2013 FORD EXPLORER — Complaint #1900210
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:ELECTRIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM filed June 6, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1900210 (ODI reference 11525724) concerns a 2013 FORD EXPLORER and was filed on June 6, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on May 28, 2023. The vehicle had 156,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Florida based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:electric power assist system, 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:electric power assist system 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 2013 FORD EXPLORER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, the steering wheel became firm, requiring extra effort while steering the vehicle. The contact stated that the stability control warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the warning light turned off an hour before the vehicle lost power steering functionality. The contact pulled over and turned off and restarted the vehicle however, the power steering functionality had not returned. The contact had taken the vehicle to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed and determined that the electronic power steering assist had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The contact researched online and related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V286000 (Steering). The failure mileage was approximately 156,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1900210 |
| ODI Number | 11525724 |
| Date Filed | June 6, 2023 |
| Failure Date | May 28, 2023 |
| VIN | 1FM5K7D84DG |
Similar STEERING:ELECTRIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM Complaints for 2013 FORD EXPLORER
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while attempting to start the vehicle, the steering wheel was locked. The contact stated that there was a message displayed that the stee
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH with her three-year-old in the vehicle, the power steering assist fault warning light illuminated and the steering wheel
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds when the power steering would suddenly fail to make it difficult to maneuver the vehicle and or seize com
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Explorer. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the steering wheel stiffened with the "service power steering" and service advance track" messages on the instrument pan
Driving it and lost power steering and the wheel got very hard and almost crashed my Explorer
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.