Steering Problems of Ford Flex - part 1

The power steering has stopped working. After starting the car it shows a "steering assist fault" message and the steering doesn't work. Thankfully this happened when the car was stopped. My car battery is fine so this must be a failure in the electric power assisted steering (epas) system.

See all problems of the 2019 Ford Flex 🔎.

I was driving down a main road going 45 mph when my steering wheel locked up and I got a message on my dash to service advanced steering. I was unable to turn my steering wheel in any direction and had to pull over in order to not be involved in a collision.

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The contact owns a 2012 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 30 mph, the abs and the esc warnings illuminated. The contact stated that she had recently heard an abnormal grinding sound while turning the steering wheel. The contact had taken the vehicle to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed and determined that the abs sensor needed to be replaced. The contact stated that the mechanic had heard the abnormal sound coming from the steering wheel but had not run a diagnostic test. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact had researched online and had related the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 15v340000(steering), however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 180,000.

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There is serious safety trouble occurring with the power steering components, and the brake system. I went to the Ford dealership and they said the recalls weren’t fixed back in 2015. And those recalls are the same issues that are occurring with my 2012 Ford Flex se now. I just bought this vehicle and there is grinding noise when steering my vehicle and the abs brake system comes on as soon as I crank up the vehicle and the brake goes down to the floor too loosely. The dealership says these potential recalls were noted for this 2012 Ford Flex in 2015. But the owner at the time didn’t have them fixed then because not all 2012 Ford Flex received the recalls at the same time. And the power steering components and brake system problems are very unsafe while I’m driving the vehicle and as I was told could cause a fatal car accident if not fixed.

While driving, the power steering warning light illuminated and steering assist was lost. The steering became extremely hard, especially at low speeds. The vehicle makes grinding/whining noises when turning, and the car vibrates while in drive. This creates a serious safety concern, especially during turns and parking maneuvers. Issue appears to be electric power steering (epas) failure.

See all problems of the 2013 Ford Flex 🔎.

Power steering. While I was driving in my neighborhood the power steering went out and I could not make a turn. It locked up while driving. I could have got into a head on collision/accident becasue the road turns. Yes, I reported it to Ford and they told me my Flex did not have a recall despite the Ford website stating that some 2013 Ford Flex are affected. The description of 15s18 sterring recall matches my same issue and it poses a serious safety hazard. Yes, I took it to a mechanic at an auto shop and her is telling me that he can't fix recalls. At the time of the accident, I got no pre warning just the message that states: "steering lock malfunction service now: the steering lock system has detected a condition that requires service. " this happened on or around 11/23/25. I am requesting that Ford pay for my power steering to be fixed.

Auto “steering assist failure” occurred, very difficult to steer, very dangerous and could have caused wreak if actively driving when it failed. Dash light indicates steering assist failure. Appears this is an ungoing problem with Ford Flex vehicles since 2010 I do not see recall for my 2014 Flex but same issues had recalls for Flex up to 2013. I am reporting due that I believe this is a very serious issue on Ford Flex vehicles and has great potential to cause severe accident if occurring while driving. I believe there should be recalls for this issue requiring Ford to repair the safety risk.

I had changed all my bulbs and fuses to my car for my brake lights several times and they still don’t work. My car almost got hit with me and my kids in it due to my break lights not working. Also my car keeps saying service advance trac and keeps saying it every time I drive. My car also keeps running out of power steering fluid every two week I have to add more to keep it from making that loud noise while driving.

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The contact owns a 2013 Ford Flex. The contact recently purchased the vehicle. When the vehicle was purchased, the dealer informed the contact that the vehicle had a failure with the steering wheel. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the steering wheel was difficult to maneuver. The message "service advancetrac" was displayed on the instrument panel, and an unknown message about the steering was displayed. In addition, while in reverse(r), the contact used force to turn the steering wheel. Most recently, the contact stated that when the turn signal lever was activated, the turn signal lever failed to stay down as intended. The contact had to hold the turn signal lever down to signal a right or left turn. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact stated that the dealer related the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 15v340000 (steering). However, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 131,785.

Leaving home to go to the grocery store and as I exited my street a dash warning came on stating "power steering assist" fault steering wheel locked up making it impossible for me to steer. Fortunately this happened in a spot where there was no other traffic and I was able to just turn off the car and restart and the message was gone and my steering was restored. I am now terrified to drive my car because if this had happened in traffic there could have been a serious accident because steering capability was non existent. . In reading online this is a very common problem with my make and model and apparently there was a recall by Ford for 2011 and later cars but not 2010 even though it is a "known problem" at dealerships. For me this now seems intermittent but in calling the dealership they know of the issue. It would cost me about $2200 to fix. I am happy to provide my vehicle for inspection. Thank you so much for your help . . . Greatly appreciated.

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Steering service fault and avancetrac service popped up while driving, vehicle has 110k miles. Lost all power steering, so we pulled off into the closest parking lot. Code u3000 pulled up with a code reader, waiting to have vehicle towed to Ford for a solution.

