Two problems related to steering tie rod assembly have been reported for the 2013 Ford Fusion. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2013 Ford Fusion based on all problems reported for the 2013 Fusion.
Started up the vehicle in the morning after sitting all night, buzzers, warning lights and messages popped up on the instrument cluster. "hill assist not available" "service advance trac" two light are also illuminated, traction control and stability control. The short 3 flash signals work but the sustained flash will not, the signal will flash once and shut off. The biggest safety concern is the power steering assist does not work. It will actually jerk the steering wheel in the opposite direction! unfortunately I had to drive the vehicle 40 miles to work. It grinds and pops as the wheel is turned like it is trying to rip the tie rods loose. I am automotive savvy and felt I could handle driving it, however if my wife was to drive this vehicle I would fear there would've been an accident.
Vehicle driver was driving on a public road approximately 35 miles per hour when a thud was heard and the right front of the vehicle went down similar to having a flat tire. The driver stopped the vehicle as the steering and braking was adversely affected. After getting out of the vehicle and seeing what happened the driver saw that the right front wheel was out of its normal configuration with the wheel at approximately a 45 degree angle with the top of the wheel pointing inward toward the engine and the bottom of the wheel point outward toward the right. After a tow vehicle was called and picking up the vehicle, it was discovered that the right front aluminum lower control arm broke straight across where the lower ball joint was pressed into the control arm. This caused release of the lower axis connection of the wheel spindle and broke the right front driveshaft , tie rod, and bent the strut. This is a catastrophic failure of the lower control arm with potential to cause serious injury to the driver and any other vehicles or pedestrians. Ford is trying to disclaim and play down this failure saying that is not the fault of their defective lower control arm. I feel all vehicles of this kind have the potential to fail in the same way and should be immediately inspected for signs of cracking on the lower control arm.