On the way home going along the interstate at the speed limit of 70 MPH, the steering suddenly cut out without warning. We safely made it to the side of the interstate in which a light popped up in my dash which said steering loss stop safely. I turned the car off and then started it back again in hopes that it was just a glitch, but the error was still there. By the grace of god, we made it home safely. The following morning, I called the corporate customer relations number at the ford motor company and spoke to a customer representative who told me that yes there are recalls on focuses of the same year for steering loss, but my VIN number did not fall under that recall because my car was not made at the same manufacturing location. He basically advised me that I need to call my local ford dealer and have my car sent there for repair. I then received the action plan from the supervisor at ford in which it discussed the results from the diagnostic test. All the results correlated with the other focus recalls which spoke of high steering resistance and the total estimated bill of $2,207.55. I then called the customer relations back at corporate ford motor company, gave them my case number, and expressed the issue that I was having, the diagnosis of the car, the correlation between my cars diagnosis and the recalled ford focus diagnosis; the representative that I spoke to then said she would draft up some more paperwork in my case and send it to her supervisor, but it wasn't likely that my car would be covered under recall. The incident on the interstate was one that was horrifying, could have caused death and has sent me into a spiral of non-stop panic attacks and I am unsure of what all I can do. I need your help to stop this from happening to someone else and to help us get the recall for safety concerns that we should have been afforded in the first place. Updated 10/27/14.
2012 Ford Focus steering complaints
Page 30 of 32: complaints 851 to 880 of 927, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving approximately 5 MPH, the steering wheel seized and excessive force was required to maneuver the vehicle. The hydraulic steering warning indicator illuminated. The contact had to shut off the vehicle and restart it in order to stop the failure. The failure occurred multiple times. The dealer stated that the steering column needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 78,500.
I was driving and the steering wheel started to be hard to turn. A light came on and the car said steering assist fault service required. I was able to pull the car over and restart it and it worked until today 10/11/14. Today I was in my driveway and the light came on again and said the same message. I tried restarting it four times and nothing happened so it was unsafe to drive.
I started my car ignition, began to back out of my driveway. After about 2 - 7 seconds, the power steering froze up and a caution light lit up on my dash. It reads: power steering assist malfunction, check manual. Or words very close to that effect. This has happened about 10 - 15 times since approximately september !8, 2014. I took it to ford dealer and they changed the battery. They showed low voltage to the steering...or something to that effect. It did not fix the problem. The exact thing keeps happening. It happens right after I start up the car. I turn off the ignition, restart the car, and it works okay after that.
The victim of the fatality was driving northwest on rte 84 at 1:58 pm on 9/26/14 when she hit the medium strip at the corner of dodge rd in hampton falls, n.h.. The right front tire had a blow out and she then had a roll over accident. She went through the guard rail and into a deep ditch. The eye witness called 911 and assisted the driver who had no signs of life at the scene. When the volunteer hampton falls squad arrived at the scene, the acls unit was called off. This is currently under investigation by the new hampshire state police. Updated 10/28/14 *bf.....updated 12/29/15 *bf
Power steering failure light came on and power-steering in vehicle stopped working. Attempted to clear out by shutting off engine and turning car back on, but it did not work. Had to have car towed to dealership. They said there is a sensor failure and entire steering system needs replaced, cost approximately $2,000. May be two weeks to repair, no word on when parts will be in.
Steering looses power (no power steering). After a restart or two power steering comes back only to go out again after a little while.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that the vehicle accelerated slowly on occasion. Other times, the rpms would race and the vehicle would jerk forward. The dealer stated that the body control module needed to be replaced. The contact stated that the dealer was not able to reprogram the computer to install the new part and had to re-install the old part. The manufacturer was notified and the vehicle was taken to the dealer a fourth time to have the new part installed. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The sensors intermittently illuminated for the brake assist and parking aide. In addition, while making a right or left turn, the steering wheel locked intermittently more than once. The contact also stated that the clock intermittently shorted out and the time display was incorrect. The dealer provided an interim remedy and suggested that the contact turn off the GPS. The interim fix remedied the failure as long as the contact used the feature to disable the GPS auto clock manually each time. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 3,000.
Son was driving home when the electronic steering assist failed, making car very hard to control.
Power steering sporadically comes in and out---usually when the car is just started and we attempt to back out---the steering has no power. *tr if this happens while driving at a higher speed----this could be bad.
