Power steering assist warning came on and lost steering. It happens when driving.

- Addison, MI, USA

My wife's 2014 Escape worked fine in the morning for her to run and do an errand. When she went to start the car it failed to start and I was able to jump it and get it to a local auto zone for a battery replacement. When I was pulling into auto zone I noticed a small catch while turning left and lost power steering for a few seconds. I made note of it mentally but just focused on getting the battery replaced as that seemed to be the underlying issue. Now the battery has been replaced and I go to leave and I have absolutely no power steering with a warning stating "power steering assist fault" service required. I muscled her car home to recheck my work and its all good. A day later after researching the issue I throw a hail mary and disconnect the battery for about a minute and then reconnected it and bingo I have steering. My wife later left for shopping and had zero issues until her attempt to leave. She immediately got the error message and had intermittent power steering on her drive home but was able to make it with the use of brute force. I had the transmission and recall addressed about two to three months ago and this car has been a pain since then with needing a jump in cold weather. Now this and the outlook of a 2,000 repair when it took a dealership 2 months to do a recall and replace the transmission that was magically "fried" I'm hesitant to trust anything Ford says but this a huge safety issue that has documented history and needs to be a recall. Now I need to find out why its in and out and what to do moving forward. #fordservicesucks

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Tried to back out of my driveway but was unable to turn steering wheel and then notice the message. Trying to pull car back into driveway it was extremely difficult as well. I just grateful I was able to get to and from church with no problem. I don't want to imagine what could have happened had this occurred while driving. Drivers are so much in a rush.

- Louisville, KY, USA

Power steering system fault light came on and made it really hard to steer while driving. I'm glad I was stopped when it came on otherwise I would have had a wreck, I'm sure of it! also when I looked online I noticed there were a ton of other people with the same year and model complaining of the issue. Please fix this issue!

- Petal, MS, USA

My 2014 Ford Escape with the 1.6L ecoboost has a safety recall for cracking of the cylinder head, there fix for this only to place a coolant sensor in the coolant reservoir. So I had the recall installed, not long after I stared having issues with lossing coolant. Next if stared missing well I took it in and the dealer said "you have a cracked engine block" when ask to prove the block was cracked they could not, and the dealer also told me that, "they have to replace the engine even if its only a head" so Ford is making to where the costumer is responsable for replacing the engine. Then after I got my car back 2 months later, my streering had a catch occasionally then started locking up completely and happend to be stationary or very low speeds when it did lock up. So I take it back to Ford dealer again they say I have to pay for every thing so when I go to do the work myself I descoviored they completly left of the shroud under the car that channals cold air between the exhust and electronic steering gear. So took it back and made the dealer replace the part. The dealer told me this is a comon problem. This is defentley a safety issue that needs addressed!!!

- Ellsinore, MO, USA

On Saturday October 5, 2019 at 11pm our 17 year old daughter was stranded with a power steering module failed error. We took it to the closest mechanic which was on the corner of the road she was stranded at. The car could be driven but she could have never steered it. It took everything for my husband to be able to get it there. The car only had 106,690 miles on it and should have been covered under warranty but we didnt have time to take it the dealership and they aren't willing to reimburse us. The 2009-2013 had a recall for this same issue but the 2014 isn't covered under the recall. It seems like it still should be a recall issue.

- Mechanicsville, MD, USA

Power steering fails intermittently when in motion and turning...sometimes before pulling out. This has been diagnosed by Ford as a rack and pinion issue with a repair quote of $2,164 to replace. The car has under 69,000 miles.

- Allen, TX, USA

My car is approaching the 60 mo. Deadline warranty date. The steering is electronic so I cannot service belt or fluid. The steering "locks up" periodically so I have no power assist and lose control of the car. With winter driving conditions, I will be very likely to have an accident injuring me or someone else. This happens in stationary and moving making it nearly impossible to steer or park the car. The dealer tells me there is no factory help and a new steering gear and rack will cost about $2000 !!!

