general problems of the 2012 Ford Focus - part 1

The power steering shut down suddenly while I was driving it. I am [xxx], and certainly did not have the power to turn the wheel like it needed. If there had been fast moving traffic at that time, I could have been hit and severely injured, why hasn't this been recalled yet? the problem has been confirmed by an independent service center. I had to go there when my power steering intermittently came back on because it was only 6 blocks away from my house and I didn't dare try to drive it to a Ford dealer which was 12 miles away. I'm not positive about the light coming on, but I believe I saw a circle with an "I" inside of it I was too stressed to notice completely, when I was trying to control my car. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Power steering light intermittently comes on and vehicles looses power steering. Upon turning vehicle off then back on power steering will come back on. Can't get it to act up long enough for mechanic to diagnose. Only a matter of time before an accident happens. There are hundreds of complaints online about this same issue. Ford has issued some recalls but not on my particular VIN. . .

Received steering assist fault message. Vehicle has lost power steering ability without warning causing a safety issue.

During some christmas shopping within the past few weeks, my cars power steering went out completely with no warning or sounds to repair or seek assistance. Not only was my life in danger, but the safety of others in the vehicles surrounding me. I couldn't even turn my wheel if I tried. There have been other instances in other cars where I could strong arm the wheel and be ok, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about turning the wheel whatsoever! when my dad came with power steering fluid, we discovered that these cars don't even have a reservoir for power steering fluid and that this was more than likely a battery or module issue or worse the power steering pump. This is ridiculous that there is no service light or warning that the power steering is going out or losing power. Ford should fix this because it seems like this is an ongoing issue with Fords in general.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving and exceeding 25 mph, the steering wheel seized. The vehicle was driven to an independent mechanic, and the contact was informed that the power steering needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 90,000.

The car steering wheel first said steering fault and then after parking and less than 10 minutes, car hood was still warm, after car turned back on it said steering loss stop safely. This is after over $1300 in repairs and new tires went into the car, same day with less than 2 hours of servicing. The steering wheel in the car can no longer move at all. Not sure what to do at this point. After a few hours of research learned this was a common issue but there has been no recall. Car no longer worth the money or time. Ford used to be reputable but now it has gone down the drain even Ford mechanics don't know what to think or do. This needs to be addressed and fixed.

I was traveling on a highway on my way home and as I was turning in a curve at around 40 mph all of a sudden a message came up on my dash that steering assist fault which I didn’t know at the time I was to busy trying not to wreck my steering wheel locked in place coming out of the curve which put me in to the other lane of travel and eventually into a ditch and and thank god not into another vehicle, if there is not some kind of safety recall or major issue that should be a recall the governor or someone should address this immediately I was lucky I did not die. 1. So the system that failed is steering assist fault & yes it is available for inspection. 2 my safety and anyone else that was traveling in oncoming lanes life was in serious risk. 3 the problem is still there can’t get the steering to move to take it anywhere safely. 4 no it has not been inspected by anyone other than my brother to tow it home for me. 5 there was no warning lamps or malfunctions or symptoms at all until the incident happened the steering locked up I heard a tone and when I finally came to a stop these words where on the center dash display. Steering assist fault service required.

My son was driving vehicle to work when the power steering assist failure light came on and the steering became difficult. He was in traffic and this could have very easily caused and accident as the car is now very hard to steer. Have not had it looked at yet because from what I have seen the cost to repair is well over $2000 and I don't have that kind of money laying around.

While driving vehicle power steering went completely out and warning message displayed. Control of car was difficult due to know power steering. No prior problems with steering before. Have not had problem diagnosed as mechanics are all booked weeks out.

My power steering went out so my rack and pinion needed replaced and my car is only at 85,000 miles. This is a manufacturer error on Ford's part and would like it to be looked into.

I had just came home after driving on the interstate to and from a family event. I wasn’t home but approximately 15 minutes and got an emergency call about a death in my immediate family. I started my car and the steering wheel wouldn’t move! it still didn’t move if you put it in gear! it was totally disabled and I was thankful that this didn’t happen while driving. Especially on the interstate. I had several children with me on that trip, whom along with myself, could have been severely injured or killed! I later found out that Ford recalled the 2012 Ford fusion, but not the 2012 Ford Focus for the exact same steering loss issue. This should be against the law and Ford needs to be held accountable for this issue for the Ford Focus as well!.

