On September 25th we had the same exact issue happen to us. It's my wife's vehicle and she was driving it to work - about 45mph - when the power steering went out. Luckily she was almost there and could literally fight it to the parking lot. I went out to swap cars and take hers to the dealers and of course, it was fine when I turned it on. Took it to the dealers and luckily they saw the fault. Dealer said he had *never* seen anything like it but would put in an order for parts.
It's been at the dealers ever since (as of today, 50 days).
I can't begin to tell you the helpless, angry emotions we feel (but I know I'm preaching to the choir). The dealer stopped calling me 3 weeks ago because he had no updates and felt calling me was useless without a concrete update. The last time I spoke with him, I expressed my disappointment and he showed no empathy - just basically, there's nothing I can do, we've done everything to try to get this part, it is what it is kind of attitude.
When we purchased the car, I guess I was smart enough to purchase the extended PremiumCare warranty with the rental car option. So now the wife drives around in a tin can Nissan Versa. We got the $11/day extended insurance originally thinking that this was going to take a day or so to fix it, but now you can imagine what the bill is (I just have to wonder if we didn't get the extended warranty, that Ford would have provided us a like-model loaner N/C). I asked the dealership if they'd cover our rental in total (including insurance) and he said they'd look into it (which is what they told me every time I spoke with him).
After my unhappiness with my last dealer conversation, I called Ford DIRECT a couple weeks ago .. I asked about covering the rental and low-n-behold, they said it had been approved .. I asked about Ford covering our auto payments during the time we haven't been driving our car and they approved that as well. That obviously made me happy. They told me they'd call me in a few days with an update which also made me happy. But no call came. Last Friday I spoke with Mark, a customer service manager who knew the dealer .. he said he'd get to the bottom of it and call me, but no call yet.
We're just so tired of this whole situation. We liked the new Ford Explorer .. we liked the look .. we liked how it drove .. we liked the interior, the technology. But this whole situation has really turned us off of Ford. The unfairness of it all .. the lack of communication .. THE FEAR THAT THE FIX WON'T BE A FIX if/when we see our car (especially after someone on the message board said it hadn't worked). My wife does not want it back now - nor does she want another Explorer especially after hearing in this chain that the 2013s are having the same issue.
I'm glad I found this board and know that I'm not alone.
