Power Steering Failure
 

I bought an '09 Escape Hybrid about 10 months ago and for the most part, have been delighted with it. However, it recently suffered a sudden loss of power steering boost.

This would be ok if there were some warning, or if the loss was gradual, or if it didn't work right from startup. But sudden and complete loss of power steering boost with no warning is a significant safety hazard.

I had researched the FEH before I bought it, and this did not come to my attention. But since the failure, research using more specific terms has turned up dozens of reports of this.

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...seconds-24649/
https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...roblems-27152/
http://www.carproblemzoo.com/ford/es...d-problems.php
http://www.carproblemzoo.com/ford/es...g-problems.php
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0fb471/0
http://www.hybridcars.com/forums/sho...eering-Failure
http://community.cartalk.com/discuss...eering-failure
http://www.escape-city.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=13723

The US NHTSA site also has many reports. There is no TSB or recall for it. Ford is aware of the problem but doesn't think it's severe enough to do anything other than fix them as they crop up. For those with no warranty, this means Ford is comfortable to profit from repairing a design/manufacturing defect that puts their customers at risk.

The failure does not generate an error code. I am looking forward to an unwarrantied repair where the steering column assembly alone is $1400.

I urge anyone who has experienced this failure to report it. In the US, this can be done at the www.safercar.gov, and in Canada at Transport Canada:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/s...s-index-76.htm
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/contact-us.htm#freq
Road Safety – Defects and Recalls
Phone: 1-800-333-0510

While a recall would be nice because my repair would then be covered by Ford, there are more important reasons for reporting. If this failure is a matter of WHEN, rather than IF it happens to any given Escape/Mariner/Tribute hybrid, then no one driving one that has not been repaired, can be confident it will never happen to them. (A 2008 FEH with 500,000 miles on it has had the steering column replaced TWICE.) A recall would resolve that concern. It is only a matter of time until this failure results in injury and/or death involving these vehicles. The harm may be to an innocent party other than those with the hybrid. Given the history of auto companies and these sorts of problems, there may have already been such serious cases.

So please, if you've had this problem, get it onto the official record.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

We are all sorry for your issue. No one wants to have something like this to occur. The question that needs to be answered is how often does this occur? What year(s) and is it one every 1000 vehicles and only after 80,000 miles? A statistical printout would be greatly appreciated. Spud recently posted he has 200,000 miles on his vehicle and this issue has not happened. GPSman1 has gotten something like 153,000 miles without this issue.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

Probably only Ford knows how many repairs have been done for this problem. Even they won't have any record of the people who've had the problem and did nothing about it. It's entirely possible that whomever traded in the FEH I bought used, did so because this happened to them and they decided to dump it rather than do the costly repair.

The various agencies and discussion sites I mentioned have dozens of reports. But there's no way to tell how many are duplicate postings of the same incident or how many incidents have gone unreported online.

A review of the cases that are accessible online indicates the '08 is the most likely to have this failure, followed by the '09. The pre-'08's are less likely, and the post '09's have almost no reports.

I've heard hearsay that 1% or a fatality will trigger a recall, but I don't know if that's true. 1% would be about 1,200 cases for all FEH's. But the number for just the '08's and '09's would be a fraction of that, of course. Perhaps 300. And if Ford could narrow down the suspect assembly, they could further reduce the number. There must be some pattern to it.

On the other hand, Ford could choose to fix this without waiting for a scandal to tarnish the image of its hybrids. Toyota had the same problem with Prius, Camry and Highlander hybrids and didn't seem to wait before doing a recall.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

The steering column on my FEH has been replaced. Everything seems to be fine now.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

xspirit,

I own a 2009 FEH and it has 58k miles on it. I have owned since it was new and it has been a great vehicle, but back in early December I lost power steering for a couple of seconds while making a gradual right turn at about 45 mph. I hit the brakes of course and at the same time the PS came back on - this happened at 5:30 am on the way to work.

It hasn't happened since, but I every couple of months I take a look at this forum and was surprised to find this has happened to others.

My questions for you - how long was your PS out for?

Question for other Forum members:

I have the 100k extended warranty on my vehicle - will the Dealer replace the steering column under this warranty or will I have a fight to get this done because there are no check engine codes?

I plan to report this problem to NHTSA and safercar.gov.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

@Wolfy9048 My loss of boost lasted perhaps a minute. I was going up a steep winding road at the time and I may not have used the brakes until I reached my destination. At the time I had not heard of this problem, and so I had also not heard that there are reports of the EPAS resuming boost if you use the brakes. Mine did not come back until I restarted the engine to see if that would fix it.

I'm pretty sure your extended warranty will cover it. I have also learned that although Ford does not have a recall or TSB for this problem, Ford is well aware of it and has some sort of non-public "tsb" for it.

Since my opening post, I've also learned that this same electric power steering component or design was also used on non-hybrid Escapes and other Ford models. Apparently all of them are having this problem. It seems most common on the '08 and 09 models.

Thanks for reporting the failure.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

"Ford is well aware of it and has some sort of non-public "tsb" for it"---

is it possible to share your source of information?


"Since my opening post, I've also learned that this same electric power steering component or design was also used on non-hybrid Escapes and other Ford models. Apparently all of them are having this problem"

With another Ford (08 model) in the family, I curious on what information your statement was based upon.

I have a maintenance appointment at the Ford Dealership on Monday and will ask them just this question(s).

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

I know from talking to a Transport Canada person that Ford is very aware of this problem. Apparently Ford says it's not sufficiently common to issue a recall, and/or not enough people have been hurt or killed by it, and/or it's not that dangerous a failure.

