I am traveling from Canada to Florida for 6 months as per usual and up till this point, we loved our two new Ford Escapes. That was until we stopped for the night in Corbin Kentucky. We were booking our room and had to drive around the building to our room when I put my car in gear I could not turn the steering wheel at all and saw the light to service on. The tow truck was called and so was roadside assistance since the dealership will be closed for the weekend and the car can't be serviced until Monday! That in itself was a chore as it seemed like no one knows how to direct us as to what we must and or should do to apply to our situation.

We called Legacy Ford Monday morning to find that at 10am our car was still not looked at all!! We have to leave the rooms by 10am and this is just another added stress level that I can't deal with, as I suffer from PTSD. The thought of having to try to get help from the assistant who finally called back to say they can't find our account for service but was willing to give us $500 for lodging food and transportation.

This is now day 3 and we still have not heard about our car from Legacy Ford and have had to get the room for another night as we have no place else to go to. Ford should at least call us back to tell us an update and if we could have a car so we may at least be able to drive to a restaurant to get meals and medical supplies.

We have GRAVE CONCERNS that if this had of happened while I was driving thru the mountains it would have caused a TRAGEDY AND LOSS OF LIVES. THIS IS AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN AND IT WILL. God hope the families that will be affected will sue the tires off of Ford for knowing in advance of DANGEROUS TECHNICAL BREAKDOWNS.

Please get this issue fixed expeditiously and make me a happy Ford owner again one with confidence in my cars.

Upon attempting to back out of my driveway, I had no steering, it was so stiff it took all my strength to move steering wheel just a bit. I noticed my car's display had a "power steering assist fault" message. I checked the owner's manual and it said it needed to receive service. Since I was unable to steer the vehicle at all, I called for a tow truck to take car to dealer. Upon review of the problem, the dealer called with a $2200 quote for repairs. But the service manager said that she would make some calls to see what could be done. I don't know who she spoke with (I'm assuming Ford), and the quote was down to $1200 (still a lot). I agreed to the repair as I had no option and needed my car back. The final cost came to $1000.

I asked if 2016 Ford Escape (55000/miles) had a recall on this repair and she stated that it did not "at this time" and to hang on to my receipt for reimbursement when one came out. In my internet search, including NHTSA site, there are many posts like mine, where this power steering assist fault has happened, sometimes while people are driving. Ford/Lincoln has had recalls on this same issue with other cars in their fleet, so they should be aware this is a problem. If this had happened while driving, I don't know if I could have reacted quickly enough to regain control of the car. Very scary thought, glad it was just in my driveway. Now just waiting to see if Ford will take care of business like they should.

On a road trip about 325 miles away from home with my wife, infant, and 2 dogs in the car, the Steering Assist Fault - Service Required message came up with no warning after stopping the engine at a rest stop. The vehicle and steering had been performing normally with no indication there was any issue. When starting the engine back up, the warning message showed on the dash and I realized it was almost impossible to turn the wheel. I turned the car off and back on, hoping it was a fluke but the error continued.

I searched the internet to see possible remedies, and this appears to be a well documented issue as I was able to easily find many people reporting this problem. Some said the steering column needed to be replaced and many people seemed to be charged between $1800 and $2000 by the dealership to fix the problem. Other users reported the issue went away after restarting the engine. So I tried once more to restart the engine after sitting about 10 minutes and the engine started up with no faults. Steering and performance seemed perfectly fine for the rest of the trip.

I proceeded to travel the rest of the way home on the road trip. I had to stop for fuel and, hoping the issue was a fluke, I turned off the car to put gas in the car. When I restarted, no problem, so I continued the rest of the way home. Again, not thinking this was a permanent issue, I parked the car in the driveway and turned it off and unloaded the vehicle. After about 30 minutes, I turned the car back on pull it in the garage and the Steering Assist Fault was back. I was able to pull in the garage because I had lined the car up and didn't need any steering input. I have checked the fault every day for the last week and the fault is there every day.

My end-of-lease turn in appointment is today and my local dealership did not have any available service appointments before I need to turn it in, so I will attempt to drive the vehicle to the dealership today to turn it in with no power steering.