CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2013 Fusion doesn’t have the same track record of power steering failure as the previous 3 model years. Of course, those owners said their steering failed at 60k–100k miles. So this appears to be a classic "wait and see" scenario.
In the meantime, there’s plenty of interior accessory problems to complain about. By themselves, each is a barely a blip on the radar. But combined, they give you that feeling of what the hell have I gotten myself into?
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
9 / 5
Injuries / Deaths:
3 / 0
Average Mileage:
61,814 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.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Fusion. While driving approximately 25 mph, the steering wheel seized and the power steering assist fault warning indicator illuminated. The contact stated that the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The contact coasted the vehicle to the side of the road, waited a few minutes, and was able to resume driving. The vehicle was taken to auto zone to see about the recall notification. A salesperson stated that there was no power steering ability due to a steering gear motor bolt failure, and suggested that the vehicle be taken to a dealer. The dealer was not contacted. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 15V250000 (steering). The contact called the manufacturer and was informed that the vehicle was not covered under a warranty and no further assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 118,000.
While driving on the highway (the middle lane on 690 in syracuse at 4:30 pm), a notification came up on my dashboard saying "steering assist fault, service required." I then lost all power steering while I was in the middle of the highway during rush hour. Aaa came and it was brought to a local car care center where my family always goes to get our vehicles fixed. They drove my car and said it was driving fine and that no codes were showing up. Once I drove it home from the mechanic, the same notification popped up on the dashboard again as I was pulling into my driveway (steering assist fault, service required). I then brought it to the dealership where I bought the car (I had to drive it with no power steering). They stated that I needed a completely new steering gear. While doing some research before my vehicle was repaired, I found several articles stating that the steering gear needed to replaced on other 2013 Ford Fusion (I believe my car was manufactured in the same place as the other Ford's that had their steering gears recalled based on the VIN number of my car). The dealership and Ford corporate stated that there was nothing they could do about it (pertaining to reimbursement) because my car's VIN number was not on the recall list for that particular item (the steering gear). I ended up paying just under $1,800.
Power steering assist fault message appeared and I could not turn my steering wheel. I had just started the car in my garage and as I tried to back out of the garage I could not turn the steering wheel at all so I pulled back in the garage and called by dad. When he arrived about 20 minutes later he started it and it worked just fine. It looks like a problem with the epas and I am wondering why the 2013 Fusion were not included in the recall. If this had happened while I was driving I can't imagine what would have happened.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Fusion. While driving approximately 60 mph and attempting to switch lanes, the steering wheel became difficult to turn and the power steering warning indicator illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the boeckman Ford dealer where it was diagnosed that the power steering assembly failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer opened case number: Cas12394818faz7W0 and referred the contact to NHTSA. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Fusion. While driving 65 mph, the power steering fault indicator illuminated. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle and the steering wheel became very difficult to turn. The vehicle was taken to bert wolfe Ford 1900 patrick St plaza, charleston, wv 25387 where it was diagnosed that the power steering failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired at turnpike Ford, Inc. 7891 maccorkle ave, charleston, wv 25315. The manufacturer stated that they could not assist because they did not determine which vehicles were recalled. The approximate failure mileage was 58,167.
- Concord, NC, USA
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The contact owns a 2013 Ford Fusion. While driving 20-30 mph, the power assist warning indicator illuminated and the power steering failed to operate as intended. The vehicle was taken to be diagnosed and the contact was informed that the steering failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 95,000.
Got a warning traveling on highway at 65 mph - steering assist fault, get service soon. Cleared the message and was able to continue 10 miles to my destination. Parked car, looked under hood for power steering fluid reservoir, it is not there. Left car and came back an hour later to leave. Got message, steering assist malfunction. Stop car safely. Steering wheel extremely hard to turn. Could not drive car, had it towed to Ford dealer 16 miles away. Ford dealer replaced the steering gear and is waiting on software update to be released by Ford on 3/29/2017
Ever since I purchased my car (used) it has make a loud popping noise when I turn the steering wheel all the way to the left. I have taken it to many auto service shops (including authorized Ford shops) and no one could ever find the issue (sounded like it was coming from the tire). The other day when I got in my car to go to work, the ABS and power steering warnings were both blinking on my dash. I tried to turn my wheel to see if the power steering was out and it was not working. I turned my vehicle off and back on and it seemed to reset both the ABS and power steering modules. I was able to drive my car to work and then to the dealership to get it checked out. The steering gear is failing, my vehicle is only 2 years old and has less than 80K miles. This is a recall for 2013 Ford Fusion but my VIN # is not included. I have done research and have read other's stories and this can happen while I am driving, I got lucky this time and it showed up first thing when I turned my vehicle on.
While driving the car on a local road the steering abruptly stopped working, almost causing an accident. The car became very difficult to control and the ABS, traction control, traction control off and airbag warning lights illuminated. An epas warning appeared on the service monitor screen. When I pulled over and turn the car off and on again everything operated normally. When I made a left turn into a gas station the same problem occurred almost causing me to drive into a car exiting the gas station because it was so difficult to turn the vehicle. The same warning lights came on. It appears to be a defective part in the electronic power steering. I don't know if this is the same part involved in the previous generation of Fusion with the epas that was recalled. Please investigate, this is dangerous problem and there are a lot of 2013+ Fusion on the road with this same epas system as mine.
