CarComplaints.com Notes: Ford changed a lot of things for its 3rd generation, just none of them were a good idea.
The transmission tends to hesitate and jerk when accelerating. The new electronically-driven power steering can fail suddenly and without warning. Even Ford's SYNC can be a headache. Actually, scratch that last one — it's always been a headache.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
6 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
66,746 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
While driving, my power steering randomly goes out, luckily I was parking when it did, but the message pops up as -steering assist fault-. now I would have been worried if it wasnt for the fact that it would work for short periods of time then randomly cut off in the middle of driving, got me once on a turn almost causing me to crash. Not sure if there is a real difference with the other focuses but mines a 2013 Ford Focus SE hatchback.
As others described. While driving the power steering stops. Pull over and restart the engine and the steering assists comes back. This has been happening for a year intermittently about 6-8 weeks apart. This week it happened but the steering assist has not returned.
When I turned my car on I got an alert that said "steering assist fault service required". I tried to back up but the steering wheel was completely stiff so I turned my car off. When I turned it back on the power steering returned. I have read a lot of complaints about the same issue online, and I am confused as to why there isn't a recall on the power steering yet.
This Focus has gave me nothing but problems. I've had it for almost 4 years in January. And it's left me stranded numerous times multiple trips to the dealership lets not get started on how awful they are. I'm going to trade it in. Never will I buy another Ford !!
Drove to work fine, on my way home, alert comes on steering wheel fault and then I can barely turn the wheel. I panic and pull into auto zone, which they say I may need power steering fluid so I buy a bottle. Look in the car book to see where to put it, turns out this car isnt equip with that, I have an esp! get in the car again and everything is fine no alert and I can drive it fine. Next day I go to drive and again I have an alert and can not drive!!! this is my 1st car ever and in the 2yrs I've had it nothing but recalls on it! this needs to be a recall to many are complaining about the same issue. What if this happen on a highway!"!"! on top of this I'm still waiting for a fix to the gas gauge issue, and the transmission was supposedly fix but it's still doing the same thing after a full stop, it has a hard time going again!!!!! I will never by a Ford vehicle again
- Manville, NJ, USA
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The warning in the attached picture came up and power steering quit working. Warning goes out when you turn car off but it's right back on when you start the car.. I went to leave for work and started the car and went to pull out of my driveway and could barely turn the steering wheel. So I parked it and got in my pick up truck. Haven't driven it since because it won't go out. Had another issue with the car. I had it fixed at Ford for several hundred dollars and then a recall came out. Was waiting to see if a recall came out on this issue.
After starting my vehicle, and putting it into gear, the steering wheel locks up and I get an error stating "steering fault assist service required". turning the vehicle off and on again fixed this issue a few times before, but it worries me that the power steering could go out at any time. There are several recalls for other Ford models having this issue, such as the Fusion, but there is no recall for the Focus.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. When the vehicle was started, the steering wheel seized and the steering assist fault indicator illuminated. The failure recurred. The contact called brandon Ford at 813-246-3673 (located at 9090 E adamo dr, tampa, fl 33619) and scheduled an appointment. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.
Power steering fault numerous times and car has to be shut off and restarted sometimes multiple times to get power steering to work so the car is driveable
My 2013 Ford Focus hatchback power steering stop working! this is not good because now I have no choice but to hit something because I can no longer maneuver around it. The car is hard to steer and should not happen on any vehicle! luckily this happened hours after getting home from work. Now I have to drive my car like this until I pay it off or trade it in! that's crazy and I have found out that I am not the only one that had this issue!
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. While making a left turn, the steering wheel seized without warning and became difficult to turn. As a result, the contact crashed into a median. There were no injuries. The contact was able to drive the vehicle home as the power steering and oil warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer and manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 120,000.
Power stopped operating while driving. It had suddenly become very difficult to turn the steering wheel. This is dangerous especially for a smaller person, the steering wheel is almost impossible to turn.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. While the contact's daughter was driving 45 mph, the steering wheel seized without warning. The driver managed to steer the vehicle home. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure recurred. The failure mileage was 61,000.
Power steering failed while vehicle was moving on surface road making it nearly impossible to safely steer out of traffic. Failure came on suddenly and without warning.
Complete failure of power steering making car impossible to drive. Per dealer rack / bolt failure. Estimate to repair $2200. Could have caused car crash. What happened warning light to pull over get service immediately followed by complete locking of steering. Even the tow truck person could barely get on to tow truck because could not move position of care.
The steering failure was noticed driving at high way speed as it became very difficult to maintain a straight line of travel. Once I determined something was wrong I pulled over to run the cars built in diagnostic. The diagnostic claimed there was a steering fault and service was needed but appeared as if the vehicle was still functional. I then decided to shut the vehicle off and restart it, once restarted the error message "steering loss stop safely" appeared and the steering was effectively locked
While driving on the interstate received a warning 'power steering assist fault- service required'. nearly wrecked, but was able to pull onto the shoulder, when I restarted the vehicle the error went away and power steering was back. Made it home (cautiously) and now the error comes up every time I start the vehicle and the wheel is nearly impossible to turn.
Could happen while driving or when you turn on the car.... on the screen appears a message saying 'steering wheel problem, please contact service' and the wheel turns to be really hard to move, very dangerous..... the only way to fixed on the moment is to stop.... turn off the car and on again. This is a automatic steering system, there is no way to add fluid or try to fix it by yourself.
The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus. While driving 65 mph, the steering wheel seized and the contact had to use excessive strength to steer the vehicle to safety. The power steering indicator illuminated after the failure. The vehicle was towed to diehl's Ford sales (11782 national pike, grantsville, md 21536, (301) 895-5135) where it was diagnosed that a new power steering system needed to be installed. The vehicle was currently being repaired. The manufacturer was notified and did not assist. The failure mileage was 58,000. The VIN was unknown.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Galax, VA, USA