At a stop light car in drive brakes lock, shift gear locks. Message appears transmission not in park. Car takes at least 5 to 10 minutes to turn back over to start up. Car stalls to go into different speeds, accelerates when turning a corner.
I was driving in a residential neighborhood when an error message displayed on the dash computer indicating that there was an issue with the power steering. I was in the middle of a turn onto another street when the power steering went out. This was not the first time that the power steering went out. I have experienced the same issue at least 5 times. On the most recent occasion noted here, the power steering control module (pscm) had just been replaced at my local ford dealership 4 or 5 days previous. I was told by the dealership that both the original pscm and the replacement pscm were part of the same batch that were apparently defective from the manufacturer. My car is currently having yet another pscm installed by the dealership. If ford is aware of a defective batch of pscms, a recall should be issued. I am also concerned that the first outage of the original pscm took roughly 2 years to manifest, while the second pscm went out in less than a week. I am not sure if that indicates a broader electrical problem with the car, or was simply a coincidence that the second pscm went out that soon after replacement.
I was driving on one of our first trips (400 miles) in the winter of 2012 in south dakota interstate 90. There was snow and ice patches on the highway and the steering was easy to slightly turn one direction, but harder to slightly turn the other direction. Trucks and or wind always makes a car move and a person's steering makes a correction for this. This car's steering was easy one way and not as easy the other way. Very difficult to drive this way. I have been driving vehicles for 60 years and never had this experience before. I took the car to the ford dealer and he said that ford did have some recalls on this steering behavior , but my car was not included. He did drive it and said it wasn't perfect, but okay as it was electronically made this way. I wrote a letter to ford motor company and they sent me back a letter telling me to work it out with the dealer. I guess they didn't understand my letter as I had already talked to the dealer and he couldn't do anything with it. I can only hope that we can trade it off before it causes an accident some day. Probably not another ford! I also question why this steering behavior wasn't brought to the attention of the federal safety agency? There were recalls before on this same problem. Thanking you in advance for patience, I was driving.
Driving on freeway and my steering wheel locked on me. Almost caused an accident. Luckily a tow driver was by me and he was able to steer traffic away from me and he helped me move my car to safety.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving approximately 75 MPH, the power steering malfunctioned and the steering wheel became very difficult to turn. The steering assist warning sensor illuminated. The dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 50,000.
The transmission is knocking when it shifts gears especially the lower gears. It stutters really bad as well.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that the vehicle was not shifting into gears properly, would stall sporadically and would jerk intermittently. Additionally, the steering wheel would often seize. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer several times who had not been able to replicate nor diagnose the failure. The failure recurred and the dealer replaced the transmission and transmission sensor but the failure recurred. The contact also mentioned that the lights intermittently illuminated and the radio was making a loud noise when it was powered off. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who then diagnosed that the computer chip in the fuel pump failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that while driving at 50 MPH, the power steering became difficult to turn and the engine stalled. The contact also stated that the vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the power steering pump needed to be replaced and the PCM failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 77,000.
On two occasions the vehicle stopped running while in motion. In incident 1, this occurred at highway speed (65 MPH) and incident #2 in local traffic (15 MPH). In both cases all power was lost including the acceleration, power steering, etc. After incident 1, the car restarted and driven to the dealer - extensive repairs were made "to the transmission" (per the dealer). In the second incident after dealer repairs after incident 1, the car completely stopped at highway speed and would not restart - towed to dealer. Again loss of all power including acceleration, power steering, etc. After incident 2 the dealer replaced the "master control unit". While both incidents were covered by ford under the "drive train" original warranty I am concerned about the loss of power in two incidents separated by about one month.
After sitting in neutral waiting for construction to allow us to proceed, started out and then power steering went out. Turned off at next red light and started again and began working. A few miles later stopped for gas and when started vehicle, no power steering and is still out.
I bought a 2012 focus as a certified used car, trusting ford and having peace of mind with a warranty. Within a few months of ownership I started the car and a message saying "steering assist malfunction" displayed. After turning the car off and back on it went away. I have complained about it about 3-4 times while at dealers for transmission "fixes". Every time they said they could not duplicate the problem so even though there is a technical service bulletin, it never got fixed. Now even if I restart the car, the steering is out. It is completely gone and they refuse to fix it without charge because it is not their fault they couldn't pull any codes before. So I'm left to decide, should I fight them for this and the transmission, or just give them another $100 for a warranty repair when I already gave them $2000 for a warranty.
