CarComplaints.com Notes: You should probably steer clear of the 2012 Focus. Otherwise, you might not be able to steer at all.
The 2012 is the first Focus to offer Electronic Power Assist Steering (EPAS). It's also the first year with massive power steering failure. These things are not mutually exclusive.
I bought this car a few months ago and I've been loving until last night. As soon as I turned my car on, the message center displayed "Steering Assist fault - service required" and the steering became difficult.
After struggling to re-parallel park, blocking traffic all the while, I turned the car off and back on again and the issue seemed to go away. FOR NOW.
I understand from the message boards that this is just the start of what I'm going to have to deal with. I plugged my VIN into Ford's recall site and the only thing that came up was for a door latch mechanism.
I drive Uber for a living. I'm terrified to work at the risk of putting myself and my riders in danger, not to mention having Uber kick me off for putting people in harm's way. Living in an urban city, I can't leave the car sit, but holding up traffic to fight the steering wheel to parallel park was dangerous and unnerving.
I'm a friggin Uber driver. I DON'T have $1100 laying around to fix this YET I need to drive to make money to fix my main source of income.
First time failure but was having issues for a year before the complete failure. Ford never documented my complaints either every time I took it in to the Ford dealer. They could never find a fault. The power steering would fail but reset itself after restarting the car until the complete failure. Total crap as they wanted $2600 Canadian to replace the PS. I complained until the only charged me $1300 Cdn. First and last Ford... see the many complaints on this car to understand.
Power steering failure while my daughter was backing out of the driveway. Lost control of steering wheel. Steering rack needed to be replaced. This could have been a catastrophe!!!
Outrageous that Ford has not been required to recall the failed EPAS on this model, as it has on other models. Ford is putting myself and family at risk of a dangerous accident.
- eddiez13,
Mission Viejo, US
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My daughter just bought her first car with her own money. She only had the damn car for a little over 30 days and the steering wheel rack stop working in her 2012 Ford Focus and they don't even have a recall on it. Now I know that this have been reported to the Ford Company by others. And nothing have been done about it. Ford you guys need to recall this car because you know that this is a problem and it just isn't fair.
Our dealership told us that Ford is aware of the issue as many Focus and Fusions have had the same issue with the EPS failing. Ford is not inclined to recall. I complained to Ford and all they could say is that there was no recall issued as of yet. They referred me back to the dealership saying the Service Manager would use all available resources. Excuse me? Don't you mean my $1500 resources?!?
On my Ford Focus SEL 2012 VIN # 1FAHP3H2XCL247654 I got a dashboard message "Steering Assist Service Requiredâ€. The vehicle had only 52k miles. I noticed a lot of complaints with the same issue on the Internet. Please see Ford steering complaints web page:
https://www.google.com/search?q=FORD+FOCUS+STEERING+PROBLEM&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
It shows many articles about Ford steering problems including the one below:
Ford recalls nearly 423,000 vehicles for power steering problem. Associated Press MAY 2017,
https://www.google.com/search?q=Ford+recalls+nearly+423%2C000+vehicles+for+power+steering+problem&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
At Gus machado Ford of Kendall in Miami Fl, I spoke with Mr. Will Whallstrom. Mr. Whallstrom suggested I contact FORD MOTOR COMPANY to ask them if they would cover the repair. I called FORD at: Phone 1-800-392-3673 I spoke to Susan and later to Mario. . They opened CASE # CAS-10428980. I asked them for their e-mail, Fax or Address to put my complaint into writing to which they replied they could not receive it by those means. The address I gave after searching the Internet may not be correct but their phone is.
Because of so many complaints on the Internet I pointed out the vehicle had a factory defect easily verifiable with so many same complaints on the web and the fact that there has been a recall for similar models.
I had to pay $1,100.38 to Gus Machado Ford of Kendal in Miami Fl because FORD MOTOR CO. did not authorize the car to be repaired as a recall factory defect which is what it was. I feel I should be reimbursed the unfairly collected amount of $1,100.38
They can't diagnose it - it resets when I turn off & on the car and doesn't show a code - I am afraid that I will be in an accident on the freeway - it has happened 4 times in my driveway - where it is annoying but so far safe. The steering wheel locks and show "steering fault." I still owe thousands on this car and don't feel safe driving it - after fighting one issue that just got resolved and many very petty issues I have this and yet another safety recall notice I am waiting to fix.
4 year old Focus with 70000 miles and the steering goes out intermittently. This is my wife's car. She uses it daily and 3 times a week to take our infant granddaughter to doctor appointments. The car scares her. Doesn't know when steering will go out. We've already been through a trans recall.
We took it to a Ford dealer on Dec. 7th. Received quote of $2100 to repair. $2100 on a car worth $5000 or less due to being riddled with problems. (according to a friend who is GM at Ford dealer in WA state)
We purchased the car in 2013 believing we invested in a reliable economic auto. It's been a nightmare.
