2011 - 2018 Explorer Power Steering Issue

[gdi]

I don’t know what it stands for. I think it’s their internal system maybe? It’s mentioned in the recall PDF and my service guy said he tried them first and was told no.

Just frustrating that this is due to their faulty manufacturing. Not like regular wear and tear or standard maintenance. And then for it to be so very expensive to fix, seems like a scam. I’m disappointed in Ford.

My experience is similar to yours, Hersch.

My 2011 Explorer had been returned under the 14S06 recall and they did a software update I was told - though I had had no failure. Obviously they should have replaced the steering rack at that time but they didn't. This was several years ago, and then last December the steering assist went out while my wife was driving the car, and luckily she was not injured or killed, nor were other drivers injured.

We called Ford Customer Service and were told it would be covered under the recall, however the dealer later told us that the repair was denied. When I called Ford back we were told that they wouldn't cover it because the vehicle had 151,700 miles and they would not cover it because of the arbitrary, unilateral decision that 150,000 miles was the cut off. And keep in mind this is AFTER we had supposedly had the problem fixed under the recall, but they still hold us to the total mileage of 150,000.

I argued my case with a Ford first level service representative and got no where. The fact that they did not fix the vehicle initially and gave me no leniency regarding the fact that I was over by slightly more than 1% from the original mileage meant nothing to Ford. Of course I was far less that 150,000 miles from the time they should have fixed it under the recall. So, I asked to speak with a supervisor and the rep refused and said they don't do that. He said he could take my name and a supervisor would call me. Of course that call never came.

So I paid over $3,000 to have this life threatening defect repaired, and have never heard a word from Ford. We received the vehicle back and it was working well. So I paid for Ford's faulty design out of my pocket, but at least I thought it was fine now. Then two days ago, my wife was coming home from dropping my son off at school and, again, it failed with a total loss of steering assist and, again, she was lucky enough not to crash and sustain injuries or death. It was 22 days from when we picked it up. The dealer of course indicated that the re-re-repair would be covered under warranty from the previous repair. They gave me a number to call roadside service to tow the vehicle to them. When I called they would arrange towing, but I would have to pay for it!

I called Ford Customer Service again and asked about escalating my complaint and was assured that I would receive a call back within 24 hours. Again, of course, that call never came .

BTW, several years ago I was driving my F150 at 70MPH on the interstate and it downshifted to first gear by itself causing the wheels to lockup and me to temporarily lose control. Again, luckily, I was able to get the vehicle to the shoulder without death or injury. I found that this was a common complaint on the internet and I notified Ford of the situation and asked why they were not recalling the truck for this life threatening problem. They showed no concern, and only after many calls did they give me a few hundred dollars to reduce the cost of repairing their defect. Later I found out they did recall the trucks for that but my money was long gone and they did noting to reimburse me.


Anyway in the last 10 years I have given Ford at least $130,000 for three vehicles (Explorer, F150, and GT350). Now it is clear, they are happy to let their customer pay for their defective and dangerous vehicles. Also, note the announcement yesterday that Ford refused to recall certain vehicles with Takata airbags until they were forced to by the NHTSA. Now I am stuck with a vehicle that, even after the re-re-re-fix, I will not allow anyone on my family to risk driving.

So I have to find another vehicle - as we left the dealer yesterday, they had a Bronco on the lot and my wife asked if we could trade the death trap Explorer on that. My response was simply that I am afraid that the next defect we encounter with a Ford my be our catastrophic...

Ford Forced to Recall Defective Airbags

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum.
As far as I can recall, there has only been one reported minor accident here due to this failure and it did not involve anyone else.
As far as the extended 150k warranty goes, I'm guessing that Ford had to set some kind of limit on the issue otherwise they could be replacing these forever, which perhaps they should. The software update has done nothing to alleviate the problem and that has been discussed here as well. The only time that Ford said the steering rack was to be replaced was if the update did not resolve the initial issue. So there was no reason to replace it when they did the update.

Peter

 

[gdi]

​

Welcome to the Forum.

As far as I can recall, there has only been one reported minor accident here due to this failure and it did not involve anyone else.

As far as the extended 150k warranty goes, I'm guessing that Ford had to set some kind of limit on the issue otherwise they could be replacing these forever, which perhaps they should. The software update has done nothing to alleviate the problem and that has been discussed here as well. The only time that Ford said the steering rack was to be replaced was if the update did not resolve the initial issue. So there was no reason to replace it when they did the update.



Peter​

Thanks for the Welcome!

I am happy to hear that no one has been killed, that is certainly fortunate. I have driven mine after the failure and it was extremely difficult for me to turn, and someone smaller or weaker would have tremendous trouble controlling the vehicle in certain situations. This could easily result in a accident in certain situations. It is not like a vehicle with low power steering fluid or the usual result of failing power steering, for many people it would be similar to the steering locking up with no hope of turning the vehicle. If it failed in a turn at low to moderate speeds, or if failure coincided with an emergency maneuver it could be disastrous.

