Steering Rack And Pinion problems of the 2012 Ford Fusion Hybrid

I was driving at medium speed on a suburban street and an alert popped up on the dash: power steering assist fault. Power steering then shut off. Fortunately, the street was straight and I was able to decelerate and wrestle the car into a parking lot. If this had happened while I was turning, or when I was on the highway (and would need to navigate several lanes to stop) I would also likely have crashed. Car is 24 months old with just over 40,000 miles. (not far out of warranty. ) car had no prior mechanical trouble whatsoever, and had been regularly serviced by the dealer. When I turned the car off and on, it behaved normally. I brought it in for service the next morning. Ford recommended replacing rack and pinion, $1800 repair. I think they should have covered this, as it is a design flaw and a serious safety issue. There was no safety problem until the computer decided to shut off the power steering!.