NHTSA Complaint #11685900 — 2012 FORD EXPLORER

The contact's wife owns a 2021 Ford Explorer. The contact stated that while his wife was driving, on at least three occasions, the steering wheel became very stiff. The contact's wife was not able to turn the steering wheel, so the vehicle was stopped and restarted each time. The contact stated that an unknown message was displayed, and the power steering assist warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where DTC: U3000 was retrieved, and the tech was asked to check for bad connections. The failure was not duplicated, and the vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was taken to a second dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the ground wire had corrosion around the grounding bolts and that the bolts needed to be cleaned a reinstalled. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 111,000.