This has happened about 6 times in the three years I have owned the car. The rack and pinion assembly was , I seem to remember, replaced about two years ago, but the problem has recurred three times since then as far as I can remember, In each case I merely had to restart the car to fix things. Such an intermittent problem cannot readily be shown to the Ford repair place, and it has never been known to happen while driving at highway speeds, only at start up or at very low speed soon after starting. To recover my procedure has been to put car in neutral if it is moving and restart the engine so the steering is turned on.

I was driving 180 miles to visit my Father on his 83rd birthday. Stopped on the way for a break. Got back in the car and the power steering assist fault light was on and I had no power steering. Fortunately I was 5 minutes away from a Ford dealership. This was about 10 AM on a Saturday. I asked them to check my power steering fluid and that's when I got indoctrinated about the new electronic steering gear. When I cut the ignition switch off and then restarted the engine, it reset itself and I was able to drive back home. Missing the birthday party, I might add. Took it to my local Ford dealership on Monday and they gave me the bad news. $1900 to repair the car. I got them to come down to $1700. I called Ford's Customer Service line and talked to a real nice lady. But she told me there was nothing she could do because Ford had not recalled the vehicle. But she told me she would put my information on the NTSB(?) database and if they had a recall in the future they would give me a total refund if I kept my receipts. I'm hoping for a recall! I bought this car 10 months ago because my wife's previous vehicle had become undependable. I have owned Fords all my life. Up till this point we have really loved this Fusion. Not loving it quite so much now.

My power steering has gone out multiple times over the last 3 months. Sometimes the AutoTrac failure light comes on when it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the power steering comes back on its own or with turning on and off the car, sometimes it doesn't. Looked into having it fixed out of fear it will happen while I'm driving and cause me to have a wreck, but it's going to cost around $2000, right, and our family can't afford that at this time.

Really aggravating when it happens when I'm parked in tight parking spaces or maneuvering in a parking garage. I traded my Chevy Silverado when I bought this car new, have regretted it for awhile now.

Bought this p. o.s for my daughter so she will have economical car to get around in. I had this Ford less than 2 weeks, haven't made the first payment on it, the throtte body went out, lucky it was covered under warranty. Now it has this power steering assist fault. Apparently this an electric steering, this the dumb ass thing I ever heard of.

Update from Oct 22, 2014: My daughter told it did it to her few months ago, she turned engine off and back on and it worked, did think any of it.

their telling me it could be the steering rack or a sensor, they don't know what it is. I paid over 18,000 for this car, lucky this happened sitting in the driveway, if this had happen why she was driving and she had wrecked because of the steering crap I would be owning a Ford company. This some bull that Ford has not recalled for this problem.

While entering a freeway ramp this morning, as I started rolling from a stop light, a message with a chime sound came on saying "Power Steering Assist Failure", and steering became very hard and almost impossible to steer. I pulled off to the side, restarted the car, and the problem went away. Now I will definitely NOT give this car to my wife to drive because of the safety risk involved. If this problem re-occurs at a freeway - high speed, or at a critical turn, it can result with a bad accident.

Will be monitoring this from now on, but now I really feel like selling the car and NOT buying another Fusion. Better off going back to my European cars...

This is my third complaint about the power steering failure. This one scared the Hell out of me! Driving on the turnpike, 70 mph in the center lane. Suddenly, the chime and the same message. NO POWER STEERING. Barely made it to the right hand berm. Turned the engine off, then on. Everything OK, again! Supposing I had been trying to pass someone with a concrete wall on my left? I, (and another dozen cars), could have been involved in a horrific accident.

Talked to a service advisor-- he said this problem does not leave any information in the car's computer. So when I turn it off, there is no record of what went wrong. So they can't fix it!

Wrote an email to Ford, told them the entire story. Just received a phone call from "Jimmy" at 866-631-3788. He said the same thing. He also said they don't have ANY complaints about this from anyone else. I Googled "power assist failure, Ford 2011 Fusion" and found a computer full of the same complaints. Don't you think Ford could Google the same thing?

Now I know they don't give a damn. I've been a Ford buyer since 1961. Never again. So what do I do now? Pass this off to an unsuspecting buyer and hope they are not killed? Question: MY piece of Ford craftsmanship was made in Mexico. I wonder if the other problems are related.

I bought this car for my kids to go to school in. I wanted something reliable. I thought a 2011 with less than 40,000 miles would be safe. The problem I have is the faulty steering assist light and the traction control system is faulty, came on and when this happened the steering system locked up and the car came to a stop. Luckily my kids were not hurt. It is going to cost $1,709.80 to repair, You have to replace the steering gear and the electronic control box.

I don't have this kind of money. Ford should recall this problem before someone is killed.

Purchased 2011 Ford Fusion for my 19 and 14 year old sons to get to and from school. I work 7pm to 7 am so I wanted my children in a newer more reliable vehicle that I thought would be safe. This Found On The Road Dead car's steering went out while both of my boys were coming home from school (oldest had just picked up youngest). My son lost steering and just avoided a collision. I am lucky my boy drives sensibly and was not on a freeway but in a school zone. Ford doesn't think this is a recall able issue. I disagree given they've recalled four vehicles 2 from Ford 2 from Mercury with steering "Power Steering Assist Failures" this is the message I noted in the driver panel.

I believe in supporting small businesses, keeping the jobs in America...but I work very hard for my money and want a quality product. This isn't what I paid for.

I started my car, headed for work. it was a rainy 6 am. After buckling seat belt, clearing windshield and other things that must be done before starting my 50 minute drive to work, I noticed the steering wheel was very hard to turn. there was a light on the dash that is not usually there. being 6 am I assumed the engine had died and I needed to restart the car which I did. everything went fine after that until June 20.

On June 20 I had driven my usual 50 minutes to work, had several other errands to run. while driving on a very busy street my power steering quit. I was given a message that said service power steering now followed by a message that said advancetrac failed. I was able to pull the car into a parking lot I turned the car off and restarted after restart the problem went away/ This happened 4 times on June 20. I googled the problem and found this website. My steering has not quit since June 20. This is a very dangerous problem.

I can't believe Ford will not take responsibility for this error. So many customers have complained so how many more have to in order for something to be done. Or how many people have to actually get hurt or God forbid get killed. Should not have to have a warranty to cover this faulty issue.

We make Ford what they are by buying their cars and this is the thanks. You mean to tell me a 3 yr old car has this issue and Ford will not take responsibility? I may as well drive a German car if I'm going to face issues like this from an American made car. When to Ford dealership and first thing said is are booked and it will be $17.00 diagnostics. Such a waste, other Ford cars are being recalled for the same issue, OK, why not Fusion?..Ford, do the right thing and show loyalty to your customers.