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.
I got into my Ford F150 to go to work and the steering locked up on me, I could not get it to steer at all. I called the dealership repair center that I purchased the truck from and told them what happened. They came and towed the truck to the dealership to have a mechanic look at it. The next day they called me and told me it was the steering column and the entire thing was needing to be replaced at a cost of over $2000. I had the truck for less than four months.
My 2011 Ford F150 with electric power steering sails while driving. It starts out working fine and then once the truck is up to speed it's difficult to turn the wheel between 11 O'clock and one O'clock on the steering wheel. The malfunction does not throw a code on the PCM so the dealership says it's fine. But I'm looking around on a lot of different blog sites in hundreds if not thousands of other people are having the same problem with their electric power steering suddenly not working. I drive-in snowy icy conditions for work during the winter in this problem has almost caused numerous accidents because of the jerky motion you have to perform to change lanes or steer. I would really appreciate if this issue could be investigated because there's no recall from Ford.
While turning in traffic my epas steering went out almost causing a wreck. I already had dealership change epas rack and pinion and I have same problem. There is a recall for 2014 trucks with same issue. Its definitely a safety issue.
Steering sticks and is erratic on the interstate. When turning left the steering sometimes sticks giving the impression the truck is over rotating around corners. Changing lanes on the interstate is dangerous as sometimes the steering sticks causing the truck to veer. I thought it was just me until I found tsb 11-08-18. Ford has known about this problem for years! I'm not happy and believe this should be a recall. Will it take someone getting killed first? steering is pretty important.
- Indianapolis, IN, USA
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Steering intermittently locks up on primarily left turn. Problem has been worsening to include turns to the right. When it happens, steering will totally lock up making driving and completing turns impossible. Extreme safety hazard. Slightly turning steering to the left & right sometimes corrects the problem. Speed and road conditions do not seem to be a factor as to when the steering wants to lock up, just turns. Condition has been worsening over the past couple of months. Cold weather, however, does seem to worsen the problem.
The contact owns a 2011 Ford F-150. While driving 10 mph, the steering wheel seized. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic for diagnostic testing or repairs. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 140,000.
While driving and under no particular common conditions, the dashboard, instrument gauges, interior lighting, headlights, navigation panel suddenly begin flashing and blacking out. Then after a few seconds, come back to normal, but typically with a "traction control service" message on with the trouble light remaining on. This happens about every 10 minutes of driving. Once in a while, it lasted longer and clunking noises seemed to come from the drive train. However, a few occurrences were while turning and the power steering was out. I took it to a belle tire nearby and they could not fix the problem, saying the dealer had to update the ABS module and gave me a printout of tsb 12-11-18 [attached scan]. they circled diagnostic trouble codes C1278 and C1963 as the ones that popped up in their analysis. I find no recalls of this item, but the steering issue is certainly dangerous.
Steering binds when turning, both when going into a turn and returning to center (straight). Most noticeable on city streets. I must use extra arm strength in both maneuvers. Problem first noticed about 2 years ago. Has gotten progressively worse since. Cold weather (Wisconsin) seems to exacerbate the problem.
Vehicle loses power steering can't turn the wheel traction control light comes on but it happens so fast and you need two grown men to try to turn the steering wheel just to get off of road to safety
Steering started sticking when turned all the way to the right and while driving you could feel it come and go! took it to repair shop and had a whole new electric power steering system installed cost a little over 1700$
While driving I noticed my tires wearing on the outsides after getting an alignment done it still continues. After taking it to a shop and them not being able to find the problem, the noted that the rack and pinion bolt was worn out and they can't replace it without replacing the whole steering assembly
10 miles from my destination, ps went out. It was very hard to steer. I was on a busy highway (us 290) from channelview, tx to waller, tx and back I have a 2011 Ford F-150 XL 5.0 L / 8 cyl / flex fuel 6-speed automatic (electronic) fuel injection after about 45 minutes parked and turned off, it worked fine. I decided to go home,60 miles. 30 miles it worked fine then went out again.
The contact owns a 2011 Ford F-150. After starting the vehicle, the power steering seized and the contact was unable to turn the steering wheel. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the power steering motor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 102,000. Consumer stated entire electric power steering went out. Updated 11/19/18
After the air conditioning is on while car is in park and idling for about 10 minutes, the steering power assist is lost, especially on left hand turns. So if I turn left, the steering wheel must be manually turned back to straight or the car will continue to turn left. After the turn, if my hands were not on the steering wheel and manually steering the car back to straight, the car will continue turning into opposing traffic. On a windy road, the truck will continue to go in the direction of the turn and not return to the straight ahead track without manually turning the steering wheel. It is a very scary scary situation. The next day morning after cooling off all is good. This happens both on the highways and city streets once it overheats some component.
My steering became very hard to steer suddenly and started making a loud noise when steering wheel is pulled to the right or left.luckily I was close to my house and was not in traffic where someone could have really been hurt.
I was turning my 2011 F150 around in a lot when a steering error warning poped up on dash along with a stability control error. Steering froze and I did not have steering control. Took all effort to force vehicle to turn and avoid a collision steering was extremely hard to turn with a loud buzzing noise and limited turning range (about 2/3 of normal range left and right. Drove home this way (about 15 miles). Was extremely difficult to control vehicle and very nerve racking. Being a mechanic I scanned codes and it appears that the electronic steering gear failed. This is a very dangerous system I shudder when I think of the consequences had I been driving at highway speed. If there is not a recall for this issue there should be before someone is killed. I included the scanned codes below.
On Saturday 08/18/18 the power steering unit on my my Ford F-150 (2011model, 67956 miles) failed, fortunately, right when I started the truck in my driveway. Nothing changed when I restarted the truck a few times, so I shut it down without attempting to drive it and had it towed to the dealer where the unit was replaced for $2171. I discussed the event with the service manager expressing my surprise there was not a recall on failures of such an important part that impacted vehicle and public safety, or a reimbursement for the cost of replacement. He sympathized and told me to report the incident to Ford customer service and supplied me with their telephone number. The C S rep took my information, gave me a case # and said I would be contacted by a regional cs rep. That person called the next day and politely informed me that there was no recall on that type of incident and that Ford would not reimburse me for any of the charges for the repair. As I told the cs rep today when I talk about my truck to people this issue will take precedence rather than the enjoyment I have had with it so far. According to info on the NHTSA site this is not an unheard of failure. In fact there are recalls and replacements for steering mechanisms on other Ford models from the same year. It appears that Ford is stonewalling on this issue and screwing their customers. What does it take to get this mechanical defect covered by a recall" maybe not enough people have been seriously injured or killed"
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Hilton Head Island,, SC, USA