— The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a defect investigation into steering problems in 938,000 model year 2010-2012 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles as well as the 2010-2011 Mercury Milan.
NHTSA said it's received over 500 complaints about a loss of power steering that requires more effort to steer the cars. The affected vehicles are equipped with rack-mounted Electric Power Assisted Steering that has allegedly failed and caused four crashes.
Reports from Ford also indicate many drivers saw a power steering warning message at the same time power steering assist was lost. Some of those reports claim the problem could be fixed by shutting down the vehicle and restarting. However, those same reports say the problem can come right back even after restarting.
NHTSA will provide more information about the investigation in the coming few days. CarComplaints.com will update you with additional details.