Given that, Ford certainly would have some sort of internal advisory about it. The bulletin is not available to the public and perhaps not even to the average mechanic. Every Ford dealership service dept. should have access to this, as evidenced by their easy diagnosis of the need to replace the steering column.

You can get an idea of the scope of the problem by doing Internet searches for "ford escape power steering problem -hybrid", "ford eps failure", or "ford epas problem" etc.

I don't know of any convenient place that lists the models using this electric power steering assembly, aka "rack" or column.

As I mentioned before, Toyota had the same problem with their Prius, Highlander and Camry hybrids, and did a recall before waiting for fatalities. I suspect that if all Escape Hybrid owners who've had this problem reported it, the frequency would pass the threshold (3%?) needed for NHTSA to force a recall for the Hybrids.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

Every Ford dealership service dept. should have access to this---


Ok, I am going to hand this thread to my local service manager and ask one of the hybrid service techs about this issue. I will report back later on Monday. This could get interesting if my local service department denies any trouble or knowledge of this issue.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

Prior to issuing a TSB for a problem, they issue a SSM or SM, Special Service Message or Service Message. Back when I had access to the Ford Oasis system, I noticed this.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

I have the PremiumCare warranty and it was fully covered. My problem was exactly the same - loss of power for about 2 seconds.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

Spoke with the top hybrid service tech at my local Ford service department after I had simple maintenance work done. He denied a secret TSB exists for this thread's issue and has not seen or work on any vehicle that had this problem. He stated my power steering modular failure was the first one he experienced and the first one at the dealership for any vehicle. That is all I can add to this thread.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

If I were in the mechanic's position, the last thing I'd want is to be responsible for exposing on the Internet any of Ford's internal workings on this matter. It's extremely sensitive for Ford employees or anyone working with them, as a safety problem that may eventually face a very costly recall.

Your service tech said various things, but did he say he'd never heard of this?

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

My top hybrid Ford service department tech stated "he has never seen or worked on this failure-steering column power steering boost". I have been going to this dealership since 2007 with this vehicle. He denied any knowledge of a "secret" TSB for this issue. I'm located 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pa. This is one of Ford's few female owned dealerships.

If I were in the mechanic's position, the last thing I'd want is to be responsible for exposing on the Internet any of Ford's internal workings on this matter. It's extremely sensitive for Ford employees or anyone working with them, as a safety problem that may eventually face a very costly recall.

With this above statement, You are stating there is a safety issue. You are claiming the dealership employees-not just Ford Motor Company employees- are "aware" of this safety issue and are hiding the truth. That is making a huge jump in assumption. If you feel so strongly about this statement, I am asking for the real data-not reports to various government groups- to back up these claims. Nor do I want to read again that Toyota replaced their units without telling us what changed with the units. I had a power steering modular failure occur on my vehicle. The part cost like $612 plus labor. I have moved on.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

I finally got around to entering my account in the NHTSB problem reports. I would encourage everyone who has the issue to do the same, so that it can be tracked - and fixed if it become obvious enough. I'm glad Ford has (apparently) fixed the problem in my case, but if they have a larger problem, it should be noted.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

I have a 2006 FEH that I bought new. Lost the power steering at about 120K. I have invested over $3500 in replacement parts. I basically had a new power steering assembly installed by my local Ford dealer. Two weeks after the repair, ... power steering failure again. These cars are lemons.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

Sorry to hear of your problems, but Ford parts installed by the dealer have a 1 year warranty. Take it back and have them replace it - at their cost.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

Hi Steve, I appreciate your response and am waiting for a call back from Ford as I write this message. My worry is that they are going to tell me something else is wrong and charge me more money. At this point, no matter what they do or tell me, I have absolutley no confidence that the problem will be resolved or that they fully understand the root cause of what is shorting out my power steering. If they cant resolve the issue without me spending more money, my plan is to ask them to apply the cost of the parts toward a new or pre-owned vehicle, plus the trade-in value of my FEH (which isnt worht much at this point). Do you think I will have any luck? Oh yeah, I am only buying something with the old fluid driven power steering system. No more power gadgets.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

I don't think they will apply the cost of parts to another vehicle, but you never know. If you are that upset with the car, I'd just get rid of it. However you might consider a new lease if you qualify; there are some good deals.

In my case, it was the steering column, but it was an intermittent failure, unlike yours.

Many cars are still using fluid, but a whole bunch have gone to electric instead - it needs no maintenance.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

Reports of multiple failures are uncommon, but not unknown. Ford should certainly make this right.

The mechanic who did the steering column on my '09 said there were 6-8 part numbers for the assembly for the '09. He made sure I got the latest one. I'd speculate Ford has had to redesign the assembly either because the problem was still showing up, or just to make it better or cheaper. I would imagine there would be some of the superceded assemblies in the supply chain.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

Instead of replacing the whole steering unit which was done in the past they are just replacing the sensor which is what goes bad. A Ford Tech in another forum stated the they are having a problem with some of them though! The steering wheel rotates all the way to the right and stays there. This has also happened to some DIY who have purchased the sensor on eBay. In those cases, Ford Techs are forced to replace the whole assembly.

Re: Power Steering Failure
 

A couple of days ago, Ford issued announced they were recalling this problem. I believe there isn't a recall document yet, but owners are supposed to receive letters in July.

As we've come to realize, the problem extends at least to non-Hybrid Escapes, and the recall addresses '08-'11 model years. Something like one million vehicles are affected.

The announcement indicates there are three possible solutions for each instance of the problem: a software update, replacing a sensor module, or replacing the whole steering column assembly. This variation explains why there has been confusion on owner forums as to what the appropriate repair is. Obviously there's more than one version of the problem.

Since I've had my repair done, I'm looking forward to receiving repayment. Thanks to all those who helped make this happen by reporting the failures on their vehicles.