Maverick Steering Issues - Bad Sound

[Larrythelunatic]

Bringing this matter up before the MTC, while a good move unto itself (we all learn), should not be necessary. The suggestions made here (try this……try that…..could it be this?……..could it be that?) are all things that a servicing dealer
should be asking. And they should not stop asking until they have both an answer AND a cure.
As was said…….Tell us who the dealer is that is treating you so poorly. AND HE IS!
That may be the only way (impugning his rep) to get him to react. Money talks!
If people don’t bring him business, he loses. Something he would rather avoid.
Meantime…….
When things rub, they eventually break. If the dealer has been informed of the problem (documented!), does nothing, and something terrible happens, he will
be WAY up the proverbial creek.
Point that out to the service manager, dealer manager, dealer owner, and FMC.
If they all ignore you, they’re bigger idiots than I thought.

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[bull19541]

Anyone have any idea what this is? My brand new 2026 Maverick has been making this sound since second month of ownership, less than 600 miles. Can anyone help identify the issue? See the video here:

My dealer service is saying they can’t find the issue. It’s defeaning and embarrassing. Sounds horrible. Happens pretty much every drive now above 30 minutes +-. Occurs while driving and while parked and will sometimes last for days. Occasionally it will disappear if parked overnight, but will reemerge after driving for approximately 30 minutes especially on highway. Perhaps this is why my dealer doesn’t hear it when they let it sit parked for days and then just throw it on the lift to look. They’re apparently not driving it.

do you feel it in the wheel? sounds like a bearing

 

[Darryl]

Awesome! Kudos on actually caring, and i truly mean that! Can you imagine if all techs and dealers operated like that? It shows that you really care to solve the problem! I hope you inspire and encourage your fellow techs to do the same!

I try. But truth be told. The technician pay plan disincentives this. It's hard to convince a tech that has bills looming because Being thorough has little reward other than the pride of doing one's job well. Financially it's costly. I've spent an entire week (probably 3 or so hours per day) chasing down a problem only to get reimbursed 2 hours by Ford. It was only grabbing a few small jobs while I took a break that gave me a paycheck that week. Getting a 20 hour paycheck when you spent 40 hours at work doesn't actually encourage a tech to be determined. Thankfully, my shop saw my check suffering and decided to pay me hourly, so I could take on or assist with the difficult to diagnose jobs and allow the other techs to be more productive.

 

[icegradner]

Wow! I didn't see that. That's crazy. Given that the vehicle is very new, Even a poor excuse for a tech would at least throw a part at it. The dealership has resources to assist with difficult problems. If the case is as he says, the best course of action at this time is either to use a different dealership if one is nearby AND/OR contact FORD. We've had customers to contact Ford when they perceived (wrongly or rightly) that their concerns were not being addressed. Ford takes these cases seriously, ESPECIALLY with recent purchases and follows up. They'll even send a field service engineer to assist with diagnostics after a certain procedure is followed. A dealership's bad rating can cost them money.

Yeah we were suggesting the OP do at least one of those two things. I am sure the OP is very frustrated, I sure would be. I consider myself lucky, there are 5-7 dealerships within 30-45 minute drive, so they have to compete to keep customers, people in smaller communities likely aren’t so lucky.

Even with the gripes I’ve had with my purchasing dealership, they’ve always addressed my concerns with the truck. At least while it was under the factory warranty anyway, time will tell if it goes as well with the extended Ford warranty. To me this case sounds like, busy dealership that just doesn’t care, but you never know. I wonder if the OP dealt with the same service writer the entire time? Sometimes just getting a different adviser or having a chat with the service manager, if needed, can help.