The steering wheel has sharp metal edges protruding from the top of the wheel. While driving on the highway, I sliced my finger on the edge. Not a major incident... But upon reviewing the internet this is apparently a common issue with the ford focus. I have read on the internet that the metal edges can slice the airbag upon deployment. I am not sure if this is true but for the sake of my sliced finger and my air bag I would like someone to investigate! My hope is that ford will repair or replace the metal on the wheel so it is no longer a danger while driving.
The steering wheel would not move, there is an error message, steering assist fault. It happened before, but I turned the car off and back on again and it would turn. Before this incident there would be times when the A/C fan would adjust itself, by going higher or lower and the radio volume would increase or decreases without any help from me. This particular time it would not move and I was forced to leave it in a parking garage overnight. While attempting to get it to work by turning the off and on the brakes went all the way to the floor, suggesting the would not work properly if I were driving the car. Well, the car shut completely down and started to try to turn itself on without the key being in the ignition. After which it would not start at all. I had it towed in and of course it is no longer under warranty.
Upon starting the car a message appeared that stated 'steering malfunction assist'; then driving/steering was almost impossible. Shut the car off; then re-started and it was ok. Next day the message appeared again. The car is now parked with plans to take it in.
Was leaving my destination when the steering wheel locked and sensor light came on stating steering assist fault service required. Brought car to gus machado ford of kendall was told needed new power steering gear and that I would have to pay $1778.81 to replace. After researching complaints about the 2012 ford focus, I could not believe how many consumers had the same problem. Obviously there must be a defect in this particular part. Thank goodness I was not in the middle of driving when this occurred, I could have caused a fatal accident. This should really be investigated in order to avoid a fatal accident from happening. I have contacted ford with this issue to get my cost covered in order for them to repair it. Apparently this is not under warranty.
We had a problem with ford motor company over our 2012 ford focus . As background, while my wife was driving 40 MPH on a straight road the car steering locked and pulled her into a curb causing a broken wheel, rim, and tie rod (estimated at $1500 to repair by bob tomes ford in mckinney texas). After the car setting at the dealership waiting for word from ford's corporate office for seven weeks we just found out they are not taking responsibility for this issue. It's pretty incredible to me that it took ford seven weeks to respond while I made two car payments and paid for insurance throughout that time without a car. We had found through research on the web that many people are reporting steering problems on the 2012 ford's focus. For your information we do not feel safe with this car and are asking bob tomes ford to help us resolve the issue locally since ford has not offered any help.
On march 13th, I was driving at approximately 55 miles per hour. All of the sudden I lost complete power in my car. The rpms revved up extremely high and I gained no power when pushing on the accelerator. I lost all speed in a matter of seconds and was forced to pull over. I was almost hit by another car as I was attempting to get out of the way. Steering became hard and it took more effort to break and slow the car. I turned the car off as soon as I came to rest. I attempted to restart the car and the car would not even turn over. I called a tow truck and had my car towed to ford. They had the car for 4 days and replaced the transmission control module (TCM). The part was covered under the emissions warranty according to ford. I was told the car was fixed and sent on my way. On march 24th the car broke down again. The car did the same thing as the first time and again almost caused a car accident in which serious injury could have resulted. I sat with the car turned off for approximately 5 minutes and then tried to restart the car. The car restarted on the 4th time. I called my local ford and asked if it was safe to attempt to drive over, they said it was. They have now had the car for one week and are unable to locate an issue. I was given a loaner vehicle which they have now demanded they get back. I been told the process of ford deciding what to do can take up to 2 months. I am no left with no car and ford is claiming no responsibility and providing no customer service. Ford needs to fix this issue and refund those affected.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that while reversing, the steering wheel failed without warning and became hard to turn. The power steering warning light illuminated after the failure occurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to have a diagnostic performed. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure and current mileage was 41,000.
I purchased ford focus used- one year old- with 16500 miles. Three times it stopped as I was turning left in oncoming traffic. One time I backed up and it would not go into gear. Other times it would not shift gears on hills or on ramps two times on my steep driveway it came out of gear. Brought to shop numerous times - told nothing was wrong repeatedly. I got rid of car after 13 months and took a financial hit but now I am driving a safe car. The difference is amazing and I am simply driving a chevy cruze so not an expensive car in comparison. Focus is dangerous to drive!
The aluminum trim on the steering wheel where the driver can rest hands is splintering off. It is sharp and jagged metal. It cut three of my fingers deeply. Ford will not warranty this even though many many owners are complaining of the defect.
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