Ford Focus ST Forum banner

Power Steering Failure :-(

25K views 26 replies 15 participants last post by  xxxPEGAxxx  
#1 ·
So I hop into my 2014 ST Monday afternoon and the cluster says "Steering Assist Failure - Service Required" and the power steering didn't work. Bummer, but only 5,900 miles so still covered by warranty.

Drop it off at Kemp Ford in Thousandoaks, CA Monday night and get a call Tuesday afternoon that the Electric Steering Gear (rack and pinion for us old school guys) failed and needs to be replaced. No biggy I think, except the news is the part is on back order with no ETA. What!? That sucks!

They almost wouldn't give me a rental car, but I convinced them to do it anyways.

Being a former Chrysler mechanic, I understand back orders, but to not have an ETA is unfathomable. Hell, pull one from a ST in the lot or from the assembly line in Michigan for all I care, I just want my car back :-(
 
#3 ·
Hey man join the group of us that buy a brand new car and cant drive it do to Ford having back order problems. Been waiting 3 months for a door. With the same problem no ETA. Best thing to do is call the BBB and your local Consumer Affairs office. Ford can keep building them and selling them, but for the people who already bought them a big F...U!!
 
#5 ·
The car gods must be shining upon me. Stoped by the dealer during lunch, guess the part came in this morning, but they didn't call me. Took me going in personally to find this out. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow at the latest. They said maybe even this evening.
 
#6 ·
So I hop into my 2014 ST Monday afternoon and the cluster says "Steering Assist Failure - Service Required" and the power steering didn't work.
I'm guessing the car was still driveable without the power steering assist? If so, how difficult was it to turn?

Glad to hear they got the part in and you'll soon have your ST back!
 
#7 ·
It's very hard to turn without the electronic assistance. Its a bit easier once you get going, but still difficult. I work a mile from the dealer though, so I carefully got it there. It's not something I'd want to drive like that for very long.
 
#9 ·
It took about a month to get a replacement rear bumper cover for my '14 as the part was on national back order. With Nick's help a Ford regional customer service rep kept me up to date each week on the status of the back ordered part. I got a call from the auto body shop today letting me know that the part arrived. Still I am surprised that body parts are scarce for such a relatively common car.
 
#10 ·
The car gods don't love me. Was supposed to be done Thursday, but they called Friday after replacing the steering gear and said that did not fix the issue. They said they ordered a new 80 amp mega fuse to try that. At this point I dont think they're troubleshooting the issue so much as they are just throwing parts at it and hoping it fixes the problem. You'd think a mega fuse would be one of the first things they would check before ordering a $1,100 part. New fuse will be in Monday, gonna laugh my butt off if that fixes it after they wasted their time with the steering gear.
 
#11 ·
There is an interactive diag through ids for epas concerns if the test says put a rack in that's whta they do. I'm not surprised they didn't give you an update when the part came in since the car wasnt ready for pickup yet. Would of saved the hassle of having to tell you your not getting it back faster that there's more to the problem.
And trust me national back order sucks for the dealer and service advisors just as much as it does for the customer. Especially when the car is torn down on a lift now your losing money and having to deal with an upset customer at the same time.
 
#12 ·
Oh, I get the back order issue. Been there, done that. Typically we would just push a down car out of the bay so another could come in. Back orders with no eta were uncommon though. I don't blame a dealer for a part being on BO, I blame Ford. That being said, the advisor said he would call me later that day and he never did and im just a stickler for following through with what you say you're going to do. I dont know how Ford operates, but with Chrysler, we're given in depth troubleshooting to perform and when it came to electronics, fuses and relays were always the first to be tested. My service manager would have had my ass if I warrantied an $1,100 part when all that was needed was a $15 fuse. For their sake, I hope its not the fuse.
 
#13 ·
Yeah ford does not obviously fuses should be tested first but going through a ppt fuse or wiring concern may be 5-6 steps in or may never come up at all. Ford likes to do random back order stuff you have to do a support ticket then they usually give you an eta that never holds up. Automatic focus clutches were 6 months now 3 and supposedly dropping to a few weeks but none of that has happened yet lol
 
#14 ·
You'd think with all the focus AT issues they'd make sure to have plenty of parts for them! My rental focus has tranny issues, lol. My brothers both have AT focus' , one had the clutches replaced, the other went through a reprogram, clutches, then finally a new tranny.
 
#15 ·
There's millions with problems (probably slightly exaggerated) but they are also producing them at the same time for new cars and yeah ford doesn't give production parts to broken cars haha they want the retail money first. I have 8-10 cars waiting for them some dealers are upwards of 40-50 times 3000 dealers is a lot of parts on order
 
#18 ·
Wife's Escape is awaiting new parts for the moonroof. Guess what... yep, backorder. .

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#19 ·
IMO the endless backorders are from 'Just on Time' parts creation for most American new car makers. Since the parts are only being made 'as needed' for new car assembly.. Why would anyone expect a pile of parts to be laying around for repairs?
The parts for repairs are also probably being made 'Just in time' for warranty repairs, and being made and shipped AFTER an order for a replacement comes in.
My opinion.

However is a car is undrivable and the warranty repair on backorder, Ford better be giving a loaner. Period.
 
#20 ·
I scheduled the recall to be done on mine at the dealer. Drove 30 mins the day of to drop it off and the harness was on back order. They said "someone was supposed to call you" well nobody had.. I was peeved. I took it to another dealer and had them do it. How could they scheduled appointment 2 weeks beforehand and not even have the parts...

Tappin with my Galaxy S6
 
#25 ·
It doesn't in the state of MA, but i had to contact Consumer Affairs about it and in order for me to do that and get a quick response i used the Lemon Law form. I received a reply this morning stating that they forwarded my complaint to my local AG office and should here back from them next week sometime. do to the Holiday.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Just went out on my 15 a couple days ago @ ~9,900 miles.

This actually happened once before in the 7k mile area, but on that day I just turned the car off and back on and it went away. This time, it was totally busted.

Dealer covered it under warranty - steering gear assembly replacement. 1 day turnaround. They did an alignment also, surprising how off my front toe was for the miles on the car (LF -0.38 RF -0.18)