general problems of the 2012 Ford Focus - part 2

Electric steering assist light came on and off a few times over the past 2 weeks. As of this writing it is on permanently and steering the vehicle is now done without power assist. As a man I am able to drive but the rest of my family and wife are no longer able to operate the vehicle as to the difficulty in turning the wheel.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel ceased, and the vehicle was difficult to steer. The contact pulled over and restarted the vehicle however, the steering wheel was locked. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and diagnosed as power steering motor failure. The dealer replaced the power steering rack. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA for assistance. The failure mileage was 66,103.

I started having a lot of issues with balance and the vehicle bouncing while driving. I replaced the inner and outer tie rods. Suddenly, on the way to get an alignment, I got a warning on my screen that stated “steering loss stop safely”. I was told by a mechanic that the electronic rack and pinion needed replaced. Doing research on this problem, I find that this is actually an extremely common issue with this year make and model. The vehicle had to be towed back to my residence costing me $125! if I had not been an experienced driver, this could have been a very deadly situation as I was traveling at 65mph at the time that I lost steering.

The power steering electric assist failed when pulling into cross-traffic, narrowing avoiding broadside high-speed collusion. Have intermittantly expereinced power steering failure at vehicle start in the past, but never during vehicle operation in traffic. It is a known issue with several Ford vehicles in the 2011-2013 range, but Focus has been excluded from recalls addressing this issue.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated while attempting to reverse out of a parking space, the steering wheel ceased. The contact was unaware if there was a warning light illuminated. The contact cruised slowly in reverse out of the parking space but continued experiencing the failure while she drove to the used car dealer. The contact stated that the used car dealer took the vehicle to the local dealer and the local dealer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

Driving 40 mph around a curvy mountainous road the power steering suddenly stopped working making steering almost impossible thankfully there was a pull off spot straight ahead or I would have been in a major accident.

At random times I receive the �steering assist fault� notice and can't steer. I turn the key off, try again and it drives like normal. I took it to the dealer once, but there is no dtc code to tell them what to do, so nothing has been done. Today was the first time it happened twice in one day. The first time today was while backing out of a parking space like all the other times, but then a few hours later something new happened and it went out while going forward and pulling away from a residential curb. Luckily there was no traffic and I only moved a few feet away from the curb. I restarted it again and it drove like normal.

The vehicle was in motion driving on expressway and the power steering went out. I had my two grandchildren in the vehicle. I had a very hard time getting the vehicle over on the side of the highway. All Ford 2012 vehicles were recalled for this problem except the Focus.

I started my car this morning to warm up, I live in maine, so after 10 minutes I want to go to work and my power steering was off , I couldn't turn the steering wheel easily like normal and the car was running. Good thing it didn't happened later tonight on hockey 🏒 practice with my son. It's very big safety issue. Please advise. Thanks.

My car was driving perfectly fine, then out of nowhere I got an error saying my steering assist was messed up. I pulled into a parking lot because my steering wheel started to lock on the highway. I turned my car off, and when I turned it back on I got an error stating that there was a "steering loss" and to "stop safely. " my steering wheel is completely locked out of nowhere and is unable to drive with virtually no warning or error message prior to today. I looked up to see if others have had this issue and there are hundreds of complaints about the Ford Focus with this exact issue. Ford has ignored this issue for years and needs to make a safety recall for an error that was made on their end instead of causing people to pay thousands out of pocket for an error that was made by the dealer.

The electric power steering quit working, making it almost impossible to steer.

Steering power assist malfunction when I put key in ignition and attempted to exit a parking lot, vehicle very hard to turn steering wheel in either direction.

Power steering turns off periodically at startup. One day, it simply ceased to work on startup. My car was stationary. In my driveway.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while attempting to reverse out of a parking lot, the steering wheel seized without warning. The contact turned and restarted the vehicle and the vehicle resumed normal operation. The vehicle had not been diagnosed nor repaired. The contact stated that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. Parkway Ford (2104 peters creek pkwy, winston-salem, nc 27127, (877) 836-4271) was contacted and informed of the failure. The contact was informed that the VIN was not under recall. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 143,292.

I was trying to leave work and when I started my car an error message appeared. The message signaled �steering assist malfunction. Check handbook� the wheel was too stiff for me to move. The car was stationary in a parking lot. I am really thankful that it did not happen while I was driving because it would have created a safety hazard. The error message turned off and car was able to be driven home without incident. I have not driven it since because the message comes and goes without any indication. The wheel locks up when the message appears. The car has 54,475 miles. It is really disappointing how many problems I have encountered.

Steering assist fault and wheel keeps locking up.

The vehicle code steering assist fault service required showed up and my vehicle stopped working (would not turn) in the middle of a on coming parking lot on a hill, I understand there based to previous communication that the is a issue, will there be a recall for this , can the dealer help ,.