See all problems of the 2015 Ford Flex 🔎.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while attempting to reverse, the vehicle lost power steering functionality, and the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. A dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure occurred two to three times per week. The contact related the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 15v340000 (steering); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 125,000.

My electric power steering went out while driving. Everywhere online says the 2013 Flex has a recall for this but when I enter my VIN it says no recall. There has been several claims of this on my model year and accidents and dangers reported. I want to know my my vehicle isn’t showing up for the recall when it’s never been replaced by Ford so it should be replaced by Ford.

The contact owns a 2011 Ford Flex. The contact stated that on several occasions while attempting to start the vehicle, the power steering assist warning light illuminated, and the steering wheel became firm. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the electronic power steering module link needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact believed that the failure was associated with NHTSA campaign number: 15v340000 (steering). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 170,000.

Power steering assist default. Power steering has intermittently gone out several times and when the vehicle is powered off and back on it would worked properly. July 15, 2025 121,471 miles it went out and will not reset. Fortunately, this happened at the car wash and not while driving. It could have been a very dangerous situation while driving. Had it towed home. I have reported to Ford case# cxh-04975179 July 16, 2025 and was told to take it to the dealer for evaluation and the dealer may assist $ with the repair. The (power steering assist fault) appeared on the dash. This has happened intermittently over the past several months and gone away but not it will not go away and the vehicle in inoperable.

My 2013 Ford Flex only has 109,600 miles on it. The car is currently at the mechanic shop. The problem I am having is with the power steering assist. Several times in the last three weeks, when I am reversing out of a parking spot suddenly the power assist warning comes on and the car is uncontrollable. I have had to tow it twice. I am not strong enough to maneuver the car when it locks up like that. There was no other warning until I made the attempt to back up then a warning message came on. The mechanic was not able to duplicate the problem . He made some other repairs to the wheel hub bearings, so when I picked up my car and it drove fine for a couple of days, I thought it was fixed. But it froze up again under the same conditions--trying to back out of a parking spot. I took it back to the mechanic and once again they were not able to duplicate the problem, but he said there was a record of the warnings in the system. My safety as well as the safety of other drivers is at risk, because if this goes out while in transit, I will not be able to control the car. I enjoy my Flex, but the repairs have been so much lately. One of the recent repairs was the emergency brake costing 1,200. The wheel hub bearings were 1,400 and now this power steering assist repair is estimated to be quite pricey. I am partially handicapped, retired and living on a very limited income. These expenses are outrageous for such a nice car with such low mileage. Does this model have issues? I keep up the maintenance and the oil changes and whatever else needs to be done, but these expenses are hitting all at once and putting me in debt. Is there a possibility that there is a glitch in the mechanical system? I looked up recalls and it does say that there was a recall on the power steering assist. I am contacting to verify that information. Please confirm for me so I know how to proceed. Thank you very much.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Flex. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the "power steering assist fault" and "service advancetrac" messages were displayed. The contact stated that the power steering assist had failed to operate as needed and excessive force was needed to steer the vehicle. The contact also stated that the turn signals failed to operate as needed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, but the mechanic was not equipped with the tools to repair the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. Upon investigation, the contact linked the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 15v340000 (steering); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 213,300.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Flex. The contact stated that when the vehicle was started, the message “power steering failure” was displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact also stated that a handheld diagnostic reader retrieved dtc: u3000, 49-48, u300096c8, and bid2368-48. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.

The contact owns a 2016 Ford Flex. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced a loss of power steering assist. The stability control warning light was illuminated, and the "steering failure" message was displayed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The contact related the failure to NHTSA campaign number: 15v340000 (steering); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and suggested that the contact file a complaint with the NHTSA hotline. The failure mileage was approximately 84,000.

See all problems of the 2016 Ford Flex 🔎.

On the road and power steering went out and was super hard to turn.

The power steering system failed and requires brute force to turn the wheel. The software system was reflashed but this did not fix the problem. There was a recall for this issue from 2011-2013, but not for our year. There is not a warning light on.

I have a 2014 Ford Flex. My axle shaft came undone while driving. My Ford Flex was manufactured 07 of 13 my mechanic said that there's a recall for your front axle shaft on the passenger side and it falls within the guidelines of the affected vehicles but Ford says that it's not covered. My VIN was never added to the recall and it’s the same exact issue that the others had for that year.

