While driving 25 mph on a two lane local street the power steering of my 2011 Ford Fusion failed on a curve. The car pulled abruptly to the right, went off the road and hit a curb causing a flat and a dented rim. The warning messages "service power steering now" and "service advance trac" alternately came on. After changing the flat the car still had no power steering. I proceeded with great difficulty to drive to a repair shop. After repeated efforts to reset the electric power steering mechanism, the mechanic got it working again. However, being familiar with the problem, he said it could stop functioning at any time again and was unsafe to drive. He told me there were at least a thousand complaints about the power steering failing in the 2011 Fusion. Should I pay over $2000 to replace the electric power steering system with another of the same faulty design" my car only has about 24000 miles on it. How many will I need" furthermore, I have been driving over 50 years and never have myself or any member of my family had a problem with power steering cutting in and out. I can't recall in my lifetime anyone ever saying his or her power steering had to be repaired. As a mathematician, I would Venture to say the number of failures in such a short time period is statistically significant when compared to the norm.

- Lincoln Park, NJ, USA

For the third time, power steering failure warning and a notice to service advancetrac, this time while traveling at 55 to 60 mph in heavy traffic. Was able to put car in neutral and restart engine and put back into drive. Issue went away and drove car home safely.

- Cordova, TN, USA

Opened garage door and started car to leave for work. Put car in drive and started to exit garage when "power steering failure" message appeared on dash. Could not move steering wheel. Stopped car and killed the engine. Restarted car and error message went away and power steering was normal.

- Cordova, TN, USA

I started my car. A warning light started beeping and my steering wheel would not turn. The message said "power steering assist fault". I turned the car off and on three times. The message remained the same. 2 hours later, I started it and the message was gone. While the message was on, I had no control of my car. Luckily, I was in my driveway.

- Seagoville, TX, USA

Had just navigated a sharp left turn from an exit ramp from an arterial road, and was driving below 40 miles per hour on major parkway/street when traffic light up ahead turned red. Applied brakes to stop with traffic ahead when "service advancetrac and power steering failure" warning messages appeared and stability control light lit up. Car had no power steering and it was difficult to move the wheel and I was unable to move over to the side of the road. When I came to a complete stop, I killed the engine and restarted the car. The warning messages went away and the power steering returned. This could be a potentially deadly problem, as the electric power steering does not behave at all like hydraulic systems do when losing power.

- Cordova, TN, USA

Power steering assist fault...along with andvancetrac issues....fails....turn off vehicle and used to work again well for a short time and again it would fail...failure occurred either at highway speeds or in parked position.... making steering difficult...

- Berino, NM, USA

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that while reversing at 5 mph, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The contact had to apply force to the steering wheel in order to turn the vehicle. In addition, power steering assist fault was displayed across the message board. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the power steering rack needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 74,600.

- Hickory, NC, USA

I started the car and I got a stabilitrac/power steering error message. The power steering will not work. I tried waiting and restarting as I read online that is a way to fix it short term and it does not fix the problem. It has happened in the past but I did not record the date or mileage.

- Desert Hot Springs, CA, USA

As I attempted to pull out of a parking space, the steering wheel of my 2011 Ford Fusion became extremely hard to turn. A message on the dashboard indicated that the power steering assist had failed. After turning off the ignition and restarting the car, the steering seemed normal. Two days later the same thing happened as I prepared to leave a parking lot. The dealer replaced the rack and pinion for $1800. No additional incidents in the last few weeks.

- Modesto, CA, USA

Between June 1st and June 15, 2014, I began having problems with my battery not starting my car. After removing the cables and cleaning them, the car seemed fine for a few days then it went out. I replaced the battery and the car worked fine. A few days later, the power steering quit working. I learned at that time that my car is not equipped with hydraulic power steering after researching online, I also learned that my power steering outage was not unique and that there was an investigation into this problem for my make, model and year model. I have driven without power steering this entire time because I cannot afford to pay the high dealership diagnostic fees and what I'm sure will be expensive repairs since 3 two different calls to the dealership about their experiences with this problem were not answered with anything but "we have to see it first...", even though I asked only about what their recent knowledge and experiences with this problem have been.

- Fort Smith, AR, USA

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Fusion. While driving at 35 mph, the steering wheel seized. The vehicle was taken to a dealer who diagnosed that the electronic power steering gears needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 72,000.