2013 Ford Fusion with 60,000 miles - while driving on the highway at 65 mph a power steering warning light came on that read "steering loss / stop safely". suddenly the power steering went completely dead and it was nearly impossible to move the vehicle or recover the car's steering at all. Luckily, I was able to slow the engine down and move just enough to the side of the road where I could glide to a stop. My family and I could have been killed or could have hurt or killed others with this failure. Research has shown that thousands of others have had similar issues, and that there is a law suit against Ford in California seeking class action status. My calls to Ford were essentially ignored and I was pushed back on the dealership, who had no power to authorize any reimbursement for the $2000 expense. It is unfortunate that it will take a major collision where someone is seriously injured or even killed for this to be fixed. Hopefully the nhsa and the lawsuit will rectify this with these vehicles.
Power steering assist fault light came on and remained on until I pressed "ok" button. Steering 'seized up', making it impossible to steer, or turn the car.the light had intermittently blinked on, then off, 2 previous times in the past 4-6 weeks, but not staying on long enough to read the warning in entirety. This time the warning stayed on until I manually turned it off. Upon researching, I found the recall (#15V250000) for hundreds of thousands of 2013 Ford Fusion. I also found, too numerous to count, complaints all over the internet of exact same scenario, and these vehicles not being under the recall either. I called Ford Motor Company customer service and got someone in a foreign land, that continued to repeat, your vehicle is not among those in the recall, you must take your car to a Ford dealer for inspection of this problem. No matter what concern or question I posed to him, that was the only answer I received. I have made an appointment with a local Ford dealer to have the car inspected. I am very disappointed that this will be an out of pocket expense to me.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Fusion. While driving 30 mph, the power steering warning indicator illuminated and the power steering failed to operate as intended. The contact stated that it became difficult to maneuver the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.
My vehicle has been diagnosed with a complete power steering gear failure, just outside bumper to bumper warranty. My car has 33,000 miles. I have done research online and noticed Ford has pending lawsuits for this issue and many complaints and decided to hide the issue they knew about and put the customer on the hook for the $1900 repair cost which is ridiculous. This could have had deadly consequences for me as the power steering failure came on while going at freeway speed. Luckily it had just enough to get me off the freeway or I would have most likely been involved in a crash as I had no steering. I have owned multiple Ford with 190,000 miles and never had issues with the old design. The new electronic system obviously has major design flaws and issues based on many complaints and lawsuits just by searching this online and Ford has shrugged of the issue as if it was non existent. Now I am worried this is going to occur again and is a major safety concern of mine if I lose control of the vehicle due to a design flaw and flawed overall steering gear. When Ford is supposed to be making design improvements, they are backtracking in it as my old Ford vehicles have performed better than this new one.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Fusion. While driving 30 mph, the "hill assist traction", "tire pressure sensor fault", and "service power steering now" indicators illuminated. The power steering seized without warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 73,000.
I was driving on I-71 to columbus in typical December weather when an error message appeared stating 'steering loss stop safely'. having read the message and experiencing no immediate change in steering performance, it went away after being displayed for several seconds. After stopping for about an hour in columbus, a 'steering loss stop safely' error message reappeared upon restarting and steering became almost impossible. Several subsequent restarts made no difference. A short test drive confirmed that the steering was extremely difficult (even with two hands) at speeds from 0 to 20 mph. The steering effort did not appear to decrease with increased speed. The car was towed to the nearest Ford dealer where they 'verified pull codes, clear codes, updated pscm.rd test reset pass' (see attached repair documentation). Vehicle has been operating normally in the brief period since then (~100mi). It is fortunate that the severely compromised steering occurred at startup. Steering was extremely difficult even for a 225 pound male. A petite female may not have been able to steer at all. Had the loss occurred unexpectedly at high speed, it could have easily caused a serious accident. The fact that the dealer updated the software makes me suspicious that they knew there was a problem. If so, I think a recall is warranted before anyone is injured or killed. The result of this software problem is just as serious as a mechanical failure since it results in near total loss of steering control.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that the power steering assist warning lamp illuminated when the vehicle was started. The vehicle was turned off and restarted; however, it failed to remedy the issue. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.
Power steering system fault came on the dash. Pressed the ok button and then noticed balls of fire coming from under the vehicle. I then tried to pull over. I couldn't brake, press the gas, or turn the steering wheel. The car then burst into flames and then the vehicle exploded and burned.
Yesterday I purchased a vehicle through an auto broker from manheim atlanta. No more than 6 hours later the vehicle caught fire while I was driving it and exploded multiple times. 7:30pm I was driving on 285 headed home and I noticed a warning on my dash stating that the power steering assistance has a fault at the same time I noticed balls of fire coming from underneath my car. I tried to get to the shoulder however the engine seized hindering me from doing anything. By the time the car slowed the interior was filled with smoke, I jumped out then the car exploded multiple times.
Driving on rt 17 northern va a warning came up to service stability control. I was able to pull off the interstate and called Ford. After turning of the car I lost all power steering. I was towed into a Ford dealer the cost of the repair $2140. Ford paid $1000 of this repair. I have found out that Ford had thousands of Fusion with this same repair recalled but because of were my Fusion was built it is not under recall. I'm glad I was not on interstate 95 when this occurred. Ford needs to expand this recall.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Columbus, OH, USA