And regarding the recall service I had - there was no symptom at the time, but we were told they did a software update (my wife took the car in an relayed that to me). Frankly I'm pissed not just about the money but the unbelievably bad customer service. There is no excuse for blowing off my request to speak to someone else after promising I would get a call - twice!

The plan Hersch laid out is the minimum that one can do when treated with such disdain after spending over $100K as a loyal customer. It is very frustrating to be lied to and serious problems just treated as a cost to avoided rather than addressed. I am old enough to remember the calculus that went into Fords handling of the exploding Pintos. Ford estimated the expected cost of personal injury lawsuits and decided it was better to keep the car under $2000 than add a $1 safety piece to the prevent fires and explosions. Given my personal experience and the recent battle to avoid recalling airbags, I question whether the corporate culture has fully rehabilitated itself over the decades.

 

[03WIExplorerLtd]

​

Thanks for the Welcome!

I am happy to hear that no one has been killed, that is certainly fortunate. I have driven mine after the failure and it was extremely difficult for me to turn, and someone smaller or weaker would have tremendous trouble controlling the vehicle in certain situations. This could easily result in a accident in certain situations. It is not like a vehicle with low power steering fluid or the usual result of failing power steering, for many people it would be similar to the steering locking up with no hope of turning the vehicle. If it failed in a turn at low to moderate speeds, or if failure coincided with an emergency maneuver it could be disastrous.

And regarding the recall service I had - there was no symptom at the time, but we were told they did a software update (my wife took the car in an relayed that to me). Frankly I'm pissed not just about the money but the unbelievably bad customer service. There is no excuse for blowing off my request to speak to someone else after promising I would get a call - twice!

The plan Hersch laid out is the minimum that one can do when treated with such disdain after spending over $100K as a loyal customer. It is very frustrating to be lied to and serious problems just treated as a cost to avoided rather than addressed. I am old enough to remember the calculus that went into Fords handling of the exploding Pintos. Ford estimated the expected cost of personal injury lawsuits and decided it was better to keep the car under $2000 than add a $1 safety piece to the prevent fires and explosions. Given my personal experience and the recent battle to avoid recalling airbags, I question whether the corporate culture has fully rehabilitated itself over the decades.

The computer flash was supposed to make the steering be drivable in a safe fashion, not lockup or be too hard. Mine failed and it still drove fine. Are you saying after the update it still failed and didn't have the fail safe mode working?

 

[HerschTD2]

​

Thanks for the Welcome!

I am happy to hear that no one has been killed, that is certainly fortunate. I have driven mine after the failure and it was extremely difficult for me to turn, and someone smaller or weaker would have tremendous trouble controlling the vehicle in certain situations. This could easily result in a accident in certain situations. It is not like a vehicle with low power steering fluid or the usual result of failing power steering, for many people it would be similar to the steering locking up with no hope of turning the vehicle. If it failed in a turn at low to moderate speeds, or if failure coincided with an emergency maneuver it could be disastrous.

And regarding the recall service I had - there was no symptom at the time, but we were told they did a software update (my wife took the car in an relayed that to me). Frankly I'm pissed not just about the money but the unbelievably bad customer service. There is no excuse for blowing off my request to speak to someone else after promising I would get a call - twice!

The plan Hersch laid out is the minimum that one can do when treated with such disdain after spending over $100K as a loyal customer. It is very frustrating to be lied to and serious problems just treated as a cost to avoided rather than addressed. I am old enough to remember the calculus that went into Fords handling of the exploding Pintos. Ford estimated the expected cost of personal injury lawsuits and decided it was better to keep the car under $2000 than add a $1 safety piece to the prevent fires and explosions. Given my personal experience and the recent battle to avoid recalling airbags, I question whether the corporate culture has fully rehabilitated itself over the decades.

It all seems ridiculous! Of course there needs to be warranty or repair limits in certain situations, like normal wear and tear but faulty manufacturing is not one. Not to mention the cost of their faulty manufacturing.
I think the other thing that hit me hard was the complete lack of customer care. My service guy at the dealership had great care and agreed with me, but corporate but borderline rude. And no, I was not rude or aggressive.

I thought the PDF I found said the repair should be covered even after the 150k miles, it was an edit after the original decision. When I asked customer service she was pretty abrupt telling me it says to contact SSSC. Which customers don’t do but dealers do. She didn’t have much when I said he already did and they said contact customer service. She really didn’t even respond when I asked who else I could discuss the issue with.
While I would still be a little upset, I probably would have been somewhat satisfied if they would have just offered a little help. Just something to keep a loyal customer after Ford’s faulty manufacturing, NOT normal wear.

 

[gdi]

The computer flash was supposed to make the steering be drivable in a safe fashion, not lockup or be too hard. Mine failed and it still drove fine. Are you saying after the update it still failed and didn't have the fail safe mode working?

I am saying that - as far as I know, they did a software update based on the initial recall, we had not had any problems to that point the dealer did this when we had it in for routine service. Note that I have no way of knowing if they actually did the software update at the time. When we did have a problem, it was severe - the resistance seemed far greater than what I would expect from a steering assist failure. I found it impossible to turn the wheel when not moving or at very low speeds.

