CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2011 Fusion builds off the 2010's reputation. That's not a good thing.
The first thing that jumps out is the ridiculous amount of power steering complaints. It grinds, it squeals, and it eventually just fails.
And if losing power steering isn’t enough for you, how about a sudden loss of engine power? That combination is enough to achieve clunker status.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
26 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
14 / 1
Average Mileage:
71,586 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.
I was backing out of a parking spot and the power assist failure, light came on. It had happen before but would correct itself it the car was restarted. I had attempted to take it to a mechanic but since it wouud not happen while there they could not diagnose the problem. I am not looking forward to this costly repair. Fzord please do something.
I was traveling 45 mph on a dry, 2 lane, macadam road no shoulders when my power steering went out. "advance trac" light on, chimes & message: "no power assist". I drove with no power steering for 5 miles,10 mph to a safe place to park. Car off for over an hour, started & had power steering. Slowly drove 33 mile home. Ford dealer next day: No definite codes, power steering now working, could need a pscm, they called Ford engineers hot line. We were told it could be a fluke, never happen again; best to drive car in with power steering not working. Repair cost $1500. We did not repair, knowing others had this problem even after repairs. Didn't drive car except for short, low-speed trips. 5/1/15, needed to drive the turnpike 65-70 mph & reached destination with power steering, but 7 hrs later, we started the car, "no power assist", no power steering. I called the dealership to have it towed - told them I wouldn't drive without power steering on the turnpike. They said to let it rest a bit - we did, 20 min, and it worked. Drove home; did not drive again until I took it to the dealership and told them they could have it until it did it to them. Which it did eventually. Dealership notes from 1st service: "cau ids tested fault codes U0100-20 C1963 -20 ABS lost communication with". notes from 2nd service: "cor PCM C1277-20 C200D rotation angle sensor circuit malfunction fault traced and replaced power steering control module steering gear assembly program and verified repairs." I had informed service of the recall pending, and they assured me, we would be reimbursed if recall does happen. No problem with power steering since 5/12/15 (repair date) however, the windshield wipers quit working 5/18/15 and did not go on until next day. I wonder if this is another 'glitch' & fear for what will glitch out next. If I could, I wouldn't drive this car, even though it had the repair.
Intermittent loss of power steering. Incidents were becoming more frequent. Last incident while car was in motion. Dealer diagnosed electrical steering rack failure, $1780. Escalated from dealer to Ford due to safety issue, Ford offered some assistance, still $1070. Parked car at home, escalated to Ford customer care, and given a case number. This is a safety concern that must be addressed! I cannot allow my loved ones behind the wheel of this vehicle. I'm sure no one at the Ford Motor Company would either.
Within a month I had the power steering assist fault warning come up twice and the power steering gives out. I took it in for service and they diagnosed it with needing a power steering gear assembly. The quote for the repair was $1,630. I got this car with just 42,000 miles on it and I have just put only 8,000 miles on it and had to get the throttle body replaced under recall but I can't understand why the power steering gear assembly part isn't considered a recall since it can be a huge safety risk! I'm very disappointed with how Ford Motor Company is not taking issue this seriously!
A very dangerous and surprising power steering failure. The power steering stops functioning intermittently, which can, for a short period of time (maybe a couple of months), be corrected by restarting the car. Soon, the failure becomes a hard fault and can only be fixed by replacing the whole rack, which is not cheap. Beware, those individuals that do not have sufficient upper body strength will not be able to control the car in a turn. This includes my teenage daughter. I am very upset that Ford is not being accountable nor yet being held accountable for this very hazardous condition when there is clear evidence that they have been using faulty parts. Note, unlike most cases with a lack of power steering, it does not seem to require less effort when at higher speeds. There is a pretty consistent amount of effort required to steer the vehicle regardless of speed. There is also a noticeable wandering the requires constant correction, best characterized as "negative stability", with minor variations in the road surface changing the steering angle/position.
- Madison, AL, USA
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Driver was entering a traffic circle and suddenly lost power steering functioning. Driver was able to continue through traffic circle exerting greater force on the steering wheel to complete turn in traffic circle. In car message came on regarding loss of power steering. Driver immediately turned into a parking lot and turned off vehicle. After waiting a minute or two, restarted the vehicle and was able to proceed with power steering apparently functioning. Took to dealer and was advised that needed new steering gear as it was failing.
The first time my daughter and I was backing out driveway power steering warning came on. I could not steer my car.I live on a very busy street my neighbor came out and pushed us back in my driveway. Now barely a year later it has gone out again this time in was driving on 31 w bypass and barely made it off road.
