CarComplaints.com Notes: Ford changed a lot of things for its 3rd generation, just none of them were a good idea.
The transmission tends to hesitate and jerk when accelerating. The new electronically-driven power steering can fail suddenly and without warning. Even Ford's SYNC can be a headache. Actually, scratch that last one — it's always been a headache.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
6 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
67,769 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
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.
Drove to work fine, on my way home, alert comes on steering wheel fault and then I can barely turn the wheel. I panic and pull into auto zone, which they say I may need power steering fluid so I buy a bottle. Look in the car book to see where to put it, turns out this car isnt equip with that, I have an esp! get in the car again and everything is fine no alert and I can drive it fine. Next day I go to drive and again I have an alert and can not drive!!! this is my 1st car ever and in the 2yrs I've had it nothing but recalls on it! this needs to be a recall to many are complaining about the same issue. What if this happen on a highway!"!"! on top of this I'm still waiting for a fix to the gas gauge issue, and the transmission was supposedly fix but it's still doing the same thing after a full stop, it has a hard time going again!!!!! I will never by a Ford vehicle again
The warning in the attached picture came up and power steering quit working. Warning goes out when you turn car off but it's right back on when you start the car.. I went to leave for work and started the car and went to pull out of my driveway and could barely turn the steering wheel. So I parked it and got in my pick up truck. Haven't driven it since because it won't go out. Had another issue with the car. I had it fixed at Ford for several hundred dollars and then a recall came out. Was waiting to see if a recall came out on this issue.
After starting my vehicle, and putting it into gear, the steering wheel locks up and I get an error stating "steering fault assist service required". turning the vehicle off and on again fixed this issue a few times before, but it worries me that the power steering could go out at any time. There are several recalls for other Ford models having this issue, such as the Fusion, but there is no recall for the Focus.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. When the vehicle was started, the steering wheel seized and the steering assist fault indicator illuminated. The failure recurred. The contact called brandon Ford at 813-246-3673 (located at 9090 E adamo dr, tampa, fl 33619) and scheduled an appointment. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.
Power steering fault numerous times and car has to be shut off and restarted sometimes multiple times to get power steering to work so the car is driveable
- San Miguel, CA, USA
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My 2013 Ford Focus hatchback power steering stop working! this is not good because now I have no choice but to hit something because I can no longer maneuver around it. The car is hard to steer and should not happen on any vehicle! luckily this happened hours after getting home from work. Now I have to drive my car like this until I pay it off or trade it in! that's crazy and I have found out that I am not the only one that had this issue!
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. While making a left turn, the steering wheel seized without warning and became difficult to turn. As a result, the contact crashed into a median. There were no injuries. The contact was able to drive the vehicle home as the power steering and oil warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.
Power stopped operating while driving. It had suddenly become very difficult to turn the steering wheel. This is dangerous especially for a smaller person, the steering wheel is almost impossible to turn.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. While the contact's daughter was driving 45 mph, the steering wheel seized without warning. The driver managed to steer the vehicle home. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure recurred. The failure mileage was 61,000.
Power steering failed while vehicle was moving on surface road making it nearly impossible to safely steer out of traffic. Failure came on suddenly and without warning.
Complete failure of power steering making car impossible to drive. Per dealer rack / bolt failure. Estimate to repair $2200. Could have caused car crash. What happened warning light to pull over get service immediately followed by complete locking of steering. Even the tow truck person could barely get on to tow truck because could not move position of care.
The steering failure was noticed driving at high way speed as it became very difficult to maintain a straight line of travel. Once I determined something was wrong I pulled over to run the cars built in diagnostic. The diagnostic claimed there was a steering fault and service was needed but appeared as if the vehicle was still functional. I then decided to shut the vehicle off and restart it, once restarted the error message "steering loss stop safely" appeared and the steering was effectively locked
While driving on the interstate received a warning 'power steering assist fault- service required'. nearly wrecked, but was able to pull onto the shoulder, when I restarted the vehicle the error went away and power steering was back. Made it home (cautiously) and now the error comes up every time I start the vehicle and the wheel is nearly impossible to turn.
Could happen while driving or when you turn on the car.... on the screen appears a message saying 'steering wheel problem, please contact service' and the wheel turns to be really hard to move, very dangerous..... the only way to fixed on the moment is to stop.... turn off the car and on again. This is a automatic steering system, there is no way to add fluid or try to fix it by yourself.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. While driving 65 mph, the steering wheel seized and the contact had to use excessive strength to steer the vehicle to safety. The power steering indicator illuminated after the failure. The vehicle was towed to diehl's Ford sales (11782 national pike, grantsville, md 21536, (301) 895-5135) where it was diagnosed that a new power steering system needed to be installed. The vehicle was currently being repaired. The manufacturer was notified and did not assist. The failure mileage was 58,000. The VIN was unknown.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. When the contact restarted the vehicle, the power steering assist warning message displayed and the steering wheel became difficult to turn in either direction. After turning the engine off, the contact indicated that the vehicle would not restart. The vehicle was towed to ganley Ford West (16100 lorain ave, cleveland, Ohio) to be diagnosed, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The failure mileage was 84,000.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the power assist steering module malfunctioned and seized. Westland Ford (3450 wall ave, ogden, ut 84401, (801) 629-5500) was able to replicate the failure and a module was reprogrammed, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer and they, with the help of the manufacturer, stated that the steering rack failed. The vehicle was not repaired again because the contact was informed that he would have to pay for the repairs. The failure mileage was 105,000... consumer has had 2 occurrences with power steering. First time power steering did not rotate. Had the vehicle towed and reprogrammed the power assist module. Second time the same locked steering column issue recurred. Neither event was while driving. ?parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).?
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. While driving approximately 35 mph, the power steering assist warning indicator illuminated. The following morning, the message center displayed "power steering lost, do not drive". the vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. While driving 5 mph, the vehicle lost power and the check engine indicator illuminated. In addition, the steering wheel failed and was difficult to turn. Also, the fuel gauge was inoperable. The vehicle was taken to jarrett scott Ford of plant city (2000 E baker St, plant city, fl 33563 (877) 751-9729) to be diagnosed, but they were unable to duplicate the failure. The contact stated that the vehicle should be included in NHTSA campaign number: 18V735000 (fuel system, gasoline). The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 102,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Manville, NJ, USA