Power steering went out after a repair to the transmission control module.

On April 29, 2023 our 2012 Ford Focus se with a 5 speed manual transmission indicated a dashboard warning stating the power steering assist was inoperable. Steering was still able to be done manually, but with much greater input required, especially at low speeds. Being a manual transmission, this is especially problematic as steering regularly has to be performed one handed. Fortunately this incident did not occur while driving, but reviewing many other similar complaints on the nhsta website, as well as seaching '2012 Ford Focus steering issues' online, it is evident that this loss of assist can and has occurred to others when the vehicle was in motion. This poses a serious safety risk to not only the driver, but others on the road as well. This is an issue known to Ford motor company as they issued a recall (15s18) for similar problems on other Ford vehicles, but not the Focus. I am requesting the NHTSA investigate this situation and take action to compel Ford to fix the Focus as well under a recall to prevent similar situations from causing potential injury or death. I encourage one of your investigators to try driving one of these vehicles without the power assist to see just how dangerous it is, especially in low speed maneuvers. This car is primarily used by my son for his commuting to and from college. He is the one that first saw the warning. I am very thankful this did not happen while he was in motion. I will be contacting my dealer on Monday may 1, 2023 to start the diagnosis/repair process.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that on two separate occasions, the power steering assist failed with the "service power steering now" message displayed. The contact's husband used excessive force to drive the vehicle to a dealer where he was informed that the steering rack needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not under recall. The contact was referred to the NHTSA hotline for assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 52,000.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 50 mph, the instrument panel lights were dimly illuminated, the horn was inoperable, and the radio was not functioning properly. The contact stated that the steering assists warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to drive to her residence. The contact stated on March 8, 2023, the steering wheel seized. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle and was able to steer to the right and park in a nearby parking lot. The vehicle was not drivable. The contact towed the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the steering rack to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

Power steering will go out intermittently. Known safety defect by Ford but they still have not issued a recall.

Electric power steering works intermitently at low speed not safe when having to make turns or change lanes.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 30-35 mph, the vehicle lost power steering functionality. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to veer across a parking lot. The contact stated after investigating the failure online, she turned off the vehicle for a moment. The contact then restarted the vehicle while turning the steering wheel and the vehicle responded as needed; however, the failure reoccurred increasingly while driving. The message "loss of power steering assist" was displayed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the electronic power steering rack and pinion and outer tie rod needed to be replaced. The contact related the failure to Ford campaign number: 15s08. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

Power steering stopped working while driving at 65 miles per hour and wheel locked almost causing an accident. Power steering malfunction.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 15 mph, the vehicle lost power steering functionality. The contact was able to pull over safely. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the electronic stability programme (esp) needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 75,000.

Electric power steering assist failed. Vehicle currently has no power steering. Problem confirmed by dealer who says steering rack needs replacement. Fairly common issue per online complaints. Ford issued recall on other models but not the Focus.

The power steering quits working and has no power assist when driving down the road. You are not able to turn the vehicle at all and even get it off the road to a safe spot on the side of the road. It goes out even when trying to turn a corner and it starts to go head on into traffic putting other drives at rick of being hit by a car I can’t control.

A couple weeks ago leaving work a warning light came on that the power steering assist was disabled/malfunctioning, to have it serviced. It became prohibitively difficult to steer my car. I called aaa and had it towed to an independent service center. They reported that the steering module, essentially the computer brain for the steering, has failed. The repair is overwhelmingly expensive, and I haven’t pursued it due to the crippling cost. When I proceeded to drive the car home, the light was off, and it drove fine. One of the shops I spoke with said this could happen, but it would come back unpredictably, and intermittently until it just won’t be drivable. I’m just glad it was in a safe spot when this failure occurred. Reports I’ve been reading online have scared me with drivers being on the freeway when this component fails, nearly causing accidents in some cases. This seems like a serious safety issue, and certainly not a ‘wear and tear’ issue of daily use. The shop reported the repair would cost $2400 before taxes. I bought this car used for $5000 last year, and so far have had to put in a whole new front end, replace the cooling/ heating reservoir system. So throwing in that much more money into it is having a very negative impact on my livelihood. Other drivers report this issue occurring at anywhere from 60,000 miles to 150,000 miles. My car is at 128,000 miles.