When leaving the parking lot I lost all steering and had to drive home with out power steering which made my drive very dangerous considering I had both of my children in the car
Went to town and parked the car went in to the store and when I started to leave I noticed that the power steering didn't work. I drove the car home with no power steering. It's a good thing this didn't happen while going the speed limit. The dealer said that this is a common problem my question is why has it not been recalled if it's a common problem.
While driving under normal conditions the power steering suddenly stopped working. Warning message on dash says "power steering assist failure". barely avoided a crash due to unable to steer vehicle normally. I took to the dealer and they charged me $250 to tell me they could not identify the problem. This is an intermittent problem which has reoccurred more than 10 times since at speeds between 5 and 65 mph. It happened again at my kids school parking lot and I thought I was going to hit a pedestrian child. It has now stopped working completely at 51,000 miles. Dealer couldn't identify the problem before, fortunately no one was hurt, yet. I fear they are going to repair with the same defect present making this safety hazard continue for the life of the vehicle. Hopefully there are no fatalities in the future because no action or recall was forced.
Driving down the highway came up to a slight bend and when I went to turn the wheel I noticed that it was hard to turn. Thinking it was tire going flat I went to get off the highway when I went to get off on the exit the steering was almost impossible to turn had to slam on the breaks to avoid driving off the exit ramp. With all the other complaints on here it would have been nice to know that this could happen
As I was making a turn my power sterring fault light came on. This happen to me three times. I cannot afford to pay for the repair or part please help. I took to Ford and cost is 1800 to fix the problem. My car needs a steering rack.
Started my car on Saturday morning at 9am, put it into reverse to back out of my spot, when the "power steering assist fault" and "service advance-trac" errors showed on the display. I promptly shut the vehicle down and waited one minute and restarted it, the errors were still present. I am contacting the local dealership. Thankfully this did not happen while driving on the interstate.
Driving on interstate and steering completely failed, more or less felt like it locked-up. If I was on the next road I was going to, I would have probably crashed. Stopped vehicle and turned it off. Once restarted seemed to clear up but is still harder to steer. Originally I thought it may have been an isolated incident but the problem has re-occurred several times since even with others driving the vehicle.
While driving the car the power steering stopped working, turned the car off and restarted and then it worked again. This has happened about 15-20 times since the first incident. Since the error message went away when the car was restarted, a diagnostic would not find the problem. 4 days ago we were backing out of the driveway and it happened again with the error message - power steering assist default- this time restarting the car did not make the message go away. And the power steering was completed gone. We had to have the car towed to the dealership. They said the the entire power steering module has to be replaced for a total cost of $2000. If this would have happened while driving at a high speed, this could of resulted in a very serious accident with injury and damages to the car. The repair of this defect with this car should of been handled by Ford but they are not paying for the repair.
Power steering suddenly stops working. Has happened several times, and is very scary. Definitely an accident waiting to happen here. I have noticed lately every time I start up the car the power steering does not work for the first 20 seconds or so then kicks in. Have called the Ford dealer to see what they think, and asked about the recalls, but I guess my model was not included, however I see is being investigated, so wanted to get my complaint in before doing so. Hopefully it will help the next guy. Shop says it will most likely need a new rack at like $1600+. I was about to just repair it when I found all these sites with hundreds of others complaining about the same thing which just pisses me off more..wince this was a car that the kids are learning to drive on, and were going to be driving, now have to figure out if we even trust it.
In May 2014 Ford recalled 900,000+ vehicles due to an issue with the power steering torque sensor. It affected escape, mariner, and Explorer models (including model year 2011 on all vehicles). I have a 2011 Ford Fusion and my vehicle has had the same issue several times. Around five times when I've put my car in reverse the power steering has gone out. The first three times it happened there were no lights or anything that prompted me there was an issue. I put the car in park, shut it off and restarted it and then the power steering was back working. The next time it happened, the warning message board on the dash showed a message that said "power steering default". I took the car to the dealer and they said it would cost $1,800 to fix as the torque sensor code appeared in their diagnostic test. The entire steering column needed to be replaced. I've contacted Ford and told them I'm having the same issue as the recalled vehicles; however, they said that because the issue isn't prevalent in my model and year vehicle that they'll just look into a "goodwill" discount on the repair. I've asked them to replace the steering column at no charge which they won't do which confuses me as I'm certain the technology they use in all their vehicles is similar, if not the same, and thus if they fixed the issue in other cars they should fix it for me as well at no cost. I'm now waiting to hear back from Ford or my dealer as to what discount they'll offer off the total repair cost - this however doesn't seem right to me so I'm contacting NHTSA in hopes they can provide some assistance.
The power-assisted steering suddenly failed causing the steering wheel to snatch out of my hands as I was pulling out of a parking lot. It then became harder to steer the vehicle. So I took it back to the Ford dealership that I had just bought it from.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Charlotte, NC, USA