2011 - 2018 Explorer Power Steering Issue

[jrmexplorer]

All,
I would suggest that the next time this event happens, if it is safe to do so, to run a vehicle health report (if you have My Ford Touch) prior to restarting the car. This will generate a report with ANY error codes and send it to syncmyride.com From there, both you and your dealer can access the report including any and all error codes.

This may get you more traction with your dealership on these hard to reproduce issues.

good luck!

 

[mbowsher]

jrmexplorer,

That's a pretty good idea! If I am unfortunate enough to get the vehicle back and it has the same issue, I will run the vehicle health report to see if it detects anything before cycling the ignition. Thanks!

 

[JFE]

Happened to me twice

I've now had the power steering fail twice, both times when driving at low speeds. The dealership has been unable to identify a problem and claims Ford has no knowledge of this. I now know this is untrue. If there is a solution to this, please post so I can go back and get it fixed. Very unsettling to drive knowing this could happen at any time.

 

[jrmexplorer]

I've now had the power steering fail twice, both times when driving at low speeds. The dealership has been unable to identify a problem and claims Ford has no knowledge of this. I now know this is untrue. If there is a solution to this, please post so I can go back and get it fixed. Very unsettling to drive knowing this could happen at any time.

have you tried a vehicle health report (if you have MFT)? It will send a report of any error codes to the syncmyride server where it can be printed by you and will be accessible by the dealer. Sometimes the system will have error codes but an error light/warning will not display. Perhaps the VHR will catch those.

I had an issue where the trouble codes were intermittent, and I had no problems with my dealer accepting the VHR as evidence that there was a problem. Then again, my dealership is stellar.

If that does not help, I would suggest doing as another user had suggested. DO NOT turn off the car, CALL THE DEALERSHIP IMMEDIATELY, and have them send someone over to witness the problem.

 

[broncoford]

same steering problem - I almost died

hi all, i am fed up with Ford. My 2011 Ex is surely a beautiful truck and I was thrilled with it until last month when my wife calls me and tells me she lost steering while driving with my mil and several kids in car., Power steering assist fault, Service Advance track, same exact as others here. 3 dealer attempts to fix and I almost hit a tractor trailer on the highway at over 70+MPH last week when I lost steering. Now I am in the hot potato game with ford dealer/customer service with no end in sight driving a crappy rental. Got a call from customer service saying another customer service rep that handles my area will get in touch with me later in the week. No one from my dealer calling me back.

 

[peterk9]

hi all, i am fed up with Ford. My 2011 Ex is surely a beautiful truck and I was thrilled with it until last month when my wife calls me and tells me she lost steering while driving with my mil and several kids in car., Power steering assist fault, Service Advance track, same exact as others here. 3 dealer attempts to fix and I almost hit a tractor trailer on the highway at over 70+MPH last week when I lost steering. Now I am in the hot potato game with ford dealer/customer service with no end in sight driving a crappy rental. Got a call from customer service saying another customer service rep that handles my area will get in touch with me later in the week. No one from my dealer calling me back.

Are you saying that you were travelling over 70 MPH with a vehicle that you knew had a steering defect?:scratch:

Peter

 

[VinceL]

Hey Peter, when you gotta go, you GOTTA go!!

 

[JFE]

Possible solution on the way

have you tried a vehicle health report (if you have MFT)? It will send a report of any error codes to the syncmyride server where it can be printed by you and will be accessible by the dealer. Sometimes the system will have error codes but an error light/warning will not display. Perhaps the VHR will catch those.

I had an issue where the trouble codes were intermittent, and I had no problems with my dealer accepting the VHR as evidence that there was a problem. Then again, my dealership is stellar.

If that does not help, I would suggest doing as another user had suggested. DO NOT turn off the car, CALL THE DEALERSHIP IMMEDIATELY, and have them send someone over to witness the problem.

Thank you for the advice. In addition to posting my message, I sent a link with this discussion thread to my service rep. Today I got a call offering to replace the steering rack as soon as they can get the part and a loaner in the meantime. I initially declined the loaner since I only had to get through two more days without a problem. Then the power steering failed again this afternoon. So, have my loaner and am looking forward to a repaired (?) Explorer in a few days. Has anyone had additional problems after the rack was replaced?

 

[liratoad]

I know this is an explorer forum but I have to share my problem with you as well. We have a 2011 Ford Fusion SEL that has had this exact problems 5 times in the past 8 months. I have brought it to the the dealer and they do nothing.
...
Frustrating to say the least. We have 2 kids my wife routinely drives around. it looks liek we should have went with the accord after all.

