CarComplaints.com Notes: The NHTSA's complaint data shows potentially scary power steering problems with the 2011 Ford Explorer.
The steering complaints are pretty serious - owners report the power steering cuts out while driving. The NHTSA opened an investigation into the power steering problems in June 2012, which lead to a recall in 2014. However years later, many 2011 Explorer owners report this defect is still occurring.
It's too bad because the 2009 & 2010 Ford Explorer are solid, trouble-free model years.
My husband put our Explorer in park in his parents driveway (but left it running since it was hot to keep it cool) and went into the house to grab our kids. When he was helping the kids get their stuff together, he happen to look up and notice our Explorer in the backyard (crashed into a tree). He ran out to see what happened and saw that the Explorer had driven off the driveway (which had a slight incline), down a hill and took out an brand new aluminum fence and crashed into a tree. He opened the driver door and the gear was still showing in park.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
My husband put our Explorer in park in his parents driveway (but left it running since it was hot to keep it cool) and went into the house to grab our kids. When he was helping the kids get their stuff together, he happen to look up and notice our Explorer in the backyard (crashed into a tree). He ran out to see what happened and saw that the Explorer had driven off the driveway (which had a slight incline), down a hill and took out an brand new aluminum fence and crashed into a tree. He opened the driver door and the gear was still showing in park.
- carvers3, Gardner, US