I have had a steering assist default problem for with my 2012 Focus. They recalled 2013-2018 Focuses but not my year. When I would start it the steering assist default would show on my dash, it would beep and it was hard to turn the wheel. I was told by autonation Ford the recall included every year of the system except mine and just to turn it off and back on again and this was working until last month. I went to a larry miller Ford dealer and they wanted $2400 to replace it and confirmed my year got skipped on the recall. My 2012 Focus has the same steering system and problem as the 2013-2018. My year was unlawfully cheated out of the recall! I have no power steering and have to drive with manual steering now! and I had to pay $145 on 10/21/2020 to find out it would cost me $2400 to fix it beacuse the recall wasn't good for my 2012 only 2013-2018!.

Steering isn't working. I see that fusion has recall but can't find one for Focus. This car has had so many issues and recalls. This steering issue seems to be a problem and should be on recall too.

This is getting out of control how Ford can sell cars with faults and bad parts and get away with it like the transmission issue and the issue with the steering fault that has the customer fork out over 2 grand because its all one unit but they did a recall on the fusion and a few others something tells me they also know about the Focus mine is a 2012 less then 70 k on the car and have had in the dealership several times for both issues and they say nothing is wrong we did a software flash my guess they didn't even do that . . Someone needs to step up and force a recall on the Focus I'm having the code come up everyday just matter of time before I get in a wreck over the steering this has happened in motion twice and everyday parked before starting it takes several times turning the key off and on before fault goes away in the dash.

While driving around 45 mph on CO. Rd. 1, I came to an s curve. I made the left turn and I started to make the right turn the dash flashed a warning "steering assist malfunction". Then the steering locked up, I wasn't able to make the turn, I was driving with my 3 children in the car. My 13 year old in the front passenger seat looking dead on at an approaching vehivle as we shot through the opposite lane. By the grace of god and the quick reactions of the driver, the huge Dodge 2500 was able to turn away from my vehicle and we both ended up in yards on opposite sides of the county road. My child could have easily lost her life or been severely injured. Thats the most traumatizing of the many recent occurances. Most of which only consist of trying to turn into parking spaces and when turning from stop signs and I'm able to quickly stop I just have to work harder to turn.

3 times, now; when I backed out of a parking spot and attempted to turn left and pull forward, the steering locked up for a few seconds and then suddenly released. Reason is unknown.

I turned on the car (stationary) in my parking lot and a warning light came up on display stating "steering assist fault - service required. " the steering wheel was difficult to move with car under 5 mph. I turned off the car and tried again. The warning light immediately came on again and same issue was observed. The car is currently inoperable as it can not be safely moved from a small parking spot.

Wow!!!! 874 plus complaints filed on the steering I'm lost for words when or what is it going to take people NHTSA . . Ya I told Ford and the dealer what I felt and I can promise you I got my point across nothing will ever be done because Ford has some smack and people belive it even or government . I spoke with a engineer in detroit and was like talking to a brick wall . I fixed my steering fault and found several factors to blame I will tell you look into a software called forscan if you have issues and if you are lucky and have not get a better heat shield made that tissue thin tin that is on top the rack and 5 points of ground to paint redo grind paint off and use that red coating also a ground on aluminum daaaaaaaa move it.

I had just put the car into reverse and the steering assist came up as a malfunction and the car would not move and the steering wheel would not move. Through an internet search I have found this a major safety issue with very high repair costs that needs to be addressed by the Ford motor company.

Power steering locked up while driving. Was going about 45mph when it initially happened. Luckily was only a short distance from home when this occurred. No damage to car or injury resulted from this incident.

Tl the contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for routine maintenance. The mechanic performed a diagnostic test and informed the contact that power steering module needed to be replaced. The traction control warning light was illuminated. Gengras Ford (225 new britain Ave, plainville, CT 06062, (860)793-8885) was contacted and an appointment was scheduled which was still pending. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 61,091.

Power steering rack gone bad at 89,000 miles.

Tl the contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving 70 mph, the vehicle loss power steering assist and became difficult to steer. The vehicle was turned off; restarted and driven to his destination. The failure recurred twice at start-up. The vehicle was taken to murphy Ford located at 3310 township line rd, chester, PA 19013, (610) 494-8800, however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 140,277.

Saturday morning went to the store. Got back in my car turn the car on put the car in reverse and all of a sudden the steering will got hard to turn. I check my dash and it said steering malfunction need assistance. Put the car back in drive and put the car back in the parking spot. Turn the car off turn it back on the steering went back to normal. Pull out of the park spot and as I put my foot on the gas petal the steering malfunction need assistance went back on. Am concern for my safety and the safety of other as well.

It was a fateful day on June 16th, 2020 when our lives took an unexpected turn. Engaged in a peaceful drive, cruising at a steady 60mph with the assistance of the trusty cruise control, we were abruptly jolted towards the left, instantly relinquishing any grasp of control we had over our vehicle causing us to loose control and wreck our car in a corn field. Reason for mechanical failure unknown.

Power steering fault at start up would appear then go away but now vehicle no longer has power steering at all. Seems to be a problem with other Ford cars of the same date range (fusion, flex Lincoln mks & mkt, mkz, Mercury milan).

Steering assist message popped up and steering wheel locked up at the same time. The car was parked on the street.

The transmission shutters and shakes very frequently. Vehicle also periodically will almost stall while driving. Overall the vehicle just feels incredibly unsafe and unreliable while operating.

When starting vehicle steering would lock up and display error message of "steering assist fault needs service".