Goodbye Explorer
I have had my Explorer for 3 years and reported power steering failure at least 5 times -- including taking to the dealer in "failure mode". I have not had any dealer make any serious attempts to resolve the issue. My company no longer buys Fords as result.
Ford bought our 2011 Explorer back this week under California Lemon Law provisions. After many efforts on my part, they replaced the first steering rack. When the second rack failed, they replaced it as well. When the third rack failed, they took the car back. I had the choice of a new Explorer, but after this ordeal, I would never feel safe again.
To those of you who think that it is only "power assist" that fails and that you can still steer the car with some extra effort, I hope you never experience the terror of having the wheel jerked out of your hands and the car going the direction it chooses. We was very lucky that all of our failures were at low speed, and we were able to stop the car safely.
If you have a camera on your phone, I suggest that you take a picture of the failure lights and the odometer before you turn off the engine and reboot the car. That way, no one can deny your problem.
To Danial6781 who said he took his car into the dealer 5 times in California with nothing being done, if that is true, you car is already qualified as a California Lemon. In California, the manufacturer has three opportunities to correct a safety issue, and that's it. Each of those times consists of your presenting the car to the service department with your complaint of the safety issue, i.e. steering failure. It does not matter if they can recreate the problem or not. The fourth time you pull into the dealership, your car is a lemon. Only the first failure needs to occur during the warranty period. (I am not a lawyer nor qualified to give legal advice, but it is easy to find). We did not need a lawyer. Once we knew the car met the criteria, we just filed a case with Ford Customer Service requesting a buy back of the car. That started the process of their checking the records on the car to determine qualification.
Once Ford had to take the car back, everyone was very helpful, and it was straightforward. The dealership was always responsive to me and wanted to make my car safe from the start. If Ford Corporate had shown a better attitude when our 2011 had its first steering failure at 8000 miles, I would still be driving an Explorer. However, we quickly felt that we were part of a corporate budgetary decision about how many lives could be put on the line while it would still be cheaper than a safety recall.
The Ford reps on this site are sincere and will try and help you. I hope that Ford Corporate is responding better today than they did in 2011. I thought it was a great vehicle if you didn't need to feel safe (sarcasm intended).
Good luck to you all. It really was (almost) a great car.