While driving at 45 mph straight on 3 lane paved street I suddenly got a message on my dash saying power steering assist fault. The steering wheel became stiff and very hard to turn. I was safely able to pull off the road. I checked for any possible leaks and found nothing. I turned the car off waited a minute and restarted the car. Upon restarting the power steering appeared to be working again. I took the car to a near by auto repair shop. They looked for any stored codes on the computer and found nothing stored. This is a safety hazard. If this failure would have happened in a turn the vehicle would be difficult to control. Possibly resulting in a collision.

- Peoria, AZ, USA

The power steering quit without warning, luckily the car was just getting under way. The car had previously indicated a fault with the system (the warning light on the dash would flash for a moment, then go out) the dealer said 'no code had been stored' so they could not diagnose any further. My concerns are 1) the steering could have failed on the highway and caused harm or death 2) with the available technology today, why doesn't the computer 'store a code' so the dealer can diagnose and repair before a deadly incident occurs?

- Toluca, IL, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Fusion. While driving at various speeds, the power steering malfunctioned several times. The contact found it difficult to maneuver the steering wheel. During each incident, the low tire pressure sensor illuminated prior to the failure. The contact checked the tire pressure and discovered that it was normal. After restarting the vehicle, the service power steering and advance trac sensors illuminated as the power steering failed again. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 60,500.

- Nazareth, PA, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Fusion. While driving 25 mph, the power steering failed as the power steering indicator illuminated. The failure recurred on several occasions. The manufacturer was contacted, but did not provide a remedy. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The failure mileage was 42,250.

- Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Driving 2012 Ford Fusion, 2.5L., at 50 mph to enter highway, power steering failure, advantrac warning. First occurrence of this. Caused driver to pull over. Stopped and restarted vehicle and problem persisted. Driver returned home without power steering assist. Problem corrected with next vehicle restart 10 minutes later. Updated 11/24/2014

- Oklahoma City, OK, USA

When stopped at a red light, power steering failed and warning message to service advancetrac. Not the first time, don't remember dates of prior incidents. Turning off ignition and restarting car solved problem (for now).

- Willoughby, OH, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Fusion. The contact stated that the steering wheel was very hard to turn. The contact mentioned that the failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 49,000.

- Florissant, MO, USA

While in a residential neighborhood the electric power steering gear stop functioning. Causing the car to be extremely hard to control.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

Traveling 65 mph on highway and "power steering assist fault" "service advancetrac" warning displayed (occurred on 4/26/14) lost power steering and almost caused an accident trying to navigate to safe area to pull over. When this steering goes out it is not like having manual steering in the old days. It is 10 times harder to move the wheel...essentially no steering. Happened again on 4/27/2014 driving 45 mph. Turned car off and on in both instances and warning disappeared. Scheduled an appointment immediately for service at a local Ford dealer for 5/2/2014. In transit to dealer on the evening of 5/1/2014 was on a local highway traveling 55 mph and lost steering again. I went online and was surprised to see hundreds of these claims. There a too many claims to count on Fusion and Focus with this same diagnostic messages. Dealers are aware this is occurring and one acknowledged it might be a design problem. People are paying allot of cash out of pocket with no guaranteed it will not fail again (ie a design problem and replacing parts with a faulty part again).

- Cheshire, CT, USA

This part should be recalled, happened once in my drive-way thought it was just a glitch, , what happens is you loose your power steering all of a sudden, was going 65 when I had no power steering. Power steering assist lamp came on, had to pull over. Had that happen in a turn with no warning, , I'd have crashed the car, or worse.. took it to the dealer, they want $1,800 to fix it, have only had the car for 6 months, , very upset, now I cant trust driving the car, just got put on disability for 45 days making payment on a car I cant put my kids in, , I want to see something done about this, , I'll wait a few days for your reply, after that, ,,, ill be forced to take other action on this, ,

- Fremont, CA, USA

I was just driving home when the alert came on reading service advancetrac/ service power steering now. I then had no power steering at all. I have tried turning the car off and back on. Nothing has helped I still have no power steering.

- Richfield, UT, USA

Total loss of power steering while car was in motion, thankfully at low speed. Dash warning read as follows: Service advancetrack power steering assist fault system reset itself after car was turned off then back on, but failed again (same error message) upon arrival at my home.

- Nashville, TN, USA

When backing up and turning steering wheel fully to the right there is a rubbing or grinding sound from the pass. Side right front tire area and the steering wheel seems to lock.

- Ballwin, MO, USA

I was slowing doen and making a sharp right turn when suddenly my steering wheel got real stiff. I had two messages flashing "power steering assist fail" and "service autotrac". I have taken it to the dealership and they're charging me $2,500 to change the steering rack and 2 outer rods. My car has 37,500 miles this is not normal.

- Severn , MD, USA

Driving straight and steady 45mph on surface street, no traffic, no braking or lane change. Suddenly chimes sounded, "service advanced trac" in message center and yellow advance trac idiot light on. In about 20 seconds chimes, message and light go off and message text returns to real time mpg reading. Continued driving home without shutting engine off or any further warnings/incident. Took to dealer 7am next morning (4/3/2014) at 15753 miles. At end of day service advisor said test code showed bad "torque sensor" which is in the steering column and measures turning effort on the steering wheel and that they needed to keep vehicle overnight. 1130am next morning (4/4/2014) spoke to service advisor. He said car fixed by changing the rack and pinion gear assembly w/electric steering motor (Ford part number: Ae5Z-3504-ce). Before and during incident I never noticed anything wrong with steering or braking--just the warnings. Vehicle repaired under warranty.

- Rancho Cordova, CA, USA

All four tires had to replaced by me after only 12,000 miles. Two of the tires blew out. Power steering failure occurred while I was driving. Service advancetrac is also no longer working. I have tried taking my care to a Ford dealership but they refused to fix anything. They told me the tires were my fault, and I told them either they think I am stupid or they were not the sharpest tool in the shed if they think I believe any of these issues were my fault. I called Ford and they were no help. They told me it is up to the dealership if they decide to fix anything because the dealership is not owned by Ford. I currently have less than 20,000 miles on this car and I bought it brand new. Ford is a horrible company and does not honor their warranty. The dealership I took it to was park place motorcars in dallas tx. They have been several other problems with this car but if this was honored by Ford I will take it. No way I ever buy another Ford.

- Dallas, TX, USA

I was driving this morning and my low tire pressure signal flashed. I went to put air in the tire and the tire was completely flat! I had spare put on and this is when the "service power steering now" warning came on as well as the service advance traction control light came on.

- Livonia, MI, USA

I noticed a service power steering warning light come on. I shut the vehicle off and upon restarting it I had absolutely no power steering. Luckily I was no longer driving. This is a dangerous situation and a dangerous safety defect in equipment. I would not consider this to be normal wear and tear on a two year old vehicle. I learned several complaints have been made about this defect with similar dangers. I'm wondering what has been done to rectify the problem" am I fixing the problem using the same type of parts I had" with no change this could happen again in a two year period. This is not a small or inexpensive mechanical job. I strongly recommend looking into this situation for recall. What needs to happen for a recall to be granted....a fatality... I hope not.

- Charlotte, IA, USA

While driving the vehicle the service power steering notification came up on the dash. Car was still drivable with no loss of power steering. Car was shutdown once arrived at destination. When restarting car the service power steering now was displayed. Car was placed in to drive, no power steering was identified in addition to service advancetrac was displayed.

- Holts Summit, MO, USA

Powers steering stop function when I was driving on wet condition regular street, lucky no injury but very unpleasant, waiting to see how many die before recall happens?

- Aiea, HI, USA