This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 5 mph, the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver without warning. As the contact applied force to the steering wheel in order to steer the vehicle, the vehicle suddenly jerked to the side. As a result, the contact crashed into the rear end of another vehicle. The air bags failed to deploy. Upon inspection, the contact noticed that the lower control arm in the front of the vehicle had fractured. The contact sustained minor bruises and the rear passenger sustained minor neck bruises that required medical attention. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the control arm needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 18,500.
We were driving to our new home from visiting family and picking up the vehicle. Driving down the interstate at 70+ miles an hour I noticed the steering was tightening up and seemed to be overcorrecting when I tried to stay in the lane. Finally the advance trac light came on and stated there was a steering failure. I pulled over to a rest stop immediately and turned off the vehicle. When I restarted the vehicle power steering was completely gone. Car had to be towed to nearest town where we were stuck for 4 days. Dealership ended up replacing the power steering gear.
Steering is inoperable. No power steering at all while driving. Can not turn left or right, have to pull over to be safe. Error message says terrain management failure and advanced trac system failure. Dealer replaced the whole power steering rack and return my car to me. After 1 month and a half, lost steering again on the road. Very dangerous when you can not turn on the highway. Same error messages, same problems for the second time. My car is 2014 with only 12000 miles right now. Unbelievable!
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. While driving approximately 60 mph, the power steering assist warning light illuminated. The contact later experienced difficulties in maneuvering the steering wheel after the vehicle was parked and restarted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that a certain module needed to be reprogrammed. The vehicle was serviced, but the remedy failed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 24,625.
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that there was an abnormal noise coming from the front area of the vehicle near the bumper. The noise was present when the steering wheel was turned to the left or right. The dealer could not duplicate the failure initially. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer a second time and they replaced the half shaft thrust washer. On a third visit to the dealer, they provided a test drive, replaced the passenger side struts, and inspected the nuts and bolts; however, the noise continued. The vehicle was taken to the dealer's body shop. The technician moved the front bumper and replaced the front passenger side body apron panel along with new bolts, but the noise continued. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 39,000.
- Taylorville, IL, USA
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I have a 2014 Ford Explorer Sport and whenever the vehicle accelerates it severely pulls to the left. The vehicle with track straight until you step on the gas and it pulls severely to the left requiring me to compensate by while driving. I advised the dealership on 10-8-14, 10-18-14, 12-4-14, on a March oil change with Ford, 1-7-15 and 5-18-15.the dealerships initially denied the car had any issues that were abnormal but eventually they admitted it does pull to the left but it was normal according to the Ford engineers and nothing could be done to correct it since it was a natural characteristic of the vehicle. I did not agree since I have driven other vehicles of the same make and model that did not perform the same as my vehicle does. I also spoke to various Ford service technicians that indicated they had never encountered this issue and they assumed that it couldn't be torque steer since the intelligent 4 wheel drive should correct any wheels that were not spinning at the same speed as the others causing the vehicle to pull in one direction or the other. However, the dealership indicated they could only go by what the corporate engineers advised them and that was that the issue was normal despite the vehicle being rated for a maximum towing capacity of 5,000 pounds. I also haven't been given an explanation on why the left tires on my vehicle are worn out only on the outside of the tire exactly in the direction the car is pulling to. The sever pulling to the left is not a minor think and the car will move by the feet to the left veering out of the lane unless I compensate while steering, yet it drives absolutely straight if I let off the gas and I can't imagine towing anything behind this vehicle with these abnormal driving conditions.
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that when starting the vehicle, there was an abnormal noise coming from the steering wheel. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the bearing needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. As a result, the contact lost control of the vehicle and crashed it into a tree. The air bags failed to deploy. The rear passenger sustained a busted lip that did not require medical attention. A police report was filed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 7,000.
First incident: Parked car at gas station fuel pump, when we got in to move the car it did not have power steering. Wrestled the car to the front of the gas store and went inside, when we returned to the car and started it, the power steering worked. Second incident: July 18,2014, same thing happened after a stop at a store. Power steering completely out advance track light stays on. Had to get towed. Fix took four week work days. The invoice says eb5Z*3504 gear asm-steering was replaced.
Vehicle stopped to let passengers off. Stopped engine. Restarted the engine, started to pull away from curve and power steering failed and received steering assist fault alarm. Vehicle was subsequently driven with no power steering. Also, noted the following: Terrain management fault, service advanced track. Another related failure is that the signal lights no longer would stay on when initiated creating an additional safety issue. Took vehicle to Ford shop and they stated that the power steering gear would have to be replaced. They reported that they had one on order and would be available for installation in 3-weeks. Upon searching the web, found that Ford has had this, or similar problems with 2011-2013 power steering and has just issued a recall for 2011-2013 vehicles. Had this failure happened during a U-turn or a front tire failure at highway speed, it would likely have ended up with a serious accident. In addition, this is a vehicle designed to go off-road. If a failure of this type occurred off road, serious damage to the vehicle or occupant injury could occur. This is a serious issue that, on the surface, appears to have been going on for several years.
Luckily we were coming to a stop anyway when we lost power steering. Loud warning beeps with a message saying "power steering assist faulty" appeared. We were able to stop and start the engine to reset this, but this is a serious safety issue. We took our new 2014 Ford to our cullman, Alabama eckenrod Ford dealer and they are stumped. Come to find out (thanks to google) this problem has been around since the 2011 model. We no longer feel safe driving this vehicle as we commute 45 miles to work and 45 miles home everyday.
To avoid hitting another vehicle that illegally came into the lane I was entering (they were driving on the shoulder), I had to take evasive action, which caused me to turn my vehicle into a curb. At the time, I was traveling 15 to maybe 20 mph. After hitting the curb, my vehicle came to a stop and upon inspection I discovered that the lower control arm had completely broken in half. My vehicle was towed to a local dealership, where they subsequently serviced the vehicle, which I picked up on March 15, 2014. However, within 100 miles of driving, multiple system errors occurred, and my steering went out. The dealership is now saying there was apparently an issue with the steering gear assembly, and that they will be able to further diagnose upon replacing that part. My concern is the safety of the vehicle and specifically that I do not think a control arm should snap in half at that speed, particularly in a SUV that has an upgraded suspension as part of the trim package.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Snohomish, WA, USA