- Sand Springs , OK, USA

The power steering was inoperable, the power steering default light came on. Turned the car off to reset it and it went away temporarily. This happened once in our garage as I was leaving for work and then a day or two later when I was about 30 miles from home. I was able to reset it once more and make it home before it went out completely. My husband was able to drive it in to the local Ford dealer, carefully and slowly.the steering was so difficult to manage I could not steer the car at all. We had it repaired at the cost of $1732.71. I had made the last payment 3/28/2015 and did not think the steering should become inoperable on a 4 year old car. We bought the car new and have taken good care of it, taking it in for all regular oil changes and maintenance. The steering gear assembly had to be replaced. I think the power steering recall should be applied to 2011 Fusion as well.

- Polk, OH, USA

My daughter was driving, made a right turn when the steering got tough. She was able to pull into an immediate driveway on the right when the steering froze up. She was not able to maneuver the car after that. I understand there are multiple complaints for the same issue. Ford has advised they do not have a recall for this so they will not repair.

- Upland, CA, USA

Feb 16, 2015: Upon the first start after replacing the battery, the "power steering assist failure" warning was displayed. This is the first known appearance of this warning. The warning message went away after re-starting the engine. Mid-to-late, March, 2015: Several occurrences of the power steering warning; all went away after re-starting the engine. The warning did not occur at every start of the engine. April 1, 2015: Vehicle taken in to a Ford dealer for service. The power steering control module (pscm) was programmed. April 20, 2015: The power steering warning message displayed again after starting the engine. Message went away upon re-start. April 23, 2015: Vehicle was examined by a Ford dealer. It was determined the pscm needed to be replaced. The part needed to be ordered and the replacement would be done at a later date. May 1, 2015: Vehicle scheduled to have the pscm replaced.

- Hatfield, PA, USA

I have had intermittent issues with my power steering since I purchased the car in 2012. During the colder days of the year when I started my car I received a message saying power steering fault and I did not have power steering while the message was up. Restarting the car resolved the issue so I ignored it as it only occurred on cold winter mornings and it did not occur while I was driving. I wasn't aware Ford Fusion used the epas system, I thought the error was coming from the power steering fluid thickening up but I soon realized my car did not have a hydraulic system. On 4/25/2015 I was driving down main St and I noticed my car was suddenly pulling me to the right side of the road and I had a harder time steering the vehicle. Soon after I received a message saying "service advancetrac", and "service power steering now" appeared on my console. I pulled into a parking lot and realized I lost my power steering. I powered off the car and turned it back on and the error messages came back. I was able to drive my car back to my apartment with some difficulty, I'm just happy I wasn't on the highway otherwise I could of got into an accident. I will drop the car off to the dealer tomorrow but I'm hoping my warranty covers the part. If not, I may never purchase a Ford again after reading up on the epas system failures. Ford really needs to get their act together and create a recall for this dangerous issue.

- Presque Isle, ME, USA

Power steering went out shutting at mcdonalds drive thru. I could not turn the car. Power assist light was in. I finally got the car to turn but ur was very difficult. When I got through the drive thru I parked turned the car off and back on and the steering returned to normal.

- Cuncinnati, OH, USA

Just got done getting gas at a gas station went in and paid came out to find I could barely steer my car. It almost has caused multiple accidents driving in parking lots as its very hard to turn sharp and fast at a slow speed. Being as I cannot afford a new car nor the amount to fix my car I am forced to drive this vehicle as is.

- Nicholville, NY, USA

Upon shifting into gear after startup, I received a message on the dash display that the power steering system had a "fault." When I slowly proceeded from a parked position and began to turn from the parking area, I discovered that there was no steering assist and that the power steering system had failed. I was able to slowly back up into a parked position.

- Shelbyville, KY, USA

As I was driving around and prospecting for my job, my power steering suddenly quit and the warning dinged 3 times. As this was the first time this had happened, I simply shut off my car quickly and restarted it and the system reset and I had power steering again. This went on annoyingly for a few months having to stop and shut off the engine to fix the problem until April of 2015 when I was driving around prospecting and my car did the same thing except at a faster rate of speed. Until this point it generally happened as I shifted gears to reverse or drive when the power steering failed; this time it happened in drive while I was going about 15 mph and the simple fix of shutting off the engine and restarting it did not work. Another error message appeared "service advancetrac" and I was unable to get my power steering to work until I took it into the dealer. Thankfully I was only going 15 mph but with the amount of similar stories (some unfortunately not so lucky) I have encountered online, I strongly feel the NHTSA needs to move their ass on this investigation and get these potentially destructing machines off the roads and highways! get Ford to issue a recall! I think over 1 million vehicles warrants it!!

- Linn Creek, MO, USA

I was driving my car to the gas station and all of a sudden I was unable to turn the steering wheel. The message popped up saying service power steering now. I was eventually able to turn it but it is very hard to do so.

- Miramar, FL, USA