Problems with 2012 Ford Focus STEERING

I own a 2012 ford focus went to pick my kids up from school and killed my car. then tried to restart my car and my steering wheel was really hard to turn then the steering assist failure popped up on my screen. tried to restart the battery changed the fuse and it still pops up with the message. and this is my only transportation. it's really hard to steer it. and i'm scared to drive it.

I own a 2012 ford focus sel. an error code has come up for about 6 months when starting the car "steering assist fault" it will usually go away but on jan 13th 2020 i was leaving work and it would not go away and i could not move my car. the error remained and i had to have the car towed because i could not steer the car at all. i am active duty military living in germany on orders and my car is now at the ford garage with a quote of 1,860 euro to fix the power steering. this is unacceptable that ford has not recognized this as a need for a safety recall and car owners are having to pay thousands of dollars to repair this part when i have been told by mechanics it is due to the part being placed in an incorrect place causing it to error out. this is a huge safety issue due to the error happening while driving as well, leaving you with no control to steer the car. i am out thousands of dollars in rental fees while my car has been sitting at a german ford dealership waiting for repairs.

The power steering went out on my car this morning when i started it. it flashed an error message. after turning it off and restarting it about 3 times, it began to work. i have read that this can occur as i am driving. i am terrified this car is going to kill me, and i just bought it used and am paying payments. the vehicle was not in motion...yet.

A message comes on the dash saying steeeing assist malfunction. when this message comes on all power steering is lost.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. while driving on the highway, the steering wheel seized. the contact was able to manually steer the vehicle to the side of the highway. the contact restarted the vehicle and drove slowly to his destination. joe machens ford (1911 w worley st, columbia, mo 65203, (573) 445-4411) stated that the rack and pinion system was defective and needed to be replaced at the cost of $2,700. the manufacturer was contacted and stated that nothing could be done since they were cleared by the national transportation board. an investigation was conducted and the steering system was repaired. the failure mileage was 75,000. *pm*jb

Second & third time the power steering has locked out on this vehicle while stationary, thank god. the instrument cluster showed a message reading "steering fault and it was amber in color. turn off vehicle and restarted vehicle as my spouse told me and steering was ok. drove to a different location and stopped about one hour later started to restart vehicle to the system warning and status messages cluster was on and amber in color, turn off and restart vehicle and it was ok, drove home and it is as of this date still working. .

Steering assist malfunction warning with loss of power steering. happened at start up. turned car off and restarted. the problem went away. the 4th time this happened, the power assist did not resume. car now has no power steering at all.

My daughter pulled out her parking space and was unable to turn the steering wheel. the steering wheel was beyond hard to turn for an adult male or female, suggesting that the problem was not a lack of power steering fluid but that the car's steering modules failed, while the car was being driven.

I backed out my focus from the garage and heard a beep or noise to alert me of a problem. the steering wheel was rigid and dash message said something about steering malfunction. in addition was a square box with an "i" in the box. i then moved the car back into the garage and turned off the engine.

While driving, loss of ability to steer. also, when starting the car, trouble turning wheel.

Vehicle electronic steering control failed and power steering lost

Vehicle is a 2012 ford focus with only 46,000 miles. while starting to make a left turn from a stopped position the instrumentation panel showed a "steering assist fault" message and all power steering was lost. this nearly resulted in hitting another vehicle as i was not prepared for the steering to become completely manual, it was difficult at such a slow speed to turn the wheel. in speaking with ford this is a known issue, recall was issued for multiple vehicles and multiple years for the same issue but the focus was excluded.

When driving the power steering will suddenly go out and the "power steering assist fault" indicator light comes on. i suddenly had no power steering, which is certainly a safety issue! and according to other 2012 ford focus owners this is a widespread issue with no recall yet! after 8 years.

When operating the vehicle a sensor disables making the vehicle difficult to steer. once i pull over and shut the vehicle off for a period of time it resets and i am able to drive. this has occurred on several different locations, roads and during different weather. the vehicle is difficult to control when this happens and am lucky that it has not happened when the vehicle is at a high rate of speed. it has also happened when you first start the vehicle on several occasions but have been able to reset the system by restarting the vehicle.

