Steering Column problems of the 2014 Ford Focus

Takata: the problem with the car is if you put gas in the car the car will not start you have to keep turning and pressing on the gas pedal until it register that there is gas in the car. The read will say 98 miles until you need gas but if you don�'t put gas in before then the car will shut off and that reads at about a quarter tank of gas. Then there�'s times I get into the car to go and the steering column will lock to where you can�'t even turn the wheel. I looked it up and I see there�'s been problem with the steering column plus it lites up in the car steering wheel default I called the Ford but there saying there is no recall on any of the two things I�'m talking about. It�'s not safe what if the wheel decides to lock while I am driving or the car shuts of because it read 98 miles before you need gas but that�'s not the case. I was driving out of my driveway and the wheel locked. With the gas was on the road and the car shut off luckily I was close to a gas station.

The steering wheel on my 2014 Ford Focus se came loose one morning. No indication of looseness in the weeks leading up. The steering wheel just became very wobbly and loose. The Ford dealership stated it was not covered under warranty and the comprehensive extended warranty wouldn't cover it either, the issue: a nut that holds the steering wheel to the steering column came loose. According to the technician, there was not much loctight on the bolt. $200 later I have the same nut tightened back down with newly added loctight. Fast forward and on 3/14/2018 Ford announced a recall affecting 1. 4 million Ford fusions that have this very same issue. Yet I have a Focus not a fusion. This issue is not seclusive to just the fusion line up and Ford needs to expand their recall to put the same fix in place for all affected models. Perhaps the loctight isn't enough and the Focus needs the new aggressive threaded bolt with the nylon nut.

I only bought the car last year. Now, I cannot hardly steer it. The steering wheel locks up. I have to fight to turn it. A few mechanics took a look at it, at a shop, and they said it was the steering column, that it is defective. There are other reports about Ford knowing there is an issue with the steering. I want a car that is safe. This car has had issues, continuously, since I bought it. Now, I am stuck with paying almost $400/month on a car that I cannot drive. This is not fair. Besides not fair, I do not want to end up dead, or any of my family members dead, because of a defect in the safety of the vehicle.

The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact stated while the vehicle was operated at normal speeds and it experienced a loss of power steering. The power steering warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle towed to chapman Ford where it was diagnosed the steering column needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure however, no further assistance was offered. The failure mileage was approximately 31,000.

Following my low tire pressure indicator coming on, I noticed the power steering issue as I was pulling into a parking spot, and my steering wheel made a squeaking or whining sound. Later, while driving on a city street, as I began to make a turn, my steering wheel started hesitating, and making a gear stripping noise; the steering column locked up and when I tried to turn the wheel it made a loud squeaking sound. Also, my transmission shutters whenever I accelerate and slow down. The transmission issue was initially repaired via a software update before the warranty expired, but it has since started to malfunction again.

Even after several repair attempts by Ford when turning the steering cracks and pops loudly, it sounds like something is about to break. This vehicle also has had 4 clutch assemblies installed and has a creaking sound in the drivers side door that (according to the dealer) is because there is a bad weld in a "support" column located behind the front fender.

I noted that the vehicle was not "tracking" well on highways at the recommended cruising speed of 65 mph. The vehicle appears to "drift" from left to right within the lane in which we are travelling. This requires constant attention and concentration in controlling the position of the steering wheel in order to keep the car going in a straight line. It is less noticeable as the highway curves in either the right of left direction. One gets the impression that there is far too much "play" in the steering wheel/column relative to the front wheel drive train mechanism. In addition, the problem seems exaggerated during higher wind velocities. I asked my wife to drive the car and she too noticed the problem. I questioned the service manager at the dealership, at the time of my first scheduled service appointment, and asked if they could drive the car and "tighten" the steering wheel to reduce the "play" in it. He told me that the test drive was pretty normal, that there was no way to adjust the steering mechanism and that the "sport" set-up for this particular model results in that "feel" during driving. As an experienced driver of 56 years who has owned numerous automobiles, including some rather high end sport cars, this explanation made absolutely no sense what-so-ever. He offered me the opportunity to test drive a different vehicle of the same model type, but I declined as I saw no point to the exercise. I had seen an investigative report on the abc national news presented by brian ross relative to reported problems by others in this regard. Upon accessing this sight, I found that there are reports about this particular problem. My purpose in submitting this narrative is to place on the record a possible problem with this Ford product in the event that someone is injured as a result of the steering problem.