No heated steering wheels

[Phrede]

Dealer just told me that heated steering wheels are not available. Ford just deleted them from recent orders. I was considering ordering but for me that's a deal breaker. I would be very unhappy if I ordered one and waited 3 months just to find out at delivery "surprise"

 

[RysBrd]

Has anyone else heard this recently? I know Ford did that with some F150‘s last year, I’ve not heard anything like this on Explorer though.

 

[Sgt1411]

If they start building the refreshed 24MY in September why not wait, the 23MY is kind dead man walking at this point.

 

[drdroo]

That's a bit strange really. I haven't been told of that one, but I was informed of delays related to my build from Feb 15. I read this as these parts aren't available until week of May 8th. This was the screenshot they sent.

If this is going to continue to be a thing where they keep taking away features and you don't know what the heck you're going to get, then I'll just look elsewhere entirely. I don't really care about motion seats or hands-free liftgate (mine always opens on my 2016 when I walk past it, it's very annoying). But heated steering wheel was something I'm sorta looking forward to.

 

[drdroo]

I called Ford today and they said that there is heated steering wheel anymore for Explorers and other models that use the same steering wheel and that, since mine isn't built yet it definitely will not have one.

I'm tempted to pull the rip cord and go find another vehicle. They keep removing features that exist in other brands/models. This isn't a premium line vehicle at this point, and in value it's basically an 'asterisk' if it were ever to be resold or traded. "Oh it SHOULD have heated steering wheel, like anything XLT+, but... it didn't..".

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

I love my ST, and I'm a diehard ford guy, but if all the tech I was expecting to have was suddenly not available, I would jump ship. My previous explorer, an 18 sport, had everything my ST does, but I would be pissed if I paid more for less of a vehicle.

The only tech I lost on my 21 that I care about is the heated windshield de-icer. That was a 20 only thing.

 

[drdroo]

I love my ST, and I'm a diehard ford guy, but if all the tech I was expecting to have was suddenly not available, I would jump ship. My previous explorer, an 18 sport, had everything my ST does, but I would be pissed if I paid more for less of a vehicle.

Exactly where I'm at.. So heated steering wheel is 'standard equipment' on X trims, but my custom built ST would be 'oh, standard equipment, but not Droo's'. It'd be on the long list of other items of other items that aren't on mine, but should be on a 2023 Explorer ST based on the build guide.

For 65 grand, that's insane.

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

Yeah, for 65K I would walk away. That kind of money can get a SRT durango, a couple of different Audi's and a few others that are comparable to the ST.

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

My 21 was stickered at 56K and I paid 51 and mine has the heated steering wheel, heated second row, second row climate controls, hands free liftgate, massage seats, console between the second row seats, and the temp display on the front climate controls. All that has been deleted from new builds because of the chip shortage except the second row console.

I think I'll keep my 21 until I see the refresh at least.

 

[drdroo]

Yeah, for 65K I would walk away. That kind of money can get a SRT durango, a couple of different Audi's and a few others that are comparable to the ST.

I'm restricted to GM/FCA/Ford because that's what their dealership partner owns, but, yeah pretty much. The MSRP on the one I built was 63550 (not sure what the end actual price is), and I'm willing to wait, but the way Ford made it sound, I can't even wait to get exactly what I ordered, nor will they install the parts later. So I'm just going to end up with a vehicle that's some weird asterisked hodgepodge of whatever they DID have at the time. It stops being a premium vehicle at that point, it stops being a great experience.

That's before we get into the fact the Explorer doesn't get Sync 4, though lesser cost vehicles do.

The whole thing could've been cool, but instead is just stressful. I think I'd rather keep my 2016 XLT at this point.

 

[ib_jigged]

So, every Explorer that I see in a dealerships inventory Limited and above trim levels, all have a heated steering wheel listed as standard feature on the window sticker. I do not see a credit anywhere for this. Does this just mean any order moving forward will not have a heated steering wheel? I talked to my dealer yesterday and he was sure they didn't drop it and was not able to find any information saying they had. He did tell me that there is no heated wheel on any F150's at this time.

We are ready to pull the pin on an ST order, but might entertain going with an Aviator with the Jet Package instead.

 

[RysBrd]

I’ve still not found any evidence of this deleted feature either, and my dealer isn’t aware of this for Explorer, just some F150‘s had the heated wheel pulled last year I believe. I’ve looked at a quite a few builds with blend dates in April and early May and those all list a heated steering wheel on the window sticker. Plus, if this was actually happing on the high profile Explorer, I would think it would be a much larger story, than just this.

 

[Sgt1411]

I reached out to some people in the know at CAP and they had not heard anything about heated steering wheel delete.

 

[drdroo]

I reached out to some people in the know at CAP and they had not heard anything about heated steering wheel delete.

Someone should clue in the Ford 800#. They're the ones who told me the other day that it was being deleted for Explorers. My dealer hasn't, they did send me a screenshot that power train stuff is 'delayed' until at least week of May 8 for my Feb 15 order though.

Agreed with others that this should be a bigger news situation if true.