Problems · by component
2011 Ford F-150 steering problems
413 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2011 Ford F-150 cite steering, 19% of all 2,137 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
413
19% of all complaints
Crashes
6
Reported by owners
Fires
2
Reported by owners
Injuries
3
Reported by owners
What owners say about the steering
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“The electronic power steering locked up while driving & could not turn the wheel at all. Yes this has been inspected & confirmed by an independent service center. There were no warning lamps or messages prior to this incident. The vehicle is render useless with the locked up steering.”
“I was driving when the steering locked up with no warning light on the dash or fault messages. Was driving on a road and taking a turn when I went straight into the woods not allowing control of vehicle”
“On my.2011 ford f150 xlt the electrical power steering asssist failed completely while driving in traffic... It was incredibly hard to maintain control of the vehicle ... I had to use all my strength to get the wheel to turn what so ever. It was u credibly lucky that I didn't cause an accident because it made me steer into oncoming traffic and would.not let the vehicle.tur. the opposite direction. ..the warning light said service advance Trac and then said power steering assist failure.”
“Power Assist Fault warning is displayed and the power steering stops working while driving causing a dangerous situation. Stopping the truck and turning off the ignition and restarting it clears it. This condition is becoming more frequent and harder to clear. The last occurence was 12/28/2024. It happened about 10-12 times in a row.”
“The contact owns a 2011 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel intermittently failed to return to the center and excessive force was needed to bring the steering wheel back to center. The contact also stated that the vehicle hesitated with an abnormal cranking sound coming from the vehicle. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact was then transferred to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 43,000.”
“The transmission downshifts inappropriately while driving (typically at higher speeds). I can see that there have been recalls for inappropriate downshifting during my model year, but Ford is saying there are no recalls on my truck. This has been an issue for a while. The power steering shut off while driving (while I was turning) I saw that there have also been recalls for power steering problems but Ford is saying there are no recalls on my truck. This recently started happening.”
Showing 6 of 413 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 10, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.