaced when it was evaluated by the Ford dealer

- North Tonawanda, NY, USA

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while the vehicle was pulled over on the side of the road, the steering wheel became firm. The power steering assist warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the electronic steering unit was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and determined that the vehicle was not under warranty. The failure mileage 30,476.

- Emmaus, PA, USA

The vehicle starting making a clunking noise while doing turns. While making a right hand turn, the steering wheel stuck and I had to yank it back (left) which caused a loud popping noise. Took it straight to the auto shop and next day was notified it was the steering rack and pinion.

- Goodrich, MI, USA

Tires damaged due to a rear toe link not having proper alignment adjustments. I was told to buy aftermarket products because the two ASE certified shops could not align my rear suspension. I've chewed through two pairs of brand new tires in less than 4 months.

- Shawnee, KS, USA

Steering locks up at high way speeds, cannot turn wheel on any direction. I have had a close call to a head on collision on the road way because I could not turn my wheel. Previous years of this model and have the reported issues, multiple online threads of this same model or newer with this issue also. I pay monthly for a car I can-??t safely drive, it will get me or someone else killed. It-??s a $3000+ repair and ford refused any financial assistance for something they know is a common issue! This car is going to kill someone!!!!

- Sanford, MI, USA

The steering began making a rubbing noise for a day and the next day the rack and pinion steering completely froze up, not able to turn steering wheel at all. The vehicle was in my driveway when the steering froze so there was no accident however this could have been fatal had this happened on a street or highway, there would have been no way to avoid another vehicle or object. My vehicle was towed to C&C Auto who replaced the steering unit with an original Ford part.

- Omaha , NE, USA

I own a 2016 Ford Explorer Sport and I issued Power steering failure. I live in West Virginia with many hills and turns, I get an error on the dashboard that says Steering Fault and immediately lose my Power Steering, if my wife would-??ve been driving we would have certainly wrecked cause she would not had been able to steer the Explorer, without the power steering working correctly it took alot of strength to Steer the vehicle. This is a very dangerous issue and i have seen many complaints and concerns with the power steering issue. I hope you all can help and get Ford to recall this and get this problem fixed before people get killed, thanks.

- Philippi, WV, USA

#1-My rear passenger seatbelt is being cut by some thing down inside of the back seat where the belt is retrieved. This belt is getting more cuts as it is being used since that is where my Grandson now sits. It was not used prior to me having to pickup my Grandson. This is very concerning !!! #2 My drivers side front windshield weather stripping keep popping out and is now blown off, very scary. #3 Just last week I started to hear some popping noise in the front suspension, but could not tell what it was coming from. Just yesterday while making a right hand turn the front suspension and the steering locked up. I was able to turn it back straight after a few seconds as the steering wheel had locked to the right. Praise God there were 3 lanes and I was able to make the correction with out incident.

- Farmville, NC, USA

While driving the system made a minimal rubbing/grinding noise when turning. But when you made a turn, either to the right or the left and finished the turn, the steering wheel and wheels do not return to straight as they normally do, and continue in the direction you started without change. The only way to make the vehicle stop turning is to manually return the steering wheel to straight ahead. This could be a problem as you would quickly either move into oncoming traffic or off of the roadway depending on the road. The problem is currently at my independent mechanic and they can reproduce the problem there. There were zero warning lights/lamps/messages or anything else prior to this issue. This all began about one week ago, but was not able to get a mechanic to look at it until today, 8/21/2023. I already checked ahead of making this report and Ford has zero outstanding recalls on this, but if you look at online forums, including Reddit, there are a noticeable number of identical incidences of this happening. Link to one I found [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- Byron Center, MI, USA

The Electronic Power Assist (EPAS) appears to be sporadically not working. It has not functioned while in the middle of a. turn both while my wife has been driving and also occured with me twice today. When the power assist suddenly cuts out it has the feeling of the steering locking up and can be quite dangerous as it is typically in a turning situation.

- Farr West, UT, USA

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, there was a grinding sound coming from the steering wheel while turning in either direction. The steering wheel became difficult to turn and excessive force was needed to steer the vehicle. The contact stated that the Steering Assist Fault Service Required message displayed. As the failure worsened, the contact lost steering capability of the vehicle and the vehicle was towed to the dealer. The vehicle was diagnosed with a defective power steering rack. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

- Chesapeake, VA, USA

May 13 2023 Bought my car at Criswell Auto in Thurmont, MD July 15 2023 Lost steering coming around a turn and was able to pull into a driveway. Thankfully it was clear. Jul 21 2023 I took it to Ford for the recall which I was hoping would fix it Aug 8 2023 Steering assist failed again and I had my 3 year old with me in the car. It was really scary because we were on our towns main road and I had to just go into a restaurant parking lot. Thank goodness no one was there or I would have hit them. I couldn't move my steering wheel at all. When it fails these warning and lights show up and make a lot of noise and steering is totally gone Service AdvanceTrac Hill Start Assist Not Available Stability Control Stability Control off Aug 15 I took my car to Ford dealership in Hagerstown MD They called and advised it was the Steering Gear Assembly and would cost $2100 Aug 15 Spoke with Ford to see if they could possibly help me with some of the costs with it being a safety issue. They told me there was absolutely nothing they could do. Case Number: [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Berkeley Springs, WV, USA

Complete steering rack failure out of the blue. No previous steering issues. No causal incident. I got in the car in the morning and all of the warning lights were on and there was no power steering. Repair cost me $2400 of which $1800 was parts. I've seen scores of people having the same problem and my shop said the Ford Dealership told them they were repairing this issue "Very frequently" This is a very well taken care of vehicle with approximately 70,000 miles.

- Dover, NH, USA

Back in April 2020 (34,418 miles)I began to hear a clicking noise from the front end of the vehicle when turning the steering wheel. I took the vehicle to dealer where I purchased the vehicle (2016 Explorer) - they determined the noise to be coming from the "power steering gear assembly". I declined the repair as I wanted to investigate further. The noise would come and go but there was a consistent noticeable point when turning left that the wheel sort of would catch when trying to turn back to the right. I have lived with this expecting at some point their would be a recall as I read of this issue being quite prevalent for the 2016 Explorer. I now (8-10-2023) have approximately 75,000 miles on the vehicle and the problem is getting more pronounced. When sitting still and you turn the wheel even just slightly either way their is significant noise from the steering system and I would anticipate it is only going to get worse so I need to have this investigated and repaired. I would encourage the NHTSA to pressure Ford Motor Company to issue a recall for this issue as from everything I see online this is a common issue and is certainly a safety issue.

- Gardners, PA, USA

Power steering failure No power steering Only extreme strength can turn wheel and only when vehicle Is moving Brought vehicle to BOB BELL FORD IN GLEN BURNIE MARYLAND Vehicle was at dealer for 2 weeks. They could not find a problem Picked up Explorer. Same problem next day NO POWER STEERING AFRAID TO DRIVE NOW I HAVE READ THAT MANY 2011-2016 Explorers have had same problem BUT NO RECALL. PLEASE ADVISE

- Washington, DC, USA

Rack and pinion steering assembly failed. Had to replace epas gear assembly and pmi module.

- St Albans, WV, USA

Steering issue with our 2016 Ford Explorer. While driving at 60 mph steering without warning became very difficult to control and lost the ability to easier turn the wheel. We were in a slight curve and it was very difficult to steer back to the middle of the road. We had it looked at by a local Ford dealer and were told the electric power assist had failed and caused other electrical issues. If this would have happened in a new high speed off ramp we frequently are on I strongly believe we would have hit the side barrier due to the loss of steering control.

- Woodward, IA, USA