The contact owns a 2010 Mercury Mariner. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 MPH, an alarm sounded, and the steering wheel locked up. The message "Power Steering Assist Fault" was displayed. The contact was able to drive to the residence nearby. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was previously repaired under recall. The failure mileage was approximately 190,000.
Mercury Mariner steering lock-up problems
48 of the 1,296 owner complaints about the Mercury Mariner describe steering wheel locks up, most of them for the 2008 model year.
- owner complaints
- 48
- worst model year
- 2008
- typical mileage
- 112,363
Is there a fix? There is 1 recall for this area of the car. See below
By model year
Often reported together
Engine failure 36Power steering loss 10Loss of power 2Check engine light 2Transmission failure 1
What owners say
Vehicle notification stating Power Steering Assist Fault. Power steering locked up on highway going 60 mph while a child was in vehicle and vehicle was extremely hard to get off the highway. Parkway Ford of Pampa, Tx would not honor recall as VIN was not pulling up a recall. But a different auto mechanic repair shop did verify it was a recall.
The contact owns a 2008 Mercury Mariner. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH and making a turn, the steering wheel seized temporarily. The contact stated that the failure recurred intermittently while driving, and the vehicle lost power steering functionality. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to veer to the side of the road. The contact stated that she turned off and restarted the vehicle several times; however, the failure persisted. The contact's husband assisted her in driving the vehicle to the residence. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that a fee would be charged for a diagnostic test. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 14V284000 (Steering). The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 107,000.
The contact owns a 2009 Mercury Mariner. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel was difficult to turn before the steering locked up. The contact was able to restart the vehicle and the vehicle operated as designed. The check engine and TPMS warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who referred the contact dealer. The contact called the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 122,064.
I was making a turn and the vehicle seemed as if the steering locked up. It randomly does this and is starting to be more and more often. It has already made me run off of the road and hit a culvert causing even further damage.
The steering wheel locked up while turning at about 20 MPH. There were not any warning lights that illuminated before, during, or after the incident. This happened on two separate occasions spanning about 7 or 8 months apart. I was fortunate enough to have safely pulled off into the shoulder of the road on both occasions. I turned the vehicle off for about 2-3 minutes and started it back up and the power assisted steering worked again. If I was unable to pull off into the shoulder, it could have resulted in an accident involving another vehicle.
Last year in april I got the car , didn't have it for a week the power steering went out . I got it fixed . Here it is 2020 of august , the power steering assist came on . The steering wheel locked up on me . I don't have the money to keep replacing this same part . I looked into the recalls for the vehicle . I seen a couple , called a number I seen they said the recall expired. So I'm back to square one . I don't know exactly what part I need .
Has my grandma was driving down the highway going 60 MPH the steering wheel locked on here and wasn?t able to move it. Luckily she was at the last lane and able to get on the emergency lane and not car hit here. I did research on this and it said that many other year make and models had a recall. For some reason they didn?t do a recall on all of them just some done at some parts of the state when they are all made for the same company. If you can let me know how or why her SUV ain't under the recall. If she didn't have that bit of luck that day she could've be injured very bad and injured others as well for the steering wheel just to lock while driving. This happen in san antonio tx on highway 35.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 mercury mariner. The contact stated that the steering wheel seized four times while driving. The contact was able to drive to her residence and powered off the engine. The vehicle was restarted, but the steering wheel failed to steer. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not included in a recall; therefore, they did not assist. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 mercury mariner. While driving 40 MPH, the steering wheel seized and the steering assist fault warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the contact was informed that it was a known failure and the steering column or sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer for diagnostic testing or repairs. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 190,000.
Related recalls
Steering: electric power assist system
- What is wrong
- Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2008-2011 Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner vehicles manufactured August 18, 2006, through September 11, 2010. The affected vehicles have a steering torque sensor that may not be able to properly detect driver steering input. As a result, the system could remove the Electric Power Steering (EPS) assist.
- Risk
- If power steering assist is lost, greater driver effort would be required to steer the vehicle at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Ford will notify owners, and dealers will update the software for the power steering control module (PSCM) and the instrument cluster module, free of charge. If a vehicle shows a history of a loss of the torque sensor signal or fault codes relating to the PSCM when the vehicle is brought in for the recall remedy, the affected components will be replaced, free of charge. The recall began on July 18, 2014. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1‑800‑392‑3673. Ford's number for this recall is 14S05.
Recall number 14V284000 · Recall details
Questions about the Mercury Mariner steering lock-up
Which Mercury Mariner years have steering wheel locks up problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2008 (29 complaints), 2009 (11 complaints) and 2010 (7 complaints).
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