Steering column or shaft failure on the 2004 Ford Explorer
1 fire 1 of the 13 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When steering column or shaft failure gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Ford Explorer report steering column or shaft failure at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 13 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 21st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 35,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 100,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 66,615 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
15% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33,120 miles | 55,000 miles | 73,000 miles | 99,735 miles | 99,735 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $600–$2,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 18 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 1996 at 165,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 110; the 2004 has 13. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
2004 ford explorer - I bought this vehicle new in dec. 03. Starting at approximately 14 months old, it starts stalling out, just dying completely. No signs, no symptoms, just die at a slow rate of speed. The first time it happened, I chalked it up to bad gas or something? Finally, on the 3rd. Dead time, I took it into the dealer. They said they changed a fuse and it should be fine. It died again ... And again. I took it back. They installed a black box (flight recorder & told me to drive it until the machine regestered "3". I had to keep the button by the steering column so I could push it quickly when the vehicle stalled. The first stall, I pushed the button & it registered "2". It died again just a block down the road (rush hour traffic on casino row, hwy 90). I pushed the button again & it registered "3". The next week I took it back to the dealer. They had the car 4 days this time & couldn't figure it out. Finally they called the engineers who said to "clean & tighten the grounding straps". That friday, it died again. A couple of times it has dies, my newly licensed daughter was driving & now she is affraid of my car! The…
2004 explorer (automatic) column gear shift broke when shifted into reverse. Part was not sold separately so had to purchase entire steering column. Estimate cost of new part was approximately $500. Luckily was able to locate used part for half the cost. Replaced only the broken part which has gear shift lever attached. *jb
2004 ford explorer. Gear shift lever broke off in my hand when shifting from park to reverse. Transmission indicator stuck between park and reverse. Vehicle could start but not move. Key stuck in ignition. Shift lever broke off at metal cast inside column. Towed to ford dealer. Needs entire steering column replaced to fix this part, cost over $1000. Others with same problem due to defective part. Called ford hq, but no help with covering repairs for this problem. *tr
Also reported on the 2004 Ford Explorer
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure
Other visibility problem
Cruise control failure
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does steering column or shaft failure happen on the 2004 Ford Explorer?
Across 13 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is steering column or shaft failure on the 2004 Ford Explorer?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 65 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed