Power Steering Assist Error popped last night on my 2011 Ford Fusion. Halfway out of the parking space, the car started making a funny dinging sound and the steering wheel locked and would not turn. Thank you God, I wasn't on the highway when this happened since there was no turning that wheel. I turned the car off, let it sit and 5 seconds, restarted and it worked fine.

Immediately starting researching and found this is an ongoing issue since 2014 ~ Average cost to repair has been close to $2,000 ~ There has since been a recall from Ford. Recall # 15S18 ~ If dealers find any loss of steering assist DTC's, the steering gear will be replaced, free of charge. If no codes are found, the PSCM software will be updated, at no cost.

I spoke to the service department at my local Ford dealer this morning. I mentioned the recall and he immediately stated this could be something completely different, so don't go assuming this is due to the recall. Then he stated since I heard the dinging and was unable to steer, the vehicle had to come in immediately.

Hopefully this will be covered under the recall. Will update once Ford service has taken a look.

Update from Oct 18, 2016: Ended up being the racket pinion. Had this replaced, under warranty thank God!

My boyfriend and I were Driving to Tennessee and 100 miles into the drive on the highway the car started beeping and the "Service Advancetrac" came on then moments later "Power Steering Failure" . We lost power steering immediately. When we stopped for gas I removed both fuses and checked them, they were not blown. Shut car off for over 10 mins turned back on but same thing happened. Drove for 700 miles with no power steering. Took it over to Ed Ford in Sparta who wanted $1600.00 to replace the entire assembly. I declined the service. This is detrimental for me because I am a small women and I am now completely unable to drive the vehicle myself as I cannot turn the wheel at all. I hope there is a recall soon this is terrible.

For about 6 months now I have been having an issue with my car where the power steering failure light would turn on when I was going from reverse into drive and turning the wheel. The wheel would lock up. I would turn the car off and on and it would reset itself. But this week, in two different incidents it happened while I was driving and thank God I didn't get into an accident. I parked the car in a parking lot each time coasting in and reset it by turning it off and on. I barely saw that there is a power steering recall and called Ford. They said it would take a few days to check the car. :( I cant afford to fix something I didn't even do to the car.

Recall 15S18 Power Steering Recall performed Aug 01,2015 While driving on a dry, sunny day on the inside lane of a 6 lane (one way) highway in Dallas early rush hour, the steering began to feel odd. I checked the dash and found the Advance Trac light illuminated. I thought I'd accidentally pressed the button when turning on the AC. I pushed the button to turn it off and the Advance Trac off light illuminated then turned off. I decided to make my way to the outside lane and exit the interstate which was approximately 300 yards away. This was done with little effort, but something just didn't feel right.

As soon as I was on the exit ramp, I felt the steering wheel resist as I tried to steer to the right. Driving at 30 mph or slower, I quickly got into the right lane and turned immediately into the driveway of a large shopping center. I made 2 right turns about 25 feet apart and the a wide left turn into a parking space. These turns were extremely difficult to make, the steering wheel required plenty of strength and effort to turn. The upside is the parking area I turned into was vacant except for traffic exiting the shopping center. I was frazzled to say the least and turned off the car, walked around it to insure the tires were correctly positioned and that there was nothing stuck underneath the car.

At that point I turned the key in the ignition to make a phone call and I tried the steering wheel, it moved with not too much effort. After several minutes I started the 4 mile drive home at a snail's pace to insure I could control the car. This is an experience I definitely could have done without. I am afraid to drive my car to the dealership 25 miles away for fear of the same thing occurring, however I will need to get the car there as I must have a car. Looking into towing it or getting a car dolly so that I don't have to actually drive it.

Now, the question is, if my car had the recall "fix" why did this occur? Apparently Ford's "software fix" fourteen months earlier did not resolve a problem that I hadn't experienced up to that time.

Update from Feb 5, 2017: After a call to the Ford 800#, an appointment was set up. They were unable to guarantee my vehicle repair would be covered. Regardless of their decision I needed my car to be fixed and was seriously considering trading in my car which was paid off, and purchasing a different make/brand.
The Ford dealership advised that my car was eligible to be fixed at no cost to me. I was surprised and relieved, apparently my vehicle did show the "codes" required for a covered repair.

In a common day when I start my Ford Fusion 2011 the "POWER STEERING ASSIST FAULT" light it turned ON, I turned OFF the car, then I turned ON again and the light went off. So I continued my day. But when I leave my work at 5:00 am the light goes ON again and the car has no POWER STEERING. That was a PAIN in the ASS because I live 35 miles away from my house. When I went to the dealer and they said that the parts had no warranty. Ford has a RECALL for the FUSION 2011 like mine but the VIN # of my car was not included in the RECALL and I had to paid for the repair like $2000 that sucks.

My 2011 Ford Fusion is having a light on that says Power Steering Assist Faulty. It's happened about 6 times. I turn my car on and the warning beeps and the light reads Power Steering Assist Faulty. The wheel is completely locked until I turn it off and restart the car again. It then clears the warning light and I'm able to drive again.

I took it to Ford on June 17th, 2016. I was told that it's covered in a customer satisfaction recall up to 150,000 miles. My car is at 101,000 miles. It should be covered. Ford won't fix it because it's not pulling up a code. It's happened 6 times. One time I'm not going to be as lucky and I might be driving the car with my three children in the car. I don't care if it has a light or not. I had pictures with the warning light. I did another recall for the steering that had the little wrench light. My car was reprogrammed and I thought it was fixed.

I now have this problem. I believe they should fix this for me because eventually I will be driving and if I wreck because they wouldn't fix it they'll have a lawsuit. When they fixed the last recall for steering I was driving and the car started shaking and the I could hardly drive to turn around and go home. They tried to say that it could be my battery, but my battery is less than a year old and it was just checked with my oil change.

I was driving back from a vendor show yesterday and my message center lit up. It advised to Service AdvanceTrac and Service Power Steering soon. Not long after the message center displayed Service Power Steering NOW, and not long after the power steering went completely out.

I started doing some research online to see what others were experiencing. A lot with the same stuff dating back to 2011. On the last page someone posted that there was a recall issued on May 27, 2015 by Ford for 2011-2012 Ford Fusions manufactured at the Hermasillo Plant in Mexico between the dates of 09/07/2011 to October 2012.

I went out and checked the sticker inside my door and it had a manufacture date of 12/2010, so I then decoded the VIN, just google Ford VIN Decode, and it will tell you what plant it was manufactured at. Just to be sure, I checked the NHSTA website and entered my VIN to check for recalls, and sure enough it popped up. I know for the recall dates, the 09-07-2015 was definitely the start date, I'm not completely sure about the 10/12, but if its not, its close. Hope this helps out a few of y'all.

On 10/10/15, while driving 30 miles per hour, my SERVICE POWER STEERING NOW and SERVICE ADV TRAC lights both came on. It became difficult to turn into a parking lot, while I surveyed the issue. Once realizing, that the power steering is electric, I drove the car home.....using all the power I could to utilize the steering wheel.

Since it happened on a Saturday, i just parked the car until the next business day and called the dealership to get advice as to what the issue could be. After being advising they had never heard of such an issue and advising that it would cost a few hundred dollars for a diagnostic, I had it towed to my to my personal mechanic.

After paying for tow and diagnostic - close to $300. I was advised to get brand new tires and that might correct the issue. The tires were in need of replacement, however I am not stupid enough to believe that tires caused my power steering to go completely out! The mechanic advised that since the power steering had sensor that were directly affected by the tires......the tires should be replaced first before anything else can be diagnosed.

After speaking with a couple of male friends and explaining the situation to them, it was suggested that I do some research of my own. Looking at the Ford website and placing my VIN number to check for recalls. I found out that Reprogram Power Steering Control Module is the recall list. This prompted me to call the dealership back to advise what I found to be told that only certain codes would apply and if my mechanic didn't provide that information, I would need to have them run a new diagnostic and would be responsible for the cost of the new diagnostic. Well, lucky I did obtain the code from my mechanic and a couple of the codes provided were listed with Ford.

Now to have the vehicle transported to the dealership for the repair.

2011 Ford Fusion I was driving and service advancetrac came on. Turn off car started it and check advancetrac now come on. Lost power steering completely. Talk to Ford mechanic, they didn't know what cause this or even heard about this happening. Maybe can update their mechanic more. You know how frustrating it is to call a Ford garage and they haven't heard about this problem and cannot give you a clue. Especially on a weekend and you have to worry about it for two days, lost a lot of sleep so far. Trying to figure out how to pay for a problem I don't know what is yet.

In June of 2013 I had my first power steering failure on the highway driving around 65 miles a hour. I pulled over to check the power steering fluid, not knowing it didn't have any. Seeing that the power brake fluid was a little low, I got back in the car and drove about 2 miles down the road to a service station and bought some power steering fluid, putting it in my brake reservoir not thinking. Got back in the car and it was fine and when I got home checked again and realized what I did. Removed the fluid and all was well. Then after that I just kept having the same problem another 5 times but knew to shut the engine off and restart it.

After the first time in June I went to the Ford dealer and had it checked out but they couldn't find anything wrong and charged me $134 but said if there was a recall, I would get my money back. Well this year in June, US DOT NHTSA announced a recall "Loss of Power Steering Assist "NHTSA Campaign Number;15V34000 with a phone # 1-888-327-4236. With this information I went to my dealer who in turn checked with Ford Motor Co. of Canada and said there was a recall and okayed the repair to reset the computer.

This was done on Monday Sept.28, 2015.The next day I had the same problem and went back to the dealer on the 30th. Today they found a code in the computer and told me that was good news.They kept the car for a few hours and gave me a lift home. A couple of hours later they called me and told me they had to change the power steering box and it will be covered under Ford's extended warranty. No cost to me. {A $3000 approx repair.} I have a 2 to 3 week wait for them to get the part and then it will be fixed. I hope for good. Hats off to the Montmorency Ford in Brossard Quebec.

PS they will probably give me back the $134 I spent to have it checked out last year.

My husband and I were out doing some Saturday morning running around. We went into the store and came out, started the engine and all these warning lights came on. I tried to turn the steering wheel and it was very hard to turn, so my husband had to drive it home and on the way we stopped by our local Autozone and we were told that this car was controlled by an electric system, so now we are stuck.

We both work in totally opposite directions, so we are now burdened with having to try to get it repaired somewhere reasonable. I just purchased the car used from a dealership in January of 2014. This is going to cause a great financial burden to the household. If I had known that this was a possibility with this particular vehicle I never would have purchased it. I should have researched it more. I could just hang myself. This has caused me a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety after reading all the other horror stories associated with this same problem. I am devastated and angry. Ford used to have such a good reputation and for them to manufacture and sell cars with this type of deficiency is deplorable.