While in motion on the interstate my consul gave me a notification that there was a "failure in steering assist" and to pull over safely. at witch time i lost my power steering assist. i pulled off at the next exit which thankfully led to baxter ford south where they ran a service check the next day. after running the check they determined there was a failure in the power steering control module (pscm). the pscm was re programed to the last known code. they informed me that they did not know how long the fix would last. on the same day after driving 600 miles i received the same message and once again lost power steering assist. note that the same failure has occurred in the 2011- 2012 ford fusion, ford flex, and ford taurus. all have been recalled except for the 2012 ford focus model. i will attach and highlight my invoice from baxter ford south.

Loss of power steering assist. intermittent. happens on start up a warning of a steering problem with no power steering. lost power steering once when driving.

Starting car and engaged engine& trans started to move when i found that no power steering. found out that if you stop and restart car it might reset it did. this has happened twice more times. all had amber message all happened while stationary.

We purchased this vehicle used about a year and a half ago for my teenage daughter. driving to a friend's house, she stopped for gas. she started the car and the notification" steering assist failure - service required" came on. she turned the car off and waited a few minutes and started it again. the steering worked fine.. while driving, the power steering went out. thankfully, she was on a side street and was able to pull over and turn the car off.. she turned the car back on and made it to a friend's home near by. since last night, the power steering is completely out. i've just found this site which i was directed to from a consumer site stating a long history of this problem with the power steering on this vehicle. we are now waiting on a tow truck to take the car to a nearby dealership to find out what they have to say about the issue. i've already mentioned to them i've found this site and there is a long list of documented issues. ( they seem to be surprised about it ( go figure )) ....

While driving on the interstate i-285 my steering wheel locked up almost causing an accident and i have had the vehicle several times at a ford dealership and it is not fix.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. while driving 40 mph, the steering wheel became difficult to turn and the power steering assist warning indicator illuminated. the contact pulled over and had the vehicle towed to future ford lincoln (located at 650 automall dr, roseville, ca 95661, (888) 656-7577) where it was diagnosed that the power steering rack needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was notified. the failure mileage was 100,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. while driving 35 mph, the steering wheel seized. the contact mentioned that the failure occurred twice. as a result, the contact lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the median. the air bags did not deploy. a police report was not filed and there were no injuries. the vehicle was towed to ken grody ford carlsbad (5555 paseo del norte, carlsbad, ca 92008, (760) 438-9171), but the cause of the failure could not be determined because the power steering was operable once the vehicle was restarted at the dealer. the contact stated that the front driver's side tire was replaced. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 72,000.

Steering has become stiff. the vehicle was taken to a dealership where technicians confirmed electronic power assisted steering (epas) corrosion was the root of the stiffness. however, ford customer care stated this repair would not be covered because the warranty has expired and that there are no customer satisfaction programs covering my vin.

Randomly alerted to "steering assist malfunction" on start up or when first starting on drive. seizing of steering to extreme difficulty in turning wheel making turn nearly impossible. if car turned off and restarted(between 1-3 times), code goes away and car returns to normal. this has been happening with increasing frequency though unable to predict.i own 2012 focus. 117,000 miles.i see similar complaints on nhsta website is this related to the 2011-2013 fusion recall?

The power steering system totally failed - i started my car and received an error message on the dash and had no power steering. had to have my car towed to the ford dealer and spent $2,096.20 to have the power steering rack replaced and the new one programmed.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. while driving approximately 20 mph, the power steering suddenly failed. the contact was able to pull into a parking lot and park the vehicle. the contact stated that the vehicle remained in the parking lot. in order to move it, the vehicle would need to be towed. the contact called a certified mechanic who informed the contact that the repair was no longer covered under warranty. the contact was advised to take the vehicle to the dealer. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the issue and referred the contact to the dealer. the dealer was not contacted. the contact stated that the vehicle was included in nhtsa campaign number: 18v735000 (fuel system, gasoline); however, the part for the recall repair was unavailable. while the vehicle was stopped at a stop sign, the contact noticed a fuel odor. the contact called bob tomes ford (located at 950 s central expy, mckinney, tx 75070, 214-544-5000) and was informed that the part for the repair was not available. the manufacturer was not contacted regarding the recall. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the approximate failure mileage was 113,673.

