Lose Power Steering Problems of Ford Escape - part 1

My daughter was drive to college and stopped for gas. She called me saying the power steering assist failure. But she had not lost power steering. She called me a few hours later saying she could not turn her steering wheel to get turned around to leave the school. I came to assist her and sure enough the steering was very hard to turn, the power steering assist was blink on the dash and the engine light was on. I finally got the car turned around and started back to our mechaniac. She followed behind. I found the slower I would go the harder it became to steer. I did a solid 50-55 mph all the way there but could feel the tightness in the steering wheel. We made it to the garage. The mechanic called the next day and said he couldn't get it to start and we needed to take to a Ford dealership to have the car scanned. We called the Ford dealership, they said they couldn't get to it for another 2-3 weeks and referred us to a company in a 4-5 hour away to get a used part and come to us to fix. We researched if there were any recalls and found 14s05. Since we are the second owner of the car and never were notified of a recall or were told about a current recall at the time of purchase, we started to search if the recall had been fixed by the first owner (out of pocket) or through the recall. Please any information and/or guidance would be appreciated.

See all problems of the 2008 Ford Escape 🔎.

The steering fault detected error comes on the console and the car loses power steering. This happens while driving. When brought it to the shop they were not able to find a problem. This same issue happened again today while driving- concerned their is a correlation to when it is hot out. Searched recall and found this issue with the 2008-2013 Ford Escapes but not for this model. Searched some forums and noticed some others with this same problem.

See all problems of the 2017 Ford Escape 🔎.

I have a 2011 Ford eacape. . . . We lost power steering 2-3 years ago in my car while driving on twisty hilly roads in ithica, NY on way to get our 3 young grandchildren and thank god it was my husband driving because I probably would have been in a serious accident. . . Tons of cars recalled. . . Same make,same model,same year and made at same plant in kansas!!!!! but Ford never recalled mu VIN#. . . . . We were stranded there and lost time from work!!!! we took it to 3 Ford dealers with no help!!! wanting almost $2,400!!!!! lost time from work getting it fixed which took over 3weeks and finally our mechanic found the part!!!! power steering column!!!! how with 1,000s of complaints is mine not covered!!!! it's the steering column!!!! it's not like it's a muffler!!!! now after paying to get it fixed !!!! I have since given this to my 18 year old daughter for her senior year and she lost power steering almost sending her into head on traffic!!!!! my daughter almost got killed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and yes we were told its the god [xxx] steering column again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what do I have to so to go after Ford for this serious issue!!!!!! they make billions and billions of dollars selling faulty, dangerous cars!!!!!!! and are allowed over and over and over again to get away with it!!!!!! they know full well that there is a serious issue and should have recalled all of the 2011 Escapes to get that part fixed!!!!!! all!!!! when are you or somebody going to put a stop to this [xxx]!!!!!!!!! almost exactly 3 years to the day of when this happened before!!!! now I have to wait again to find a part, pay tons of money again!!! and thank god my daughter didn't get hurt!!!!! parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2011 Ford Escape 🔎.

After driving the car for about 1. 5 hours, we stopped at a convenience store. When we restarted the car, an error message appeared on the drivers information screen that said: "steering assist fault service required" (please see attached photos) and the vehicle had lost power steering. This made the vehicle extremely difficult to drive but we were fortunately very close to our destination. This was the second time this error had occurred, the first time was on a much longer drive but after sitting for 10 minutes or so (vehicle off) the error went away when the vehicle was restarted. This time, even after letting it sit overnight, the error has not gone away and there is still no steering assist. I have found many posts about this very issue with the Ford Escape vehicle (and other Ford vehicles) and am very surprised that there is not a recall for this very serious problem. If the loss of power steering had gone out while driving at highway speeds (as has happened to others), the result could have been fatal. Please take this issue very seriously. Thank you.

See all problems of the 2015 Ford Escape 🔎.

Lost power steering while going down highway. Turned vehicle off and back on and it fixed it. Recall on this problem for this make vehicle up to 2011 model. Some of the parts carried over to 2012. 2012 needs recall also. Very dangerous.

See all problems of the 2012 Ford Escape 🔎.

