Over the last couple weeks we have experienced a loss of power steering and an increasingly severe "shaking" of our steering wheel when it is working. We took the car to the mechanic and was told that we need to replace the entire steering column due to a failure of the electronic power steering. The part alone is $900, $1,400 with labor. After doing some research online it appears as though this is quite a common issue for '08 escapes and Mariners (www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/escape/2008/steering/power_steering_failure.shtml). it is extremely dangerous because I cannot turn the wheel at all when the power steering goes out. It has not gone out mid-drive for us yet, but have read of that happening to people. For us, when we turn the vehicle on, there will be no power steering and we have to turn it off and back on again 1-3 times before the power steering will work. And then there is a severe "shaking" while driving. I am shocked the defective electronic power steering has not been recalled for these very popular cars. We drive a 3 year old and 5 month old in our car. We cannot afford this type of repair, but clearly cannot afford to drive our children in the cars very dangerous condition.

- Chicago, IL, USA

Vehicle shut down while driving on the interstate at approx. 65 mph, immediately losing all power. Message on dash read "stop safely now". this is a very dangerous issue. Driving on the interstate at 65 mph and it has occured 8 times since I purchased this car. Ford has repaired the car for this 3 times (in 2009, 2010, 2013), the first 2 it was under warranty, this last one the repair cost was $350. What is terrifying about this situation is that it occurs without warning and you have about 10 seconds to react, I've been very close to getting rear ended a couple of times. I was able to restart the vehicle every time, but what surprises me is that even though this situation is so serious, I did not find out until now it's so common. I will be shopping for a new car soon, I had enough. I kept the car this long because other than this issue, I really love driving it.

- Pico Rivera, CA, USA

New 2008 Mercury Mariner intermittent will not start or hard to start and when starts emits heavy black smoke from exhaust. When car did not start left daughter in a unsafe environment. Took car to local dealership, service department admitted Ford was aware of the problem there is a service bulletin out on the car bulletin # 6023000 and # 20140. Dealership also admitted Ford has no fix for the problem at this time. Car is unsafe and can leave the driver in a deadly situation.

- Slidell, LA, USA