NHTSA Complaint #11537587 — 2016 FORD EXPLORER

Back in April 2020 (34,418 miles)I began to hear a clicking noise from the front end of the vehicle when turning the steering wheel. I took the vehicle to dealer where I purchased the vehicle (2016 Explorer) - they determined the noise to be coming from the "power steering gear assembly". I declined the repair as I wanted to investigate further. The noise would come and go but there was a consistent noticeable point when turning left that the wheel sort of would catch when trying to turn back to the right. I have lived with this expecting at some point their would be a recall as I read of this issue being quite prevalent for the 2016 Explorer. I now (8-10-2023) have approximately 75,000 miles on the vehicle and the problem is getting more pronounced. When sitting still and you turn the wheel even just slightly either way their is significant noise from the steering system and I would anticipate it is only going to get worse so I need to have this investigated and repaired. I would encourage the NHTSA to pressure Ford Motor Company to issue a recall for this issue as from everything I see online this is a common issue and is certainly a safety issue.