I left home early afternoon to go to work, it was a really cold morning ( -40C ), after I stopped for 5 minutes to get a coffee I got back in the car and started it. It showed " STEERING ASSIST FAULT " on the dash.

Had a really hard time taking it to the dealership, luckily it's only a couple of Kms away. This was on a Friday so I had to leave the car for the weekend. They called me on Monday saying that they couldn't find any errors or system malfunctions. The car was still under warranty but I was still charged. Now fast forward, it happened again a couple of days ago, as leaving work I started the car remotely, again on a really cold day, and when I got in I noticed the same message on the dash. So I turned off the car and started it again, and after running for about a minute the steering returned. I was not aware of any problems or recalls for this kind of problem. One year later, after the first problem, I still only have 53.000 Kms on the vehicle.

Like so many others, my steering assist failed while I was driving. The dash info showed a message when it happened, saying service required, but there was no warning. It didn't go to a manual-like steering ability - it required all the strength I had to turn the wheel to get to safety.

I know there are recalls for other Ford years and models, and I cannot believe this has not been recalled yet. Very dangerous, if driving in traffic or highway speeds.

I just took it to the dealership (the only place that can service this problem), so I will find out what their "solution" is, and how much it will cost me, soon. I read that there have been repeated widespread complaints, and that Ford has Ignored or Covered up the problem. Life threatening.