 

[Darryl]

Bringing this matter up before the MTC, while a good move unto itself (we all learn), should not be necessary. The suggestions made here (try this……try that…..could it be this?……..could it be that?) are all things that a servicing dealer
should be asking. And they should not stop asking until they have both an answer AND a cure.
As was said…….Tell us who the dealer is that is treating you so poorly. AND HE IS!
That may be the only way (impugning his rep) to get him to react. Money talks!
If people don’t bring him business, he loses. Something he would rather avoid.
Meantime…….
When things rub, they eventually break. If the dealer has been informed of the problem (documented!), does nothing, and something terrible happens, he will
be WAY up the proverbial creek.
Point that out to the service manager, dealer manager, dealer owner, and FMC.
If they all ignore you, they’re bigger idiots than I thought.

Just contact Ford at this point. They'll press the dealership. We had an issue where the customer described a steering issue that we couldn't duplicate, they wouldn't let us release the vehicle to the customer until we went through a process. They even turned it over to a different department. We had to clear everything with them.

 

[vandeda2024]

I try. But truth be told. The technician pay plan disincentives this. It's hard to convince a tech that has bills looming because Being thorough has little reward other than the pride of doing one's job well. Financially it's costly. I've spent an entire week (probably 3 or so hours per day) chasing down a problem only to get reimbursed 2 hours by Ford. It was only grabbing a few small jobs while I took a break that gave me a paycheck that week. Getting a 20 hour paycheck when you spent 40 hours at work doesn't actually encourage a tech to be determined. Thankfully, my shop saw my check suffering and decided to pay me hourly, so I could take on or assist with the difficult to diagnose jobs and allow the other techs to be more productive.

Yeah, that is a real good perspective Darryl, thanks for that info. It really provides some light into the dilemma you all face as techs, and info to hopefully help everyone who reads this to help the techs do their jobs efficiently. I forget that I really live in a bubble in our industry, but we can't afford to make mistakes either.

 

[Darryl]

Yeah we were suggesting the OP do at least one of those two things. I am sure the OP is very frustrated, I sure would be. I consider myself lucky, there are 5-7 dealerships within 30-45 minute drive, so they have to compete to keep customers, people in smaller communities likely aren’t so lucky.

Even with the gripes I’ve had with my purchasing dealership, they’ve always addressed my concerns with the truck. At least while it was under the factory warranty anyway, time will tell if it goes as well with the extended Ford warranty. To me this case sounds like, busy dealership that just doesn’t care, but you never know. I wonder if the OP dealt with the same service writer the entire time? Sometimes just getting a different adviser or having a chat with the service manager, if needed, can help.

Id suggest going to the GENERAL manager if he hasn't already. In small dealerships the service manager is Sometimes also a service writer. Sometimes the GENERAL manager doesn't realize what's happening. General managers hate it when they have to get personally involved. Our dealership is small. So our General manager will see sometimes tell the service writer/manager WHO to give the vehicle to . Then he'll speak to the tech and let him know that he'll make sure he's properly reimbursed for his time if the diagnosis takes longer than what Ford is willing to pay. It often boils down to which tech gets the job.
If that doesn't work, simply call Ford. Ford takes these things seriously believe it or not and will press the dealership and offer guidance and resources to get a problem resolved especially if it's potentially a safety issue

 

[Grabber Rick]

Dang that sounds bad. Sounds like a bad bearing in the steering colum. Can't believe service tech sees that a non issue.

 

[Darryl]

Dang that sounds bad. Sounds like a bad bearing in the steering colum. Can't believe service tech sees that a non issue.

Me neither. He should talk to the General manager. If nothing happens, then call Ford. This is unacceptable

 

[Ponyprez]

They rode along and heard it. Not sure why after a week they're saying it's not "persistent" enough . Seriously? It affects the steering as well. Getting dangerous.

