I was driving on a tennessee state highway, going about 66 miles per hour when the power steering suddenly went out. It was very very hard to get the car over to a shoulder and avoid a wreck. It has since been impossible to steer and needed a tow. There was no indication anything was wrong, and just suddenly went out and has not been right since.
2012 Ford Focus steering complaints
Page 7 of 32: complaints 161 to 190 of 927, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Power steering stopped working. Dash has a warning that says power assist fault contact service center. Car is almost impossible to steer. I was pulling the vehicle into a parking spot and hand to slam the brakes to stop from hitting another car.
I own a 2012 ford focus that has experiences a multitude of issues. However, I am specifically writing today about the steering wheel locking up. It happens when I first start the car up, often times requiring me to shut the car off and restarting. The car will also note a 'steering wheel malfunction' error message. I've reached out to ford who will not repair.
Steering assist fault. This issues is covered under several other recalls. My car has 77kmiles and should not be having steeting issues. My car was in motion and the power steering went out. I had to have it towed home and now have to replace a 700$ part due to fords parts issues. Altering the media to this issue. Ford should be responsible for issues and repairs as this is no fault on the drivers parts. I will be taking this up further if this I not handled and covered under a recall.
Scraping noise coming from electronic steering component. Similar issues described on line. Seems like a widespread problem.
Steering gear assembly locked up while driving 55mph on the highway.
Power steering does not engage when starting the car. If it's shut down and restarted it usually resets. Only happens at initial startup so far, but I'm concerned it's getting more frequent. It doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason as to why. Or where it happens. Thankfully it's fixed with restarting so far.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving various speeds, the power steering seized intermittently and the power steering failure warning indicator illuminated intermittently. The contact took the vehicle to matt bowers ford (3724 veterans memorial blvd, metairie, la 70002, (504) 887-8410) where it was diagnosed that the power steering chip needed to be replaced at the cost of $3,000. The contact associated the failure with the federal safety agency campaign number: 15v340000 (steering). The contact noticed that the recall was linked to several other ford vehicle's; however, the ford focus was not included despite experiencing the same failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failures. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 80,000.
Power steering failure at startup. Initially, this was intermittent and restarting the car would solve the issue. Eventually, the power steering failed completely despite restarting the car. The power steering failed only on startup, not when driving.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. When the vehicle was started, "electric power assist fault" and "service required" appeared on the message board. The vehicle was towed to perry ford of national city (2050 national city blvd, national city, ca 91950) where it was diagnosed that the electric power steering assist failed and needed replacement. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 64,000.
My wife and I were driving and had fortunately just pulled over avoiding an accident when the steering wheel assist light came on locking up the steering and making it extremely hard to steer the vehicle. We got it over to quick lane ( a ford affiliated service center by our home and as you can see by the documentation analyzed the problem and had to replace the electronic steering rack and reprogram the module. This cost us $2530.24. I have read on the internet and as you are aware there are many complaints related to this issue. We were surprised there was no recall relate to this, and if there is I wasn't aware of or made aware of it.
Informed that the steering assist has malfunctioned and loose all power steering. Luckily so far I have been able to turn car off and restart and have the steering function properly.
When starting the car in the mornings, a warning message appears on the dashboard: "steering assist disabled". The wheel becomes very hard to turn and it is not safe to attempt to drive. Rather, I restart the car, and the message goes away. If this were to happen while I am driving, especially on the highway to get to school, it could result in a potential crash. This is very unsafe, and needs to be looked into.
While driving the vehicles power steering will disengage! Parked the vehicle after getting home safely the car now says power steering assist malfunction and the power steering does not work. I can not get any answers from ford!
I bought a 2012 focus sel with 43000 miles on 1/15/2014. Drove from nc. To ca. 2 months later and never had a problem then 6 months after having I would get random alerts saying "steering assist failure" but I could turn off the car and restarted it and it would go away. When the message came up you lost all steering assist and goes into manual. On thur. Sept. 26, 2019, at 630am as I starting driving doing about 25 MPH it came n and I lost all steering. As I slowed down and started a turn the wheels locked up and went up the curb and hit a cinder block wall. No damage to the wall other then scrapped paint. I have looked up this problem before and knew my time was coming but hoped ford would do the right thing and recall the focus as well as the other they did with the same problem. Next step is reporting it to ntsb. I do not have the $3125.00 to fix this. You would have thought the car industry learned from the gm screw up but I guess not.
