While driving power steering assist warning came on and lost ability to steer vehicle while driving. Took car to dealership and they seem to have no explanation. Vehicle is still not steerable at this time with no resolution.

- Wisner, LA, USA

When driving home I heard a loud pop noise, the steering became hard to control and when I made a slow right hand turn the right front tire fell off the car. Apple Ford is trying to tell me I hit something. I would know if I hit something and for me to hit something that large I would have seen it, if there was a large pot hole I would have seen it... there is no body damage to the front end bumper of my car.. I just had the transmission replaced in this car, the sync module had to be replace since I had it.. the tow truck driver that picked up my car even said he had just picked up a 2013 Ford Fusion that had the exact same problem.. and the dealerships are telling people they are hitting something!!!!!

- Silver Spring, MD, USA

The power steering assist fails while driving at speed. It just cuts off and steering becomes extremely difficult. Restarting the car seems to reset the psa and I can drive again. But this has happened 7-8 times over the past year. I've gone to the Ford dealership 3 times, and each time they acknowledge the error, but cannot replicate it and they do not make any corrective repairs or action. They just expect me to drive off with the car with the underlying problem still in existence - and they're aware of the problem! and they do not appear to be researching it. This is my family car, and this is just irresponsible of Ford. Psa is not an optional feature that we can live without. We've been fortunate that these failures have occurred under 45mph and on mostly straight residential roads. What about highway speeds or at a sharp bend" will it take lives lost before they even begin to fix the problem" and google searches show that this is not an isolated problem and many others are given the shrug off. Ford knows this is a problem, but are not addressing it properly. Please help.

- Elkridge, MD, USA

The chrome metallic trim on the steering wheel began peeling off around the edge. Pieces of sharp metal cut into my fingertips on a number of occasions.

- Elkins, WV, USA

My first incident was driving out of a parking lot, the power steering message appeared with a strange beeping noise followed by an extremely difficult to move steering wheel. When I turned off my car and got it back on, the power steering was back to its normal levels. Later the next day, the car was in movement over 30mph while driving through the highway and the power steering message came on again making my car totally unresponsive causing me to almost crash. It was very difficult to get the car out of the high way in order to have the steering levels back by turn it off and back on again. Today I took my car to the Ford service complaining about this in order to get my car checked but the service manager indicated that there was nothing he could do about this incident for what suggested me to contact roadside assistance during the next incident and have them take in my car to there service to fix it at the moment. I mentioned that if that was to be done my car would obviously have to be turned off and on in the process causing the issue to momentarily disappear for what he would still not be able to witness the incident as he request, just like today. He refused to make any further comments indicating that was the best thing he could do.

- Toa Alta, PR, USA

This happened twice within one hour. I pulled our of my company parking lot onto a busy highway and my power steering went completely out.on dash it read, "steering malfunction. Service needed." It was very difficult but I managed to pull over to the side. I turned the car off and sat for a few minutes. Hoping it was a fluke, I started the car up again and pulled onto the highway. I made it about two blocks before it happened again. I pulled over and had the car towed to a Ford dealership. I am currently awaiting an explanation and a fix. My car also hesitated and shudders when at a stop and starting to go. The chrome is coming off of the steering wheel and is quite sharp. I bought this car used (it had been a rental). Afraid I may be stuck with a lemon.

- Warrior, AL, USA

When driver entered vehicle, started it, and began to steer, the silver finish on the right side, top of the steering wheel crossbeam had split and curled up, which caused lacerations across two fingers. The car had been fine on previous use, and had been unused for several days prior to the incident. This appears to be a defect in the finish itself.

- Chesapeake Beach, MD, USA

Metallic steering wheel trim is peeling at the top left side of steering wheel. Peeling material is very sharp and can easily cut skin, as it did to me and many others as seen online after doing a simple search for "Ford Focus peeling steering wheel trim". I'm also concerned that in rare circumstances the airbag itself could be cut by the sharp trim when deploying.

- Georgetown, TX, USA

I was on the freeway and had my hand on the steering wheel. I moved my hand and the chrome on my steering wheel cut and took off a chuck of my pinky finger. My skin was struck on the chrome on my steering wheel, I had to put pressure on my finger to stop it from bleeding all over the driver seat. I pulled over to get my first aid kits to get a gauges on it.

- Fontana , CA, USA

The chrome trim on my steering wheel has begun to crack and flake off. I did not notice at first and had my finger run along it. The trim is cracked medal and is very sharp. I have not yet cut myself enough to draw blood but have stuck, stabbed, and caught my finger on it embedding a piece of chrome trim in my finger like a sliver. This is a widespread issue documented on multiple Focus forums, and by other 2012+ Ford Focus owners. This seems to only be an issue that is on 2012+ SE sport packages. This is very frustrating, it makes driving the car difficult because in my case it is right above my steering wheel mounted radio buttons and catches my hand easily. Ford is doing nothing about this in my case and actually blaming me for it, but in other cases has both replaced other owners pieces and in some cases like mine done nothing. This is very dangerous as many people in the forums have stated they cut themselves good enough to bleed. One even said his wife now refuses to drive the car. Ford refuses to fix this because it would require them to warranty an airbag since they decided to make the airbag and trim one piece. Because of this myself and others will continue to cut our fingers, hopefully not very seriously. Thank you for reading this.

- Fayetteville, NY, USA

Chrome peeling away from plastic leaving sharp edges where fingers are on steering wheel peeling is bi lateral on the top part of the area where the controls are for the sync and vehicle data controls. Running hand across this section of the steering wheel can result in jerking the hand away because of the sharp edge.

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

At highway speeds the steering appears to lock when making a lane change or when following a curve in the road. Additional effort will free the steering but this causes the vehicle to dart in the direction of the turn. It takes several steering adjustments to bring the vehicle under control. The steering gear has been replaced but the problem persists.