On 10/26/2019 i was backing the car out the driveway, and as i was about to start turning i noticed the steering wheel locked on me, and prevent me from proceeding on to my route. i managed to quickly get in back on to the driveway and narrowly missed getting hit by a car coming the opposite direction. once i got the car back on park i turned the engine off thinking it would reset any problem, but when i turned it back on the "steering assist fault " notification came back on. i proceeded to continue turning the car off, and back on, as well as placing it neutral, drive, and reversing it again but the steering wheel stayed locked. after being unable to find a solution i searched online to see if anyone else has experienced this problem, and found many testimonials dating back years! of people having their lives put at risk due to this problem.i was lucky enough to find myself in a safe location when this happened, but now i find myself with a towing bill of 85 dollars, as well as a bill of 2,000 dollars (that i do not have) to fix the problem, and without transportation. this is a huge problem that puts lives in danger, as well as economically debilitating. someone needs to be doing something to fix it!

Power steering failed 10.26.2019. wife had mentioned to service advisor that she had a warning msg about a year ago during a normal servicing of her vehicle and asked for someone to do a check on it. the result was nothing is wrong with the epas and there was no written instruction on her service invoice which is odd, because she specifically ask that the epas be check while they were doing her oil change. over the last year the warning msg came back usually during extreme changes of weather. my wife called the dealer where she has service work done to report additional warning msgs. the service rep asked my wife to describe what the msg was and when it occurred. the service rep acted as if he had never heard of this problem but said he would note it. this failure on 10.26.2019 occurred when i just left home. i was able to return home and park in the driveway. i cannot imagine my wife trying to drive with this problem that happens with no warning. i've grew up driving cars w/o power steering, but this epas failure is beyond anything she could handle. i am thankful i was driving at the time. it is very unnerving not to mention very dangerous at any speed. remember the corvair?

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. while operating the vehicle, the message "electric power assist" illuminated and the steering wheel became very difficult to turn in either direction. the vehicle was taken to holeman ford (3641 rt 42 south, turnersville, nj) where it was diagnosed that the steering rack was faulty and needed to be replaced. the steering rack was replaced, but the failure recurred approximately one week later. the vehicle was taken back to the dealer who was unable to detect a defect in the steering. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the failure mileage was 111,000.

I was driving on a tennessee state highway, going about 66 miles per hour when the power steering suddenly went out. it was very very hard to get the car over to a shoulder and avoid a wreck. it has since been impossible to steer and needed a tow. there was no indication anything was wrong, and just suddenly went out and has not been right since.

I own a 2012 ford focus that has experiences a multitude of issues. however, i am specifically writing today about the steering wheel locking up. it happens when i first start the car up, often times requiring me to shut the car off and restarting. the car will also note a 'steering wheel malfunction' error message. i've reached out to ford who will not repair.

The power steering recently started failing on our 2012 ford focus intermittently. when this occurs the car is nearly impossible to move the steering wheel. online other owners report failures occurring at highway speeds without advance notice. this issue was also reported in the new york times in 2015 (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/automobiles/ford-focus-steering-problem-prompts-many-complaints-but-no-inquiry.html) our issue has only presented itself to date when starting the engine, with the ability to reset after turning off the car and then back on a few moments later. the repairs include removing the steering module element at a cost of roughly $3,000, more than half of the resale value of the car. ford does not have a recall on this device as of my interactions this week.

Just like the other hundreds of ford owners that are not on the recall list my focus steering wheel locked up. due to a manufacturing defect that ford doesn't want to fix. thank you very much ford i almost died! i will never buy another ford vehicle again.

Power steering stopped working. dash has a warning that says power assist fault contact service center. car is almost impossible to steer. i was pulling the vehicle into a parking spot and hand to slam the brakes to stop from hitting another car.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. while the contact's husband was driving 30 mph, the steering wheel became very difficult to turn. also, "service steering now" and "advancetrac" were displayed. the vehicle was taken to larry h. miller ford draper (11442 lone peak pkwy, draper, ut 84020, (801) 590-0561) where it was diagnosed that the steering needed to be repaired. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not contacted. the failure mileage was 117,000. the vin was not available.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. while driving 50 mph, the vehicle began to steer and swerve in and out of lanes without warning. the contact had to remove his foot from the accelerator pedal in order for the vehicle to resume normal operation. the vehicle was taken to jd byrider auto sales (3700 w broad st, columbus, oh 43228, (614) 456-1717) where it was diagnosed, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. out of consideration, the dealer replaced the front wheel bearing. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for another diagnostic test, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. the failure recurred. the manufacturer was not notified. the failure mileage was approximately 92,000.