Driving on the interstate while driving 65mph and lost power steering, (traction control led came on) and right turn signal quit working all together - had to hold it to pull off the side of the road. I have already fixed this issue before, 4 years ago, for $2000. They quoted me $2400 again, even though there seems to be a recall for this issue with Ford Escapes (14s05), just not for my VIN.

While driving my vehicle to work, I lost my power steering. I had to make a turn and nearly struck another vehicle. I was doing only 20mph when this occurred. When I turned off my vehicle, then turned it back on and the power steering assist came back on. This has happened several times, including when traveling down a steep mountain pass at 65mph. There has been a few times when the vehicle was parked and went to start it, that the electrical power steering assist failed to come on. When my husband and I troubleshooted the loss of the power steering, we discovered that there was a recall on the vehicle due to loss of the electrical power steering assist. I was never notified of this recall. I inherited this vehicle from my mother and she and my step-father were never notified of this recall. The vehicle is currently parked in the garage until the vehicle can be towed to be repaired.

See all problems of the 2009 Ford Escape 🔎.

While driving down the highway 70mph, I suddenly lost power steering. I struggled to keep the car in my lane as it pulled hard to the right. My dashboard lit up with "steering loss stop safely" message.

See all problems of the 2014 Ford Escape 🔎.

Driving on a off ramp suddenly lost all power steering no warning my young daughter was driving and could barely control/maneuver the vehicle this is clearly a problem with Ford Escape hence the recall on 2009-2011 models why aren't the 2012 models included, this very unsafe!.

I lost power steering while driving on the highway. I was switching lanes and approaching the exit ramp, when I my car alerted me to the loss of steering and I had to manually steer the car off the highway and safely onto a side street.

We was driving down the freeway and the power steering assist fault warning came on and lost all power steering to the vehicle.

Lost power steering it come then goes now not working. Very hard to stee. Was just starring to drive.

My 2015 Ford Escape lost power steering in the middle of driving. I had my family, including my 2 year old in the car with me. I was unable to steer and almost drove off the road. I contacted Ford and they were of no help. This is a known issue and they refuse to address it.

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle lost power steering assist and the vehicle became difficult to steer. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the power steering needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 14v284000 (steering). The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The manufacturer informed the contact that the VIN was not under recall. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.

The car was taken out of long term storage 18 months ago and all the recalls done. I have two safety issues. First of all twice, I have lost power steering control while driving on the 80 mph highway. All of a sudden I have to use my might to control the steering manually which catches you off guard and makes the steering wheel unexpectedly difficult to maneuver. The bozeman Ford dealership cannot find the issue. Second issue that just occurred and now getting worse each time I drive is the steering wheel column loudly shaking. This is getting worse and worse and began to occur whenever I was stopped. Now it seems to begin to shake while I'm starting to drive again after braking to a stop as well. It shakes so much and so loudly I'm afraid a crucial screw will pop out. I'm concerned with my safety as I've seen this happen to other owners of this car. . . But years ago. It's happening to me now because it was in storage. For 4 years. In case you were wondering, I had everything checked out on this car as soon as I took it out of storage. I do all the regular maintenance at Ford dealerships. I'm concerned this hasn't been recalled as I'm afraid these two events are related and lots of other 2008 Ford Escape owners are having the same issues. These events took place in 2019 and 2020. My steering is having issues with steering power stopping while driving. Secondly I now have a loud shaking steering wheel wh.

A power steering assist failure lit up on my dash and I lost my power steering completely while I was turning into a parking lot and I almost hit another vehicle. After I shut off the vehicle and turned it back on it was working properly again. The same thing happened as I was on the highway and was very scary. I now have no power steering. I called Ford directly as I found out there was a recall on these vehicles for the year pertaining to my vehicle. They notified me that it was VIN specific and nothing could be done to help me since my VIN didn't fall under the ones affected. The right year and model but not the right VIN. Unacceptable considering it's the same issue. This was very upsetting considering it is a known issue and my safety and the safety of others around me is at stake. Doing some research I've noticed many more people like me with exact same issue and I'm not sure why Ford has done nothing to addressed this. Very upset with Ford. This vehicle was purchased for a new driver as well. Luckily it happened to me and not to her. Please address this safety concern before someone is seriously injured.