Transmission problem lasted over a year. I kept taking it to the dealer. Dealer said "transmission is adjusted within the minimum requirements" although it slipped like crazy as my wife accelerated into CA traffic. Finally we received recall notice and waited another 8 months for parts. Now this. As I read all the complaints, I can't believe there isn't a recall.Ford and their dealers are stealing from us, due to this engineering/factory design problem. I'm 65 and have had many vehicles in my life. I've never had this happen.
On my way home from work, my power steering went out and I got a warning message on the screen about power assist steering failure - service vehicle soon. I drove home - but it wasn't easy... going around corners was difficult. Bring it to the dealer today but I'm sure it won't be covered in any way.
Steering Assist fault light has come on twice -2 separate occasions when car first started- no power steering. Took to Ford dealership. Unable to replicate the problem. Car nearly impossible to drive. Dealership acts unaware of the problem, but I have found several articles and personal accounts on line of others with this model and the exact same problem. No resolution yet.
For about the past 2 months, when I start the car in the morning, the steering just doesn't " kick in." If I wait about 30 seconds, it's fine. I called the dealership and talked to the service manager. He told me it just needs to warm up. OK, that's fine. Today, I actually got the dreaded "STEERING ASSIST FAILURE" alert on the car. Of course,no dealership support as there's no recall for this. This is a huge safety issue. I'm actually writing this so when I die in an accident from this, my family can sue Ford for a known issue that has yet to be resolved.
My wife was driving her little FORD going through a corner and the power steering failed without warning and she nearly crashed!! She managed to limp it to the FORD garage, as I was out of town, where it was diagnosed that the EPAS had failed. The EPAS failure is rampant through a range of FORD model vehicles and they don't give two hoots about our problem because there haven't been enough (WHAT!!) failures to warrant a recall on the 2012 FOCUS although its a known problem with this model and it is currently the reason for a class action lawsuit in California. Their customer service doesn't even say "sorry" just that "FORD is offering no assistance." Power steering should not go out on a 2012 vehicle with only 44000 miles on it. As a long time loyal FORD customer, I am very upset that they disregarded our complaint. Jerks!! Steering gear replaced at a cost of $2009.00.
My question is why hasn't Ford issued a safety recall on the Focus? I believe they issued one for the Fusion for the same problem. I was lucky.....no hint something was wrong last night coming home from work, I parked the car and when I went to leave this morning immediately the "Steering Requires Assist" notification came on and I found I had no power steering. I tried to drive it, just within my neighborhood but with highway driving all the way to work it wasn't going to happen. So my Focus was towed to the dealership this morning and then I got the call this afternoon that this repair was going to cost me $2000. Ironically my service writer told me this problem is so commonplace in the 2012 Focus they actually keep stock there of the full steering assembly where usually they would have to order.
I have a 2012 Ford Focus that I bought used 3 years ago. It now has 80,000 miles. I was leaving home and received the power steering malfunction warning and could steer the car but was VERY difficult. I decided to go online and it was only then that I discovered that it was a major problem.I called the Ford dealer where I purchased the car and they denied knowing anything about this issue. They said to bring it in and it could be anything from replacing the computer module to replacing the steering rack.At this point I was fed-up with Ford and decided to take my car to a trusted repair shop that is close to home. They told me that the computer module has failed and the steering rack needed to be replaced in order to repair it because the module is part of the steering rack.What kind of design failure is this and why didn't the Ford dealer tell me this. I am disappointed that Ford hasn't issued a recall on this yet.
Adding to the list of power steering issues on the 2012 Focus. Took the Focus in for a TCM recall and oil change, next day we went to drive the car in the morning and the Power Steering Assist warning came on. It would not turn off by turning the car on and off. Dealership stated that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. Very frustrating to have to spend over $2000 on a car worth about $10,000 and hasn't even hit the 50k mileage mark yet.
When backing out of the driveway my power steering seized up. I pulled back into the driveway and restarted the car and the power steering returned. This is disturbing because it can occur again at any time, which is an unsafe situation. I have a new driver who drives this car on occasion and would not know what to do if it happened while he was driving the car. This car seems to have a lot of problems!
Assist failure warning light came on and my daughter was unable to steer the car. Had it parked then towed to dealership. Diagnosed that steering rack needs to be replaced at a cost of $2100. Sadly this is the same system that was covered in a recall for other models and other years. Like others I'm disappointed that although this is a known issue Ford has yet to address it.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I bought this car a few months ago and I've been loving until last night. As soon as I turned my car on, the message center displayed "Steering Assist fault - service required" and the steering became difficult.
After struggling to re-parallel park, blocking traffic all the while, I turned the car off and back on again and the issue seemed to go away. FOR NOW.
I understand from the message boards that this is just the start of what I'm going to have to deal with. I plugged my VIN into Ford's recall site and the only thing that came up was for a door latch mechanism.
I drive Uber for a living. I'm terrified to work at the risk of putting myself and my riders in danger, not to mention having Uber kick me off for putting people in harm's way. Living in an urban city, I can't leave the car sit, but holding up traffic to fight the steering wheel to parallel park was dangerous and unnerving.
I'm a friggin Uber driver. I DON'T have $1100 laying around to fix this YET I need to drive to make money to fix my main source of income.
Ford RECALL NOW!!!!
- Sophie R., Lancaster, PA, US