Power steering does not engage when starting the car. if it's shut down and restarted it usually resets. only happens at initial startup so far, but i'm concerned it's getting more frequent. it doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason as to why. or where it happens. thankfully it's fixed with restarting so far.

Power steering failure at startup. initially, this was intermittent and restarting the car would solve the issue. eventually, the power steering failed completely despite restarting the car. the power steering failed only on startup, not when driving.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. when the vehicle was started, "electric power assist fault" and "service required" appeared on the message board. the vehicle was towed to perry ford of national city (2050 national city blvd, national city, ca 91950) where it was diagnosed that the electric power steering assist failed and needed replacement. the vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 64,000.

When starting the car in the mornings, a warning message appears on the dashboard: "steering assist disabled". the wheel becomes very hard to turn and it is not safe to attempt to drive. rather, i restart the car, and the message goes away. if this were to happen while i am driving, especially on the highway to get to school, it could result in a potential crash. this is very unsafe, and needs to be looked into.

Steering assist fault. this issues is covered under several other recalls. my car has 77kmiles and should not be having steeting issues. my car was in motion and the power steering went out. i had to have it towed home and now have to replace a 700$ part due to fords parts issues. altering the media to this issue. ford should be responsible for issues and repairs as this is no fault on the drivers parts. i will be taking this up further if this i not handled and covered under a recall.

Steering gear assembly locked up while driving 55mph on the highway.

Informed that the steering assist has malfunctioned and loose all power steering. luckily so far i have been able to turn car off and restart and have the steering function properly.

I bought a 2012 focus sel with 43000 miles on 1/15/2014. drove from nc. to ca. 2 months later and never had a problem then 6 months after having i would get random alerts saying "steering assist failure" but i could turn off the car and restarted it and it would go away. when the message came up you lost all steering assist and goes into manual. on thur. sept. 26, 2019, at 630am as i starting driving doing about 25 mph it came n and i lost all steering. as i slowed down and started a turn the wheels locked up and went up the curb and hit a cinder block wall. no damage to the wall other then scrapped paint. i have looked up this problem before and knew my time was coming but hoped ford would do the right thing and recall the focus as well as the other they did with the same problem. next step is reporting it to ntsb. i do not have the $3125.00 to fix this. you would have thought the car industry learned from the gm screw up but i guess not.

While driving the vehicles power steering will disengage! parked the vehicle after getting home safely the car now says power steering assist malfunction and the power steering does not work. i can not get any answers from ford!

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. after attempting to start the vehicle, the steering wheel seized and the steering wheel locked error message illuminated. the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 96,300. the vin was not provided.

My 2012 ford focus is displaying on the dash "steering assist fault, req'd service". bottom line, the power steering is gone. can barely make any turns or park. this display has come up several different times in about a year and a half, maybe two years but then i turned the car off and the display disappeared and everything was ok. i asked ford mechanics about this but they said unless the problem is present when i had the car in for other service they could not do anything about it. this time, the display has not gone away and steering is extremely difficult. i have been on many automobile forums on the internet and it seems like this is a very common problem with the ford focus 2012. a lot of others have suffered the same thing. with this problem so common, there should be a recall.

Bought this car for our grandson to drive to work. on sept 21 2019 he was leaving work in walmart parking lot when his steering became to hard for him to drive. had to go pick him up at 11:00 pm the road he drives is very curvy would have been dangerous for him to try driving home . i know other people have had this problem its a shame that people have to be injured or killed before ford motor co fixes this problem.

When i went to leave my parking spot, i had zero power steering and a warning light on the dash. no warning, it was fine when i parked it 4 hours earlier. now, the dealer says i need an entire new rack and pinion totaling $1,560 with labor. why is this not a recall with all of these complaints? could this also cause the terrible vibration in this car i've felt since we bought in april? i've had it back to the dealer 3 times and they can't find it when they test drive.

One day i went to start my car up, and tried to turn my wheel and it wouldn't turn. somebody was able to loosen it up for me that time. two days after that i attempted the same thing and it wouldn't not loosen up at all. the wheel is extremely hard to turn. i've done a little research and seen that they have had this problem with a number of these models.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. while driving various speeds, the vehicle stalled. also, the vehicle hesitated and the steering wheel seized. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the contact was informed that the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. the vehicle was also taken to ford of murfreesboro (1550 nw broad st, murfreesboro, tn 37129, (615) 713-1436) for unknown repairs to the transmission. the vehicle was repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 100,000.