Electric power steering went out with 130k+ on the vehicle. There was a recall for this back in 2014 but because it wasn't "broken" in 2014 they closed the recall. Now in 2020, it is giving fault codes and it stopped working all together. Ford refuses to replace the system because it wasn't broken 6 years ago when they realized the mechanics of the system were faulty in the first place. The vehicle was being backed out of a driveway when it lost power steering almost causing an accident.

See all problems of the 2010 Ford Escape 🔎.

2013 Ford Escape with less than 90000 miles ,went to crank car and steering assist fault came up on dash cut car off and recranked and was fine next day was driving it on a rural road and lost power steering same fault came up now no power steering at all if wife had been driving she would have probably wrecked because of hard steering ,looked online and see it has been a problem with this model and no recall has been issued.

See all problems of the 2013 Ford Escape 🔎.

My wife's 2014 Escape worked fine in the morning for her to run and do an errand. When she went to start the car it failed to start and I was able to jump it and get it to a local auto zone for a battery replacement. When I was pulling into auto zone I noticed a small catch while turning left and lost power steering for a few seconds. I made note of it mentally but just focused on getting the battery replaced as that seemed to be the underlying issue. Now the battery has been replaced and I go to leave and I have absolutely no power steering with a warning stating "power steering assist fault" service required. I muscled her car home to recheck my work and its all good. A day later after researching the issue I throw a hail mary and disconnect the battery for about a minute and then reconnected it and bingo I have steering. My wife later left for shopping and had zero issues until her attempt to leave. She immediately got the error message and had intermittent power steering on her drive home but was able to make it with the use of brute force. I had the transmission and recall addressed about two to three months ago and this car has been a pain since then with needing a jump in cold weather. Now this and the outlook of a 2,000 repair when it took a dealership 2 months to do a recall and replace the transmission that was magically "fried" I'm hesitant to trust anything Ford says but this a huge safety issue that has documented history and needs to be a recall. Now I need to find out why its in and out and what to do moving forward. #fordservicesucks.

For the last 2 months or so, when I have turned the key in the ignition, the vehicle would not start. I would have to turn the key back to the off position & try repeatedly to turn the key all the way forward to finally get the vehicle to start. Because of past problems with the vehicle engine dying suddenly on me & in particular a couple times when I was turning the steering wheel & my right hand happen to gently brush the key in the ignition. . . . I now wondered if I could start the engine my simply gently turning the steering wheel. The next time I turned the key all the way forward to start the engine & nothing happened I kept the key turned all the way forward in the ignition & tried to gently turn the steering wheel. . . The engine came right on. Quite alarming & scary to think that you can turn the engine on by turning the steering wheel. Explains why the engine easily turned off in the past when my right hand barely touched the key in the ignition & I lost power steering. Perhaps Ford's safety recall 14v-284 was actually about this problem & not the torque sensor they claimed. . . That situation involved an electric power steering system fault & loss of power steering as well. A local Ford dealer (1-7-2020) charged me $618 to replace the lock housing & the problem has not happened since. Hopefully I don't lose power steering again any time soon again. The vehicle has just over a 100,000 miles & has been horribly horribly horribly unreliable. We bought this junk brand new & neither Ford nor the dealer have ever reached out to us to right this wrong. Nearly $40,000 wasted for an unreliable vehicle that I would be lucky to get $3,000 for on a trade-in not to mention that I am scared a new unaware owner could lose power steering suddenly & not know how to react. . . . Especially @ high speed & in a turn in a road. God help you if your not strong & calm.

Was driving 55mph in corner my 2016 Ford Escape and steering assist failure came up on dash and I lost all power steering to the car and almost causing an accident.

See all problems of the 2016 Ford Escape 🔎.

While driving my Escape I lost all power steering control. Error noted was power steering assist fault.

My vehicle lost power steering assist. It had momentarily gone out before while I was driving, but resumed function. When I started my car and began backing out of my driveway, the power steering assist failed and did not resume. There is already a recall, 14v284000 for torque sensors failing in 2008 Ford Escapes, but a recall was not issued for my vehicle.

All the sudden while driving lost total power steering and could hardly turn the wheel at all. Once I got it stopped and shut off for a few minutes, power steering was fine when I cranked back up. Has happened again while driving later. This is the exact same issues reported on the 2008-2011 Ford Escapes torque senors that was recalled. It needs to be recalled on the 2011-2012 models as well.

