NHTSA Complaint #11501536 — 2016 FORD EXPLORER

"Steering Assist Fault" and Lane Keeping Sys. Malfunction" faults appeared on my dash display. The vehicle is available for inspection if requested. When the faults lit up, I was unable to steer the vehicle. It was as if the steering was completely locked up. Fortunately I was driving down the driveway at the time and was able to stop before entering the roadway. If this would have faulted while on the road at any speed I'm sure an accident or death would have resulted from not being able to steer the vehicle. I took it in to a repair shop where they said to fix it would require the rack to be replaced and programmed. They recommended taking it to a dealership to be repaired. This appears to be a known problem to the vehicle manufacture but no recalls have been put out. Parts alone I was quoted $2,500 not including labor and programming costs. Vehicle has only been inspected by a repair shop. Symptoms prior to failure - I bought the car used from a dealership. Took the car back to the dealership a few weeks after purchase because I kept hearing a grinding sound coming from the front end while traveling at highway speed. They test drove it and inspected and said they could not find anything wrong. They ended rotating the tires. This did not help. Drove the car for a year feeling like something was wrong under the hood. Summer of 2022 the air vent control actuator went out and the car would not switch off from defrost mode. I had that replaced by a repair shop. December 22, 2022 as I pulled into the driveway I heard a popping sound coming from the front end as i turned into the driveway. The next morning, Dec 23, 2022 while heading down my driveway the faults appeared and I was unable to steer.