There is a recall on models in this year but not the one I currently have. While driving on the highway my advancetrac warning lit up, the roads where dry and the was nothing to indicate why this was happening. So, I began to continue to drive on the highway and my steering wheel began to feel "jiggly". I kept two hands on the wheel the remaining drive and stayed within the min driving limit as any bump I experienced allowed for the car to be redireced even with two hands on the wheel. Once I made it off the highway to my destination I received three warning messages one system fault, one power steering service and one advancetrac. At this point when turning the car off and back on again the steering wheel became hard to turn. The red power steering message popped up again along with the advancetrac message. Because this issue happened while the car was in motion I find it hard to believe that this model is not apart of the recall. Now I have to foot the bill along with feeling like at any moment I could have crashed and lost my life during my time driving on the highway. My only hope for writing this is to ensure another look at the 2013 models that were not included in this recall so that other lives can be saved. I would not have a problem allowing this issue to be inspected. My safety and those along the highway were in danger because I could have lost control of the vehicle. The problem still remains, I have set an appointment for this issue. This happened 6/5/25. The warnings first appeared while driving the vehicle.

Without warning, the vehicle's power steering stopped working in an intersection while turning. The hazard lights came on automatically and I used my full body strength to steer the car out of the intersection. Inspection showed a computer module failure within the steering rack. Because the computer module is built into the steering rack, the whole steering rack needed to be replaced. This was a critical repair and cost over $3500.

Driving along and all of a sudden steering will be very difficult to turn - and there is play in the steering wheel. Not being able to turn safely, puts my family at risk. There are no warning lights or alarms that have shown up.

Electric power steering lights up and steering wheel locks up, can hardly make it move at it. We turn the car off and turn it back on. Sometimes the power steering returns, sometimes it doesn't and we can't drive the car. We called the dealer after this happened and they said it was an ecoboost Flex and wasn't included in the safety recall 15s18 national highway traffic safety administration (. Gov) Jul 1, 2015 — if any "loss of steering assist" dtcs are present, replace the power steering gear assembly. It seems that this is the exact problem as noted in the recall but Ford dealership will not fix it for free. Ford gave me a pdf that explains they are not responsible for this safety issue and cannot provide free repairs because my car is over 150,000 miles. My car now has 200,000 miles and I have had the car serviced at this same dealer for oil changes/tire rotation and they never told me about this recall. The purpose of this repair is to update the pscm to prevent loss of steering assist while driving due to a motor position sensor fault or replace the steering gear if the pscm has certain diagnostic trouble codes (dtcs). Jul 1, 2015.

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds; the vehicle lost automotive power and the steering wheel was pulling to the left and was difficult to turn in either direction. No warning light was illuminated. An appointment with the local independent dealer was scheduled to inspect the vehicle. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired due to the year, make, and model being outside the selected VIN range. Upon further investigation, the contact related the failure to an unidentified NHTSA campaign; however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 130,400.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 55 mph, there was a beeping sound coming from the vehicle with the messages "electronic power steering assist failure", "service advance-trac", and "power steering assist fault" displayed. Additionally, the traction control warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that simultaneously the steering wheel became extremely firm. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the electronic rack and pinion steering needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 131,000.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Flex. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel failed to turn in the intended direction. No warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was drifting in different directions. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed with a failed rack and pinion. The contact was informed that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The contact was advised to contact the NHTSA hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 142,000.

I went to drop my children off at school, backed out of the driveway fine everything was good. I went to turn the corner and my steering went really, really stiff. Thankfully I only live 2 blocks from the school and wasn't going over 15 mph. If I had been I'm scared of what could have happened.

2 times now within 6 months my power steering has gone out. This is not power steering that makes it hard to steer. This is power steering going out which locks the steering wheel and leaves it impossible to steer the car. Fortunately I have been at home when this has happened and not on the road. I have managed to get it back after restarting the car several times, but I did not want to chance it. The first time I had it repaired at the dealer and thought it would no longer be an issue. I was so surprised and scared that it happened again. I was planning a long distance trip next week. I am so glad it didn't happen on the road. I paid just under 1000 dollars last time and thought it was fixed. The dealer said it is a different code this time and it will now be 3500 to fix the power assist failure. I looked online and I see others with Fords have this issue. My vehicle type was recalled for 2011-2013, but not my year - 2014. I am hoping you will look at this see there are safey issues. Thank you.

I was pulling out of my work parking lot and my power steering cut out completely. A warning came up on my dash saying something along the lines of steering assist system fault. I was able to get it back into the parking lot but had to really force the steering wheel. After turning the Flex off and back on again everything worked fine. I was very fortunate to be driving at low speed at the time. Most of my driving is on a highway or the turnpike and could have been extremely dangerous. I had a shop look everything over and they weren't able to find any issues which has be constantly concerned that it could happen again at any time.

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Flex. The contact stated while driving and making turns, the steering wheel was sticking and required to be turned to the opposite direction and back to the intended direction for the vehicle to respond as needed. Additionally, the contact stated that the steering wheel failed to return to center after making a turn. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to big brand tire and service, where the contact was informed that the failure might be related to NHTSA campaign number: 15v340000 (steering). The dealer was contacted and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in the recall. The contact was referred to the manufacturer for assistance. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 155,077.

The steering failed while driving. Steering assist was shut down and almost impossible to turn the wheel.

Vehicle power steering stops working. Manual steering is extremely difficult to operate.