- Fenton, MI, USA

The vehicle has had strange steering issues as follows. 60mph light rain, road barely wet - vehicle starts moving around like in a 100mph cross wind, except there is no wind. Traction control comes on, vehicle nearly looses control. This was on straight road. Next 5 mph dry, in parking lot, steering loss, warning of power assist steering failure. Stop car. Turned off and back on, all ok.next 30mph, 1 minute after start up, driving on road, steering loss, warning of power assist steering failure. I was getting ready to make a turn. This could have caused an accident.nex 60 mph dry road, no wind, vehicle starts moving all around like its again in a 100mph crosswind. This has happened numerous times.next search of google shows this is a known issue and has been reported by several. This is a serious safety hazard that rivals stuck accelerators

- Lake Ozark, MO, USA

This is the second incident where the steering wheel locked up and the error message "power steering assist fault" appeared on the instrument panel. During this incident, I was driving the car through a parking lot at approx 10mph when the steering malfunction occurred. The first incident was approx 2 weeks prior to this but I had just started the vehicle in my driveway when the same symptoms occurred. In both cases, the steering wheel became extremely difficult to turn and the warning message appeared on the instrument panel. In both cases, the vehicle had to be shut off then restarted to get the steering working again. I took the car to a Ford dealer for service and opened a case with Ford Motor Company on this malfunction, but after being at the dealership over a week, they say they cannot find any issue.

- Wylie, TX, USA

After getting my car back from dealership where they reprogrammed the transmission the car would wonder from left to right at freeway speeds and the steering felt unstable.

- Martinez, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while parked he noticed the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The contact stated the power steering failed. The steering default warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 300.

- Granite Falls, NC, USA

In June 2012, my daughter was driving and her front passenger tire exploded. This was the 3rd set of new tires we had placed on this vehicle (by 30,000 miles - averaging 10,000 miles per set of tires). Then in July 2012, she was driving home and started to skid. She was not able to recover from the skid and hit a tree head-on. The front of her car was destroyed. The tree centered her car and the front end looked like a Volkswagen bug. The air bags did not deploy. We had this vehicle into the dealership 3 times for problems with the front end. Each time they said they could not find anything wrong with it. However, the driver and passengers could feel the car sway when riding it in. The vehicle was totaled by the insurance company ($17,000 check sent to Ford) and we still owe $1700 that we have agreed to pay to Ford to keep from ruining our credit. Thank god she was wearing a seat belt that actually worked - otherwise we would have had to plan our daughters funeral. We purchased this car because it was advertised as being a very safe car with the interior wrapped in air bags. Wrapping the interior with air bags does not help if they do not work. I have been buying Ford automobiles for 30 years but, right now I am wondering how safe my Ford F-150 is. We are now considering hiring an attorney.

- Robbinsville, NC, USA

The rolling back problem came first. When you are stopped on any incline, between taking your foot off of the brake and placing it on the accelerator, the car rolls back quite quickly, and I have almost hit the car behind me. The steering problems came a little later. The steering requires both hands at all times, and even then it is quite shaky. I feel car sick when I am the passenger because there is so much side to side movement. During turns, the engine feels like it is cutting out, it loses so much power, and I have to push the accelerator extremely hard just to get enough power to finish the turn. The scariest of all of the problems happens at higher speeds. It has happened to me three times. When I am driving on the freeway (60-70mph) and I begin to slow down, the steering gets out of control and goes back and forth so rapidly, I hold on for dear life trying to keep it in the lane, and the braking is not as efficient as it should be when this happens, and I have nearly escaped hitting the car in front of me. When I have been in this situation, I have started to brake right when I see the brake lights ahead, and I have had ample space to stop gradually and safely if I were driving a normal car, but in this car, it is out of control and the brakes won't work well when this is happening. This has happened on dry roads. This car terrifies me and the rain and ice haven't even hit yet. After I experienced these problems, I looked on the internet and was surprised to see how many others are having them too. The shop had my car for 13 days and they called me and said that it is "perfect" and they didn't fix anything and to come pick it up. I bought this car in June, it is now September, it had 1074 miles when I took it to the shop. I left it there for now, I am terrified of this car and unfortunately I own it...updated 09-26-12 updated 10/01/2012

- Troutdale, OR, USA

New 2012 Focus Jan. 18-2012. After 9258 miles steering locked while entering busy intersection. Great difficultly steering car off road. Incident happened twice that day (8-6) and again 8-7, fourth time 8-18. Warning light "steering assist fault.". dealer unable to duplicate problem. Therefore nothing corrected. Dealer offered no recourse. I felt car unsafe to drive. After frustrating conversions with dealer rep, a friend drove the car to nearby Chevrolet dealership where I purchased a 2012 sonic. This decision to purchase another car was very costly. My safety on the highway necessitated the decision. Very disappointed with Ford customer service. At times I felt rep's remarks were demeaning.

- Jefferson, PA, USA

I had an earlier complaint on my first Focus purchased in March 2012...incident date June 27 2012...I lost power steering on 3 occasions...service was not able to fix it so they exchanged my car for an identical one on July 25, 2012...the second day I drove the new Focus, something strange happened with the steering while on the expressway...I was going about 60 mph on a straight road and the car started to wander to the right and it also did it to the left...the steering is very tight and was difficult to get the car going straight...I've been to the dealership and they say that is just how it drives..if this true, I'll never be able to drive the expressway...this wandering was difficult to control and tiring to fight the wheel....2 new cars in 4 months time both with steering problems makes me think there are some kinks with the new electric steering on Ford....this will be my first and last experience with Ford.

- Akron, OH, USA