Whenever it rains and I drive in a puddle of water my serpentine belt comes off, causing my car to have no power steering and my battery light comes on. Everytime this happens I go to my mechanic and he has to manually put the belt back on. The mechanic tells me he doesn't know why this keeps happening and doesn't know how to fix it because he's inspected my vehicle and can't find anything wrong.
Ford Escort power steering loss problems
16 of the 3,480 owner complaints about the Ford Escort describe loss of power steering, most of them for the 1997 model year.
- owner complaints
- 16
- worst model year
- 1997
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
- 20021
- 20001
- 19991
- 19974
- 19952
- 19941
- 19933
- 19913
Often reported together
Loss of power 5Ball joint 2Stalling 1Fire or smoke 1Grinding brakes 1Brake failure 1
What owners say
2002 ford escape stalled while going down-hill at 35-40 MPH. Engine stopped. Lost power steering and brakes. Engine restarted immediately after placing in "neutral" position. Fuel tank was about 1/4 full. This is the third such event with this vehicle. The last such failure was on the same road and at exactly the same location!! Given the similarity of problems with this vehicle and the numerous other reports, I suspect there must be a problem with the computer control system or software.
While driving at 10mph on flat surface power steering went out, and consumer lost control of vehicle. Dealer notified.*akthere was a loud grinding noise and burning smell and smoke from the belts.
Crankshaft pully separated from engine block, causing sudden loss of power steering. Vehicle only had 30m miles.
While driving about 30 MPH power steering went out. Dealer found serpentine belt had snapped, causing bracket to water pump housing to break. Tension rod and waterpump housing were replaced at cosnumer's cost.
Rack and pinion steering has failed while driving at 20mph and without warning, casuing loss of steering. Consumer was able to get vehicle over to side of road.
Pins that hold the tie rod in place were not located on this vehicle at the time of purchase, consumer was not aware. While driving down the highwy at 35-40 MPH the bolt disengaged, causing the steering to lock up, and loss of steering. The dealer has been contacted.
While traveling 45mph lost steering power & brakes. Vehicle towed to dealer & was informed by mechanic the alternator belt broke. The pulley had shifted. The damper had failed & pushed the pulley over & caused the alternator to break.
The draper pulley broke and snapped, causing power steering belt to brake, resulting in no power steering. Please provide further information.
The vibration damper fails and causes the pully to shift, causing the alt. Belt to rub against the side of the car until it breaks. This caused loss of power steering. Extremely dangerous situation caused by a defect in the design of this ford component
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Ford Escort power steering loss
Which Ford Escort years have loss of power steering problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1997 (4 complaints), 1991 (3 complaints) and 1993 (3 complaints).
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