This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Traveling on I-71 southbound in cleveland, oh doing a speed of about 70mph, I all of a sudden had no power steering. There were no warning lights to indicate a problem. Thankfully I was able to still drive the vehicle without too much of an issue. This same problem happened again later in the day only this time, I had stopped at an atm. When I started to pull away I noticed once again I didn't have power steering. This time I was able to turn off the engine wait for 5 seconds and restarted the engine, the power steering started working again.
The power steering went out three separate times while driving in heavy traffic. Each time, I was barely able to pull over and turn the ignition off, without being hit by traffic. I had to take my seatbelt off and raise up to put my full body weight onto the wheel. After the third attempt at restarting, the power steering came back on. I drive almost 50 miles a day on the highway to and from work, and I'm very afraid to drive this car, and won't let my kids ride in it now. Phone calls to Ford and two local dealerships have been no help. I was told that they doubt that a code will show any problem with a diagnostic check, and that if it doesn't happen to the service employee, there is nothing more they can do. I was also told that mine is the first report of this kind, and that a diagnostic check and possible replacement cost will be up to me as my warranty has expired. There are numerous accounts of this problem on the internet, and should not be a warranty issue, it's a safety issue that Ford needs to address.
While driving down the road, my power steering completely failed during a turn. The result of the failure was a significant change in the amount of effort required to maintain my heading and drive the vehicle. After pulling over, I turned the car completely off and then back on. My power steering was then reestablished. I have had three repeat instances before I was able to get it to an authorized Ford dealer. This is an extremely dangerous failure that occurs randomly while driving. This was not weather induced; I live in California and this occurred on a 65 degree day.
While backing from a drive the traction control light came on and I lost power/electronic steering. I have driven older vehicles without power steering but this was twice as hard to turn. I had to drive home and had to make sure traffic was clear at intersections to avoid other traffic when turning since I could not avoid going into opposing lanes. Reset itself later but went back out a week later while driving approximately 35 much and hit a small amount of slush. Limped it to the dealership. Had my wife been driving she probably would not have been able to control it. Reviews online show this is not an isolated problem and has been happening since at least 2008 that I can see. Although it did not result in a crash the possibility does increase if this happened at higher speeds.
- Warren, OH, USA
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At 2700 miles the airbag warning light started to go on and vehicle was taken to dealer for a check on airbag problem. Supposedly fixed, however one week later had to return vehicle to dealer due to airbag warning light again going on. Problem supposedly fixed by tightening loose wirre cables in cable harness but one month later returned vehicle again as air bag warning was again coming on and there was concern as we didn't know if airbag would deploy if needed or worse may deploy at any time. Advised that cause was excessive electrical resistance in wire cable harness and defective sensors.since that time there has been no further problem with airbag readiness warning. In fall of 2012 a new problem started which at first I thought might be due to leaving parking brake partially on. Steering at 40 mph all of a sudden became very difficult and center console warning lights and traction warning light came on. After pulling off the road, stopping and restarting the vehicle there was no problem. Problem started again in April 2013 with vehicle still under 10,000 miles. Took vehicle to dealer and problem supposedly fixed. Drove about 6 to 8 miles and problem occurred again with warning lights coming on and difficult to steer at freeway speed. Returned vehicle to dealer and picked up two days later with problem supposedly cured. 4 days later all warning lights went on again and steering as before was difficult. Had vehicle towed to dealer as all agreed it was not safe to drive.after a week of testing and work vehicle was ready. Was advised that problem was loose wires in cable harness and faulty sensors. I have now been driving the vehicle about 2 weeks with no further problems but am greatly concerned that I may have purchased a defective and possibly dangerous vehicle. What protection do we have?
Electrically assisted steering is hard on turns on winding roads. Had car to 2 different dealers and they say the steering is normal. It did not feel this way when it was new.
The contact owns a 2011 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving the steering wheel was hard to maneuver and it was making a squeaky noise. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that in order to remedy the failure the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. The remedy failed to repair the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the problem. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 2,500 and current mileage was 5,000.
The contact owns a 2011 Ford Escape. The contact stated while making a turn the steering wheel would make a loud noise. The failure was consistent. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who was informed by the manufacturer not to diagnose the failure because there was a technical bulletin issued regarding the defect. The contact was waiting for a response from the dealer in order to repair the vehicle. The approximate failure mileage was 3,000. The VIN was unavailable.
The contact owns a 2011 Ford Escape. The contact stated that there was an abnormal pop coming from the steering wheel whenever attempting a turn. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for repairs where the steering column, power assist motor, steering rack and shaft were being replaced. The failure mileage was 5 and the current mileage was 1,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Cleveland, OH, USA