NHTSA Complaint #11502011 — 2016 FORD EXPLORER

I was driving my 2016 Ford Explorer to the end of my driveway when the steering system locked up. The wheel would not move to either side, and I was forced to stop the vehicle before entering the roadway since this posed a serious safety risk. Fortunately, this issue was identified before entering the public roadway where an accident could have easily occurred. No warning light or safety message was displayed by the vehicle when the issue occurred. I initially tried to identify if the steering wheel locking mechanism was to blame, but this was ruled out since the vehicle was actively in "drive" and no other issues were noted with the steering wheel. This steering issue developed on a particularly cold day in December (less than 20 degrees out), however, it is unclear if this issue was related to the colder weather. The steering did not free up for approximately 30 minutes of idle time and multiple attempts to restart the vehicle. The vehicle would always go into drive but had no steering. This issue occurred on the three (3) subsequent days until the vehicle had idled for a period of time. Since this occurrence, the steering has had a grinding sound when moving the wheel. I took the vehicle to a licensed Ford Dealer and was told that the electronic steering rack would need to be replaced. This came as a shock since the vehicle only has 63,000 miles on it. I was told this part is on back-order and it took approximately a week for the replacement steering rack to arrive. This steering issue appears to be a blatant safety issue where a driver could unexpectedly lose steering control while actively driving and have no safety message or indicator alerting them to the serious issue. Given the lower mileage of my vehicle, this significant repair both from a safety and monetary standpoint would indicate this is a defect of the 2016 Ford Explorer, and it is unclear why this isn't the subject of a manufacturer recall based on other owner experiences found online.