Joellavoie, glad to hear you got your Fusion was fixed. Just so you feel better, we had an 08 Honda Civic Hybrid that suffered total failure of the electric power steering module in the middle of an intersection. Whoever it was wayyyy up there in this thread that said the steering isn't that different without the module above 5 MPH has not experienced this. Perhaps with a traditional system, this would be true. I've also had loss of power steering on fluid based systems and yes, its a pain, but the car is still driveable. When these electronic modules fail, it is nigh on impossible to turn the vehicle and control it safely. When the module failed in our Honda we had less than 20k miles on it and had bought it brand new off the lot. We were completely under warranty and both the dealership and Honda corporate refused to cover the $700 part or the labor for the install. Honda refused several other repairs as well, such as the driver's window that kept falling down and coming out of track and a transmission problem we had. We were very shocked at our experience with Honda based on all of the accolades they have received and the word of mouth praise other owner gave the brand. The grass is definitely not always greener on the other side. We will not be buying another Honda because it was our personal experience that they did not stand behind their product.

 

[broncoford]

Are you saying that you were travelling over 70 MPH with a vehicle that you knew had a steering defect?:scratch:

Peter

I was told it was fixed by the service manager, obviously it was not.

 

[Wightmn]

My wife has had it happen twice now. Once in our neighborhood and now on the highway. This is serious. Have appointment to take it into local Ford dealer tomorrow. Hope i get better service than some have reported.

Is anybody getting a response about the actual problem.

Thanks.

 

[Akmechanic]

Interesting reading...

These are from the Ford Truck Enthusiast TSB lookup feature and though they're for F-150s...Still kinda strange. Do these TSBs describe what you guys are experiencing? I have not seen this issue on mine yet:

TSB data for: 2011 FORD F-150
Bulletin Number: TSB-11-8-18
Sequence Number: 10041931
Date: 20110825
Component Name: 016000 STEERING:ELECTRIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM
Make: FORD
Model: F-150
Year: 2011
Summary:
FORD: WHEN MAKING LEFT HAND TURNS, THE STEERING WHEEL LACKS RETURN ABILITY TO CENTER LOCATION. THE ISSUE IS INTERMITTENT. *PE


TSB data for: 2011 FORD F-150
Bulletin Number: SIS-21828
Sequence Number: 10038973
Date: 20110401
Component Name: 010000 STEERING
Make: FORD
Model: F-150
Year: 2011
Summary:
FORD: THERE MAY BE HIGH STEERING EFFORT OR LACK OF ASSIST. *RM


Wonder what parts are shared between the F-150 and our Exes... Just a thought.

 

[JFE]

My wife has had it happen twice now. Once in our neighborhood and now on the highway. This is serious. Have appointment to take it into local Ford dealer tomorrow. Hope i get better service than some have reported.

Is anybody getting a response about the actual problem.

Thanks.

I sent the link to this discussion thread to the service manager at my dealership. I was quickly contacted and the steering rack was replaced at no cost. It seemed that once they understood that Ford was aware of this problem, they reacted and addressed the problem. Before that, they said that Ford claimed it was not aware of this and mine was an isolated problem. Now, we'll see if the replacement of the rack permanently fixes the problem. Good luck.

 

[Wightmn]

I sent the link to this discussion thread to the service manager at my dealership. I was quickly contacted and the steering rack was replaced at no cost. It seemed that once they understood that Ford was aware of this problem, they reacted and addressed the problem. Before that, they said that Ford claimed it was not aware of this and mine was an isolated problem. Now, we'll see if the replacement of the rack permanently fixes the problem. Good luck.

Very similar situation. Our service manager said the truck needed to be parked till they could get the rack in as well. Gave us a loaner for the next week and a half they estimate for parts arrival. Olathe Ford was awesome to deal with and really set my wife's mind at ease that they would fix the problem.

My only concern is the actual fix. Is this an isolated incidence or are they replacing our defective rack with the same part with the same potential issue?

Time will tell.

Thanks for the info

 

[peterk9]

Very similar situation. Our service manager said the truck needed to be parked till they could get the rack in as well. Gave us a loaner for the next week and a half they estimate for parts arrival. Olathe Ford was awesome to deal with and really set my wife's mind at ease that they would fix the problem.

My only concern is the actual fix. Is this an isolated incidence or are they replacing our defective rack with the same part with the same potential issue?

Time will tell.

Thanks for the info

My guess is that the fix will be done with the same OEM parts. Loss of steering control is a pretty serious problem. If it was due to faulty OEM parts, I think that a recall would have been issued. Of course that could still happen.
Good luck.

Peter

 

[tropicvi]

Here is what can happen when the electronics fail in part or totally (as in this case)

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/album.php?albumid=678&pictureid=6197

Fortunately this failed at low speed... take them back until fixed.