Bought this car for our grandson to drive to work. On sept 21 2019 he was leaving work in walmart parking lot when his steering became to hard for him to drive. Had to go pick him up at 11:00 pm the road he drives is very curvy would have been dangerous for him to try driving home . I know other people have had this problem its a shame that people have to be injured or killed before ford motor co fixes this problem.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. After attempting to start the vehicle, the steering wheel seized and the steering wheel locked error message illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 96,300. The VIN was not provided.
My 2012 ford focus is displaying on the dash "steering assist fault, req'd service". Bottom line, the power steering is gone. Can barely make any turns or park. This display has come up several different times in about a year and a half, maybe two years but then I turned the car off and the display disappeared and everything was ok. I asked ford mechanics about this but they said unless the problem is present when I had the car in for other service they could not do anything about it. This time, the display has not gone away and steering is extremely difficult. I have been on many automobile forums on the internet and it seems like this is a very common problem with the ford focus 2012. A lot of others have suffered the same thing. With this problem so common, there should be a recall.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While the contact's daughter was driving approximately 25 MPH, the steering lost power and the power steering assist indicator illuminated. The vehicle was towed to hiller ford (414‑425‑1000, located at 6455 s 108th st, franklin, wi 53132) where it was diagnosed that the steering gear needed to be replaced. The technician also diagnosed that a front end alignment was needed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that there was no recall. The contact was informed to call the federal safety agency to file a complaint. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 62,000.
It has only been a month since I bought my ford focus. And my steering wheel locked itself 6 times already. I am terrified of driving it anywhere. I read stories about people getting into accidents when their steering wheel locked itself. It only happens to me when I am in the parking lot, but I am scared of what would I do if the wheel locks itself when I am driving.
Takara recall there is a "steering assist fault" message that comes randomly. The steering is really tough to move while driving, went to see if they had any safety recalls on it but there isn't. This has happened multiple times randomly while I was driving and is not very safe.
While driving car at approximately 45 MPH while in a curve the steering assist quit working. It was very hard to steer.
When I went to leave my parking spot, I had zero power steering and a warning light on the dash. No warning, it was fine when I parked it 4 hours earlier. Now, the dealer says I need an entire new rack and pinion totaling $1,560 with labor. Why is this not a recall with all of these complaints? Could this also cause the terrible vibration in this car I've felt since we bought in april? I've had it back to the dealer 3 times and they can't find it when they test drive.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving various speeds, the vehicle stalled. Also, the vehicle hesitated and the steering wheel seized. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the contact was informed that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. The vehicle was also taken to ford of murfreesboro (1550 nw broad st, murfreesboro, tn 37129, (615) 713-1436) for unknown repairs to the transmission. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 100,000.
Power steering failed as we were pulling into a shopping center and had to have the vehicle towed to the mechanic. It started by making a grinding noise and then the steering got very hard to turn so we had it towed. We are aware that this has been a big problem on the ford focus but neither the federal safety agency or ford has placed recall on this issue meanwhile focus drivers have been spending an average of $1500. To $2000. To repair the power steering rack and pinion. Shame on you both
The power steering has been locking up on my vehicle intermittently... It happens when I start the car and sometimes when driving. The lights come on telling me that the power assist isn't working anymore. This is very scary to be transporting my family in this vehicle when there have been so many reports of this happening and no recall has been issued. Please address this immediately before someone gets seriously injured.
Son returning to college noticed steering was becoming difficult to turn. Called me and I had him pull over and check his tires. Nothing identified. But when he tried to get back on the interstate the steering failed and he ran off into a grassy area. He again checked everything under the hood and under the car to try and determine what was wrong. When he restarted the car he received a warning light stating steering failure service required. Car was towed to dealership. Complete electronic steering module replacement required. $3000. A little searching found hundreds of complaints related to electronic steering failures on the focus. Some ford models have been recalled for the exact same issue. Why is the focus been left off of these identical failure recalls? Do people have to die to get ford to do the right thing?
Power steering does not engage at vehicle start. Received an error about the power steering system. Restart or wait a few seconds and it starts working. Seems to only be at power on, but if happened while driving, would be a safety issue. Has been happening for a few months, perhaps every 10th start. Dealer wants to replace entire power steering system at a cost of $2500.
Bought used from ford dealer mid-may 2019. By last week in august 2019 the steering assist fault service required warning light came on when I started the car in the morning & lost power steering right away. Next time it ran fine, then went out again in town driving in residential area.just got into service center at dealership where I bought it & it needs $1900 of work, about $1100 in parts alone. As a new college graduate, I was hoping to have a car with no major repairs needed. Noticed other ford car models around 2012 have had recalls due to steering & also numerous complaints for this year.
Have seen 2 recalls for this vehicle involving the locks/latches,fuel problems, and steering wheel locked up twice today for no reason.
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