When starting the car, the message displays "steering assist fault. Service required". The entire power assistance is not functional. The car can be manually steered under heavy effort. This issue came and went multiple times. Some times, the steering system started to work and all was good. Other times, there was no recovery. The last time the issue occured was while driving down the road. The message appeared and the power assist was gone. It has not come back online. It did not cause an accident as I was able to manually force the steering to do what I needed to exit the road safely. It appears reading online that the only recourse is to replace the entier system requiring the removal of the rack and pinon and the front assembly sub frame. Estimate costs are over $3000 and it must be done at Ford as it needs software to work correctly. This does not seem reasonable for a car with only 120,000 miles on it.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while starting the vehicle, the steering wheel locked and she was unable to steer the steering wheel on three occasions. The warning letter "I "was illuminated. The local dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

Power steering assist failure warning appeared on dashboard and steering became extremely difficult. Frightened my pregnant daughter to tears.

After starting the vehicle I had no power steering. I drove the car all the way home with no power steering. I shut down the car at home and restarted it and then the power steering worked. I’m very worried about others in my family driving this car and having an accident. This has happened in the past but after moving the car it would start working but not this time. I haven’t taken it to any dealer yet but I think Ford should fix this problem.

Electrical power steering assist malfunctioning.

I bought my car from a Ford dealership about 2 years ago and on 2 occassions now I have had problems with my power steering. First time I started my car after work and a steering assist fault message illuminated on the dash and the power steering was near impossible to turn. I was not able to drive the vehicle and had it towed to my mechanic who also found the power steering difficult to turn the next morning and it ran a code for him of steering malfunction. He said he thought the rack and pinion needed replacing and stated that only Ford could do it as it would need to be reprogramed by them as it is electric. So I had the car towed to Ford and they were unable. To diagnose it. A week later upon starting my car to head to work the sane steering assist fault message came on my dash so I turned off my car and started it again after reading online how common this problem is with this make of car and how that remedies it in the beginning. Car was able to start but I had it taken again to Ford as I am scared of it going out while driving or getting stranded agaun somewhere without power steering and so far Ford can still not diagnose it. This is really frustrating as it is a huge safety issue. I no longer feel safe driving my car. I get anxiety about being in an accident or getting stranded again late at night with my car. And I read it costs almost 3000 tp fix. This should ne recalled. I only have had this car about 2 years and I will never buy feom Ford again. If I could afford a new car I would get rid of it because it is not a safe car. So upsetting Ford will not do a recall. It is way to hard for a woman to try to drive this car with power steering loss. Someone will be injured before Ford cares.

The power steering assist failure warning came on and then went away after turning the vehicle off. The same issue came back the day after, with it being completely unsafe to drive the vehicle on the road. Turning the wheel is very difficult, and this problem has been commonly reported by others with the 2012 Ford Focus, yet no recalls have been issued. The car has not been inspected as of today, but others have reported up to $2600 of repair costs for this issue. Previous to this incident, the car did not have any other warning lights or other symptoms of dysfunction.

On engine startup the power steering doesn't function and there is a power steering assist warning. The fault is rectified by turning the engine off and on. I'm concerned that the problem may occur while driving.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving approximately 20-25 mph, the steering wheel was stiff and difficult to be turned. The contact was able to drive to his residence. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and diagnosed as power steering failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 112,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Power steering assist fault code pops up everytime I turn on my car, my steering wheel is completely locked, only have had car for 6 months dont have the money to replace rack and pinion which costs so much there should be a recall on this considering so many people have complained about this exact steering issue. My car was parked and running when I lost my power steering.

Electronic power steering failed. My daughter almost lost control of the vehicle. If she had been driving on the highway, an accident would have killed her! the loss of power steering is a reoccurring problem with this vehicle. A simple internet search reveals the problem is common. Issue a recall before more people are hurt.

This has happened 5 times and good thing it hasn’t happened while driving or that could cause a bad accident. The steering assist light has come on when I’m sitting in my driveway and start my car and when I turn the wheel it won’t move it’s locked. So I’ve shut off my car and restart it and then the wheel will turn. I see this is a problem for many people this is definitely not safe and should be recalled.