2001 FORD EXPLORER SPORT TRAC — Complaint #487147
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:LINKAGES:DRAG:POWER ASSIST SYSTEM filed July 28, 2004
NHTSA complaint #487147 (ODI reference 10082864) concerns a 2001 FORD EXPLORER SPORT TRAC and was filed on July 28, 2004. The owner reports the failure occurred on July 28, 2004. The vehicle had 5,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to North Carolina based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:linkages:drag: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 SPORT TRAC cohort independently describe similar steering:linkages:drag: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 2001 FORD EXPLORER SPORT TRAC shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
SINCE THE PURCHASE OF MY FORD EXPLOER SPORT TRAC IN DEC, 2000, I HAVE DEALT WITH A STEERING SHUDDER. I HAVE HAD 3 DIFFERENT TYPES OF TIRES ON THE VEHICLE AND ALL EXHIBITED THIS PROBLEM. I TOOK THE VEHICLE TO A FORD DEALER DURING THE WARRANTY PERIOD, BUT THEY WERE NOT SURE OF THE CAUSE. TODAY I CALLED FORD AND THEY ARE SHIFTING THE BURDEN OF THE NECESSARY REPAIR TO ME DESPITE THAT I BROUGHT THIS UP AT LEAST TWICE DURING THE WARRANTY PERIOD. I THINK THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE AND IT IS ESPECIALLY BAD ON WET SURFACES. I THINK THE REPAIR SHOULD BE DONE AS A RECALL AND NOT BURDEN THE CONSUMER ESPECIALLY WHEN IT WAS BROUGHT TO THE FORD DEALER'S ATTENTION DURING THE WARRANTY PERIOD. THERE IS A TECHNICAL BULLETIN OUT THAT DESCRIBES THE PROBLEM I HAVE WITH MY VEHICLE. IT CAN AFFECT THE ABILITY TO CONTROL THE VEHICLE ESPECIALLY WHEN TURNING ON WET PAVEMENT.*AK
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 487147 |
| ODI Number | 10082864 |
| Date Filed | July 28, 2004 |
| Failure Date | July 28, 2004 |
| VIN | 1FMZU67EX1U |
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.