 

[tvee]

This happened to my wife yesterday on the highway...power steering goes out, traction control lights go out...EXACTLY what everyone here in this thread is/has experienced. And like others after the wife turned the car off and on a couple times all was well.

Called the dealer today (after reading this thread) and ready for the "well bring it in and we'll check it out" speech....instead I was lucky!, I'm the third 2011 Explorer that he's dealt with that had this problem. He told me it either needs a new "rack" or a control box. Both Explorers he dealt with before he said needed a new rack. Funny....he said the first one with this problem was the Service Managers daughter!

So it was a nice surprise to not be the first one with this problem at my dealer. He's setting me up with a loaner since it'll take a day to get the parts and another day to install.

Just a bit of background on my Ex.

Build date - June 2011
22,000 miles.(90% highway miles)
Before this happened I've had no problems, been a nice ride!

 

[mbowsher]

Update on my 2011 Explorer EPAS failure

I had this same power steering fault happen twice this past week in our 2011 Explorer XLT FWD. The first time I was decelerating as I approached the off-ramp getting off of the interstate and the Power Steering Assist Failed message came on followed by Service AdvanceTrac. The steering is very heavy and I am glad I was driving and not my wife! Also interesting to note is the turn signals no longer work with the failure mode. I took the vehicle in to the local dealer. They contacted Ford tech support and cleared the associated codes. I picked the vehicle up on Saturday morning, and the next day while driving on the interstate (around 70-75 mph) the same thing happened. I was able to man handle the vehicle over and once shutting the engine off and turning it back on, it clears the power steering error and the Service AdvanceTrac message disappears within about 30 seconds. I am returning the vehicle to the dealer and will send Cory a PM to include the VIN and local dealer information. Hopefully they take care of this problem. It definitely freaks the wife out since she drives the 4 month old baby around normally!

I wanted to post an update to my previous account of the Power Steering Assist failure that occurred a couple of weeks back. I took the vehicle to the dealer once, they cleared the codes and the next day we lost power steering assist again. The second time I took the vehicle in they were able to more thoroughly diagnose the problem. Evidently the Explorer kicked up the following codes: C0063, C1B00, and U0131 The technician followed the troubleshooting tree and it sounded to me that there is a performance test that they are able to perform to get the power steering assist to fail if it is bad or has the fault codes mentioned. Based on the results of that test the diagnostic called out replacement of the entire EPAS unit. It took about 3 weeks to receive the unit (appears they are in high demand or are reconditioned and sent back out) I have had the vehicle back for about 5 days so far and have already put a couple of hundred miles on it with no problems at all.
From the research that I did in the 3 weeks of downtime (luckily my dealer provided a rental vehicle in the meantime!) it seems that EPAS failures are common across many makes and models of vehicles. This is NOT a Ford only thing and it is likely to continue to be a problem with newer vehicles since they are moving over to electric steering systems in order to increase MPG.
I understand that parts fail, it is a complicated system of electromechanical parts after all and I feel that my local dealer had my satisfaction in mind with how everything was handled. Yeah it sucks when a new car breaks down, I am glad it broke while it was still under warranty and I have no regrets at all about our choice in the Explorer.

 

[tropicvi]

Here is what can happen when the electronics fail in part or totally (as in this case)

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/album.php?albumid=678&pictureid=6197

Fortunately this failed at low speed... take them back until fixed.

Well, we are into the 4th business day after steering failed and the car was wrecked, and still no answer from Ford. The first day no one looked at the car, because the senior service manager did not show up to work (must have been Friday beach day). then the weekend. Monday and Tuesday (2 days for the body shop to list parts required to repair, yet still no one has put a computer to the vehicle to see why it failed? And still no loaner. To make matters worse the insurance adjusters still have not looked at the vehicle.

I am begining to think a class action law suit is looking more and more like the only answer. I mean Nader beat up GM pretty badly on a suspension issue many years ago, on a "new" design that most drivers did not understand the changed dynamics. This is a straight forward failure of electronic systems, where people's lives are being put at risk. I am surprised at the list of failures that there has not been any bodily damage or fatalities. I guess the stateside modern highways leave a lot of room to wrestle a vehicle with defective steering off the road. However, in my situation, a 3 second window from failure to collision, did not afford sufficient time to take evasive action. And that was at less than 15 mph. (1 second from failure to beginging the climb laterally along a steep embankment to the pole.)

 

[Wightmn]

We got our Explorer back early. They did the fan reprogram and TSB on loud rain noise on front roof panel. Only had it back two days but all is good so far.

Tropicvi, good luck with yours.