There are 6 owner-reported steering complaints for the 2025 Ford Explorerin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
When making a turn or going around curves the steering does not return to center and sticks in whatever direction you are turning
I would need to change many more of the points on the top, see report.
My 2025 Ford Explorer pulls hard to the left, the steering wheel feels heavy, stiff, and gets hard to steer my wife and I are constantly fighting with the car to get it to steer right and stay in the lane. If I let it, I can keep the steering wheel straight and the car will just veer to the left Into the left lane, it’s dangerous, my wife won’t even drive it anymore. Then there are times while driving on curvy roads, the wheel or the cars steering will get stuck and if I wanted to, it will stay turning on its own around corners or curves. Also when we take a turn onto another street sometimes it gets stuck again, doesn’t come back like most cars do. We have had it in the shop more than 3 times for these problems. They have replaced the steering rack/gear, done alignments, but the problem still persists we are afraid that the steering is going to get stuck, that we won’t be able to pull it back into our lane and cause a major accident. We have brought it to the dealer but say they have done what they can and need direction from Ford. I don’t know if it’s related but there has been warning lights but it said it was for the parking brake. I have even been on rides with a service manager from a ford dealership and it has happened but, without an answer from ford they could not do anything. This problem has going on for months now and the dealership can’t fix it I bought it September 2nd, 2025 I can’t remember when it started exactly, October or November but it has gotten worse and worse it seems by the day. The first time we brought it in was in December 31st, 2025 that’s when the dealership changed the steering rack/steering gear I tried to upload files to this form but they are too big
Steering drifts to left and will not return to center with out darting to the right when correcting , a constant movement back and forth to keep it in your lane !
-EPAS malfunctioning and is available for inspection. -Steering sticks in turns and requires too much effort to return to center causing me to overcorrect which causes the steering to stick in the opposite direction and so on. This is not consistent or predictable Also The car is constantly drifting left to right and requires constant corrections to maintain center. -I replicated the issue with the dealer in the car. Dealer said the other car drove the same so there was nothing they could do. -only the dealer has looked at it -no warning lamps present at this time -i have videos that show the car taking turns on a mountain pass and I am able to let go of the wheel and the car continues to turn. Without steering assist features activated. It should at least try to center on its own.
On October 24, 2024, my 2025 Ford Explorer ST experienced a sudden steering column lock and complete loss of braking while I was driving, leading to a crash and injuries. The vehicle had approximately 800 miles and was a warranty replacement provided weeks earlier. Prior to delivery, the dealer referenced a Quality Assurance hold of about two months on this vehicle, which was not disclosed to me in any detail. The simultaneous loss of steering and brakes suggests a potential common cause safety defect that may affect other 2025 Explorer ST vehicles. My insurer State Farm is currently conducting a Cause and Origin inspection. I request NHTSA review for a potential defect trend.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 26, 2026