- Missoula, MT, USA

Power steering went out and was completely unable to steer without extreme effort very dangerous when turning into traffic

- St Petersburg, FL, USA

When approaching a light power assist failure error appeared I quickly realized that steering was extremely difficult. Luckily I was close and able to get to work. I turned the car off and back on and the power steering returned. 2 weeks later it happened again while turning into a parking lot. Luckily happened at slow speed. I made an appointment to take it in to my Ford dealer. On the way to the appointment the steering went out twice. I received a call from the service department a few hours after dropping the car off informing me that the error appeared when they pulled it in and that the rack and pinion needed replaced. Had to get a loan to pay for the $2,000 repair. Reading complaints it seems like there should be a recall. The vehicle only has 40,740 miles. No issues since repair on 9/19/2019

- Cleveland, OH, USA

On August 23rd, 2019, I was driving back from a 240 mile round trip and was caught in a severe thunderstorm. As I was pulling inot a parking lot to wait out the storm, my power steering failed. After 10 minutes it came back and I was able to make it home. I took it to a service station the next morning and no error codes showed up. On August 30th after making the same round trip, I again lost my power steering near my home. It failed to come back. I had the car towed to a local shop. They determined it was a failure identical to the active recall in the model year prior to mine and it needed to be towed to the dealership. The dealership confirmed an internal fault in the power steering rack which will need to be replaced. Thankfully the steering failures happened when I was either in the process of parking or already parked.

- Oak Island, NC, USA

Left driveway and a minute down the road (on a city street) as the vehicle began to accelerate the gears jolted and steering seized up making me unable to avoid a car parked around a bend that was a foot in the road. No lights came on and no warning appeared. I had an appointment to take it to the shop in a few days because when switching gears or accelerating after vehicle is stopped it jolts/feels like it's trying harder than it should have to for being such a new vehicle, and haven't even owned the vehicle for a month. It's very upsetting to just get a new to me car and have an unavoidable accident. It's currently at the service shop. Luckily no one was injured but both vehicles are badly damaged. This isn't the first complaint about this issue with this vehicle and there's multiple complaints just this year. I have a feeling as time goes on and vehicles hit between 50-80 thousand miles the issue will become more apparent. Ford should definitely have a recall and fix this problem so no one becomes seriously injured.

- Meadville, PA, USA

Three times so far this has happened while driving the steering assist fault service required". I could still drive the car but it took a lot of effort to turn the steering wheel. I pulled over and turned the car off and restarted it and the light went out and I was able to drive again. Ford is not taking responsibility for this on the vehicle. The car was always in motion when this happened. It just locks up. Very scary situation- there really should be a recall on this.

- Elizabeth, PA, USA

I got in my car to go to work after it had been parked all night. I turned it on and I instantly got the message "steering assist fault service required" I couldn't turn the wheel. I shut it off and turned it back on and the message was gone. I was able to drive to work however I am scared something is going to go out while im driving!

- Las Vegas, NV, USA

This has been happening for a few years now-normally I can turn vehicle off and then on again and the electric power steering assist fault error will go away. Now this error doesn't go away and there is no power steering. When this first started to happen it was taken to the Ford dealer and they said it was not an issue, if I go online I see numerous people with this same issue with little results from Ford. I am so disappointed in Ford for not taking responsibility. Not sure what I will do the garage is going to try to reset the electrical system, they said 50/50 chance it will work.

- Long Prairie, MN, USA

My 2014 Ford Escape is only 4 years old and the power steering locked up while it was parked in a parking structure. I could barely turn it to get it out of the structure then I had to have it towed to the dealership who said it would cost $2000 to repair. There are recalls for older models but not 2014. Luckily this happened while parked and not while I was driving on a busy road. Very unsafe. I don't expect such expensive repairs from a car this age.

- Ann Arbor, MI, USA

I was running errands, when I started my car I got a message "steering assist fault service required". I could still drive the car but it took a lot of effort to turn the steering wheel. The message appears when the key is turned on before starting the car, I did drive it home, my wife wouldn't have the strength to drive it. I haven't tried to get it repaired yet, that will have to wait until I get back from a trip.

- Escondido, CA, USA

Driver fault assist error. The power steering stopped working and vehicle had to be towed. Had to have the entire power steering column replaced. This happened when the car was parked after driving on the highway for 3 hours. We stopped for a break at a rest stop and when the car was started to continue the trip it gave the error and the power steering didn't work.

- Broadway, VA, USA

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Escape. The contact stated that the steering wheel was extremely difficult to turn in either direction and required excessive force. B & B Ford (10476 dunbarton blvd, barnwell, SC 29812, (803) 259-5524) was notified of the failure and diagnosed that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. The dealer had not received authorization to repair the vehicle because there was no electric power steering recall. In addition, the five year warranty statute expired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided a case number. The approximate failure mileage was 60,200.

- Barnwell, SC, USA

While driving the Escape through city streets, an error showed up on the dash and said 'steering assist failure. Needs service.' At that point, the powering steering stopped and it became extremely difficult to turn the steering wheel. This has happened twice to the car in the past 24 hours. I have restarted the car with each incident but after already driving, the error came back up. I believe that this can be due to an electrical issue or power steering component failure.

- Deerfield Beach, FL, USA