Pulling into parking spot lost power steering completely. More then once on multiple occasions.

I have lost my power steering (electric) which makes the vehicle difficult to operate at slow speed.

Two years ago our Escape suddenly lost power steering due to faulty sensors. I took my vehicle to frontier Ford in santa clara, California, and they charged me $1200 to get it fixed. In the last 5 days, the power steering went out on me 3 different times -- all while driving -- causing me to have to turn-off the vehicle and then re-start it. It's my wife's Escape -- she weighs 106 lbs -- thankfully, I was driving the vehicle each time this has occured (I'm 220 lbs, and I cannot drive the vehicle w/o pwr steering. The first two times the pwr steering went out, I was backing the car out of the garage. Today it went out on me while I was stopped at a light, in heavy rush hour traffic. The warning light and bells came on saying "problem with steering" -- I turned the vehicle off, and then it would not re-start. It took several attempts to try and re-start -- it finally did re-start -- but only after infuriating a great number of people who were stuck in back of me during their morning commute.

See all problems of the 2007 Ford Escape 🔎.

On August 23rd, 2019, I was driving back from a 240 mile round trip and was caught in a severe thunderstorm. As I was pulling inot a parking lot to wait out the storm, my power steering failed. After 10 minutes it came back and I was able to make it home. I took it to a service station the next morning and no error codes showed up. On August 30th after making the same round trip, I again lost my power steering near my home. It failed to come back. I had the car towed to a local shop. They determined it was a failure identical to the active recall in the model year prior to mine and it needed to be towed to the dealership. The dealership confirmed an internal fault in the power steering rack which will need to be replaced. Thankfully the steering failures happened when I was either in the process of parking or already parked.

Lost power steering as I was driving the vehicle.

On Sunday, July 14, 2019, our 2018 Ford Escape lost power steering while traveling 60 mph on interstate 5 near seattle. We were able to pull off the interstate and turn the vehicle off. The vehicle was still under original warranty. After restarting the vehicle, the power steering failure light turned off and power steering was restored. We contacted the dealer the next day and they advised it was safe to continue driving the vehicle until they could schedule an appointment - ten days later. The dealer claimed it found no codes indicating a problem. On September 9, 2019, our Escape lost all power steering again without any warning lights coming on. We cannot restore the power steering by turning the vehicle off and restarting. The vehicle is. Now at the dealership, but the dealer and Ford customer support have both said because our mileage is now over the original warranty, they will not cover the repairs necessary to correct the complete loss of power steering.

See all problems of the 2018 Ford Escape 🔎.

My wife was driving on a highway at 70 mph in my 2016 Ford Escape. Suddenly the car flashed "steering assist fault" and immediately lost power steering. The steerimg wheel felt like it locked, and became super difficult to drive. We came very close to having a major accident, as the vehicle was not responding normally. The car had been driving completely well before this. It has just 60,000 miles on it. We are waiting on the mechanic's call, but he initially thought it was a faulty sensor as the visual inspection didn't turn up any problems. What a dangerous thing to happen with no warning in a 2 and a half year old car.

Power steering fault message popped up while driving the vehicle on the interstate and we lost power steering. We were forced to take the car to a shop 10 hours away from our home to be replaced. We will be making the 20 hour round trip to get the vehicle next week as we has to rent a vehicle to get home.

I was backing into my driveway and completely lost my power steering.

Started vehicle at a parking lot after driving the vehicle with not issues during the day, steering assist warning light came on, vehicle had lost power steering. Took to dealer, dealer quoted $2076 for repair.

The area of most concern is the issue with the steering. Eight months ago, I suddenly lost power steering just after exiting a freeway. Now it is making the same sound again and my mechanic feels the wheel may lock completely. I drive mountain passes, which makes this exceptionally dangerous. Contact with local and corporate Ford says it is my problem to get it over an hour away to the dealer, and repair will be at my expense, even though many people have had this same issue. To make matters worse, I learned only after contacting Ford about the steering issue, that there is a safety recall on the fuel module, which could cause fire. I received no notice of this until I reported the steering issue to the company. The dealer tells me it will take four weeks to get the parts to fix the safety recall. In the meantime, I am losing income every day as I drive for a living. No concern for the safety of me, my family, or others on the road.