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2011 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #1803593

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NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:GEAR BOX (OTHER THAN RACK AND PINION) filed March 24, 2022

NHTSA complaint #1803593 (ODI reference 11458151) concerns a 2011 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on March 24, 2022. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 11, 2022. The vehicle had 148,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Oklahoma based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:gear box (other than rack and pinion), one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD EXPLORER cohort independently describe similar steering:gear box (other than rack and pinion) failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2011 FORD EXPLORER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2011 FORD EXPLORER
Component
STEERING:GEAR BOX (OTHER THAN RACK AND PINION)
State
Oklahoma
Mileage
148,000 mi

Complaint Description

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while his wife was driving at approximately 60 MPH, the vehicle lost power steering functionality. The driver was able to safely pull over and stopped the vehicle. The contact stated that the hydraulic system failure warning light was illuminated. The driver turned the vehicle off and, on several times, and the power steering functionality returned. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the electric power steering gear needed to be replaced. Additionally, the mechanic stated that the failure was similar to NHTSA Campaign Number 14V286000 (Steering) and 14E001000 (Steering) however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 148,000.

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 1803593
ODI Number 11458151
Date Filed March 24, 2022
Failure Date March 11, 2022
VIN 1FMHK7D85BG

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.