I bought my wife back in 2001 a brand new Ford Focus ZX3 but on the drive home the front disc brakes started making a shrill squeal unless the were applied overly hard. She took it back and the service department said it's normal while the brakes are seating. 500 miles later, the squeal was even more pronounced during normal low speed braking and the service writer Blew me off and that made me a bit mad. I started driving around the rows that had the new Focus cars and letting the squeal sing out until a salesperson came over and asked me what I was doing, I explained the story of this brand new cars issue. He called the service manager out; he listened and took the car to service and got me a loaner. 3 days later I was called to pick up my wife's car and no more squeal. Point of my story is sometimes you have to be a jerk to get things done. I have been fortunate that the only real issue my Maverick has ever had was the factory flooded acid battery and Ford replaced that under warranty with an AGM battery a year ago and no problems since. I think your trucks issue is in the power assist portion of the power steering and it's just travelling up the steering column but it's hard to tell from just a video. Good Luck to you.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Wow! I didn't see that. That's crazy. Given that the vehicle is very new, Even a poor excuse for a tech would at least throw a part at it. The dealership has resources to assist with difficult problems. If the case is as he says, the best course of action at this time is either to use a different dealership if one is nearby AND/OR contact FORD. We've had customers to contact Ford when they perceived (wrongly or rightly) that their concerns were not being addressed. Ford takes these cases seriously, ESPECIALLY with recent purchases and follows up. They'll even send a field service engineer to assist with diagnostics after a certain procedure is followed. A dealership's bad rating can cost them money.

Darryl,
The OP has recorded the sound twice on video. He has gone into the dealer and gone on a test drive. They've heard the sound. They said that it didn't come up often enough. That's why I suggested back in Post #31 that he escalate this situation.
My suggestion post #31

You own a brand new 2026.
Your truck is under full warranty.
It is not up to you to find the cause of the problem. It's Ford's job to diagnose and remedy the problem.
Screw the dealership.
You gave them adequate chance to remedy the situation.
Time to talk Ford directly and open a case.

Link
https://www.ford.com/help/contact/?srsltid=AfmBOopDL-t9Dqyu2GvhTXkjOEzIGF7pvReH1ea4SRtyP_zDywNvfv8L

Give them a call you have nothing to lose.

 

[Mr. Twister]

Will do. Thanks.

 

[Medicman14]

Sounds like bad upper strut bearings.

 

[KO Stradivarius]

Just contact Ford at this point. They'll press the dealership. We had an issue where the customer described a steering issue that we couldn't duplicate, they wouldn't let us release the vehicle to the customer until we went through a process. They even turned it over to a different department. We had to clear everything with them.

^THIS.

I'm surprised that they would not deem this a safety issue and find a way to get you a loaner, which Ford pays for. It's more than just a noise, you mentioned it is affecting steering function. These guys are either stupid or lame and either/both are bad.

If you have a loaner, then Ford will get "Bizzy" with a capital B, because the dealer is billing them daily for the loaner.

I would hang out as long as it takes in person until I could talk to the Biggest Cheese Man at the dealer, look him in the eye and tell him: "it's a death trap, this is travesty, and they need to have some G-D pride to do the right thing, fergodsakes. This ain't rocket science"

EDIT: I also agree that Ford should be contacted ASAP

 

[tiktokbrainrot]

^THIS.

I'm surprised that they would not deem this a safety issue and find a way to get you a loaner, which Ford pays for. It's more than just a noise, you mentioned it is affecting steering function. These guys are either stupid or lame and either/both are bad.

If you have a loaner, then Ford will get "Bizzy" with a capital B, because the dealer is billing them daily for the loaner.

I would hang out as long as it takes in person until I could talk to the Biggest Cheese Man at the dealer, look him in the eye and tell him: "it's a death trap, this is travesty, and they need to have some G-D pride to do the right thing, fergodsakes. This ain't rocket science"

Bad dealers will do anything to avoid fixing problems.

My buddy's Taurus has the extended warranty from Ford that covers everything and includes a loaner. His HVAC controller failed and required replacement. He had to fight the dealer and call corporate to get his loaner, then had to call them AGAIN when the dealer tried to take it back 2 weeks later, claiming the loader was only for 2 weeks. Nope. Warranty said clear as day that a loaner would be provided until the problem was resolved.

The reason they didnt want him to keep it was it took them almost FOUR MONTHS to replace this head unit. Took it in in late December, got it back early April.

They, along with every other ford dealer in my county, have an awful reputation.

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