So any "fail safe" mode did not work - the failure resulted in a very dangerous condition, as one would expect from an almost total steering failure. But they replaced the steering rack the first time and I assume they will do that again this week, so i would not expect a software update to override a mechanical failure.

 

[gdi]

It all seems ridiculous! Of course there needs to be warranty or repair limits in certain situations, like normal wear and tear but faulty manufacturing is not one. Not to mention the cost of their faulty manufacturing.
I think the other thing that hit me hard was the complete lack of customer care. My service guy at the dealership had great care and agreed with me, but corporate but borderline rude. And no, I was not rude or aggressive.

I thought the PDF I found said the repair should be covered even after the 150k miles, it was an edit after the original decision. When I asked customer service she was pretty abrupt telling me it says to contact SSSC. Which customers don’t do but dealers do. She didn’t have much when I said he already did and they said contact customer service. She really didn’t even respond when I asked who else I could discuss the issue with.
While I would still be a little upset, I probably would have been somewhat satisfied if they would have just offered a little help. Just something to keep a loyal customer after Ford’s faulty manufacturing, NOT normal wear.

This sounds similar to my experience - horrendous customer service from Ford. One person was totally unhelpful but polite and assured me that someone would call me, which they never did. Another person was borderline belligerent and also reluctantly said they would request a call back, which never came.

 

[Nick T]

I just lost all power on my 2015. No warning lights, nothing. Went to start it and the wheel won’t move. The car starts (key) and shifts in and out of all gears. No idea what it could be

 

[peterk9]

I just lost all power on my 2015. No warning lights, nothing. Went to start it and the wheel won’t move. The car starts (key) and shifts in and out of all gears. No idea what it could be

When the power steering fails you should be able to move the steering wheel albeit with great difficulty. You may have experienced the failure that requires replacement of the steering rack.

Peter

 

[ghouck]

Would the steering rack problem also cause the blinkers to require being held in order to keep blinking? I also have the Steering assist/advancetrak (or whatever its called) warnings. Thanks, Greg.

 

[peterk9]

Would the steering rack problem also cause the blinkers to require being held in order to keep blinking? I also have the Steering assist/advancetrak (or whatever its called) warnings. Thanks, Greg.

That would be the first time I've heard of the combination as an issue. Have you confirmed it is the steering rack that is a problem?

Peter

 

[Nick T]

That would be the first time I've heard of the combination as an issue. Have you confirmed it is the steering rack that is a problem?

Peter

For what it’s worth, my blinkers still operates. Dealer said the rack had an electrical failure that was covered under ford Basecare with a full replacement.

 

[ghouck]

That would be the first time I've heard of the combination as an issue. Have you confirmed it is the steering rack that is a problem?

Peter

No I have not confirmed anything. I live in a fairly remote area of Alaska and am hoping to narrow it down. Thanks, Greg

 

[PlatinumOwner]

Would the steering rack problem also cause the blinkers to require being held in order to keep blinking? I also have the Steering assist/advancetrak (or whatever its called) warnings. Thanks, Greg.

That sounds more like an issue with the steering column control module... or the signal stalk. The signal stalks are known to fail.

 

[ghouck]

That sounds more like an issue with the steering column control module... or the signal stalk. The signal stalks are known to fail.

Does the signal stalk wire through the SCCM?

 

[PlatinumOwner]

Does the signal stalk wire through the SCCM?

The signal stalk connects to it, the SCCM determines the number of times the signal flashes

 

[PlatinumOwner]

It is however more likely that the stalk failed than the SCCM

 

[ghouck]

It is however more likely that the stalk failed than the SCCM

Unless the steering stalk failure causes the steering assist and terrain management failures then it seems coincidental that I have 2 separate failures at the same time.

 

[ghouck]

So I hooked up my explorer and using forscan I see the steering angle is stuck at -780.00 degrees. The signal from the steering wheel controls as well as from the turn signal stalk all work fine according to the oscilloscope feature. I'm leaning toward the steering position sensor being bad. Does anyone know what further checks should be made? Thanks, Greg.

 

[AntiFORDnow]

Has anyone else lost power steering in their new Ex? I bought mine in January and had no problems for several months. Recently, when starting the vehicle the "Power Steering Assist Fault" warning started coming on. After turning off the ignition and re-starting the engine, the warning went away and I regained power steering. About 10 days ago, I started it and the same "Power Steering Assist Fault" warning stayed on - even after recycling the engine. The "Service Advance Trac" warning also stayed on and I lost the Terrain Management function. Unreal! My truck has been at the dealer since 6/13. They checked everything and talked to Ford "engineers." I think they just gave up trying to figure it out and decided to order a new "Powersteering Rack." Still waiting for the part...

This is obviously not a minor fix on a new car. Regretting my purchase after this happened and reading other problems others are having, overheating, A-Pillar, etc., etc. Rattles are one thing, dangerous defective parts are another. Anyone have a similar experience?

Currently have the same issue, vehicle at the Ford dealership since before the 4th of July. Parts are back ordered and was told 6-8 months before we receive the vehicle back and they will not issue a loaner for more than 10 days.......wtf Ford