Power Steering Pump problems of the 2010 Ford Escape

While taking the kids to school, I was making a left turn across a busy road when, without warning, the vehicle stopped turning, made an alarm sound and seemed to decrease power. I was able to complete the turn just before oncoming traffic arrived at the intersection. As the wheels straightened out, the power steering returned to normal. As I made the next right hand turn, it again cut out in mid-turn and the 'power steering assist fault' message flashed on the dash. During the next left-hand turn, it again cut out mid-turn but this time I was expecting it and had no trouble forcing the vehicle to complete the turn. This time the fault message stayed on and there was no longer any power assist. I drove the vehicle to a parts store expecting it to be a problem with the power steering pump or a low fluid issue only to discover in the owners manual that the power assist is electrical, not hydraulic. I asked the parts store employee to run a scan on the vehicle and when he saw the vehicle/message he told me the scan wouldn't do any good with that issue and it was going to be a very expensive trip to the mechanic. When I turned the vehicle back on, the 'power steering assist fault' message stayed on without any power steering. When I arrived home, I researched the issue and found that there are recalls for 2010 Ford Escapes from the kansas city plant, but a check of the Ford recall database shows no such recall for my specific vehicle. On a vehicle with only 96,823 miles, I would not expect a critical safety component to unexpectedly fail. This vehicle is normally driven by my girlfriend (who actually owns the vehicle) and while I was able to complete the turn in those conditions without an accident, I am not certain she would have been able to do so.