2012 Ford Focus Steering Problems
- 791
- Owner complaint records in our dataset
Records are owner complaints, not a measured failure rate.
Owner complaint recordsComplaint records reflect reports in our dataset and do not measure how frequently the problem occurs across all vehicles.
Among these 791 stored complaint records:
- 20 indicate a crash
- 21 indicate injury
- 2 indicate fire
- 3 indicate a death
What owners report
- power steering · 103 records
- steering wheel · 44 records
- steering assist · 43 records
- assist fault · 15 records
- steering failed · 13 records
- failure mileage · 12 records
Mileage in stored records
| Band | Records |
|---|---|
| 60–100k mi | 339 |
| 30–60k mi | 165 |
| 100–150k mi | 138 |
| 1–30k mi | 76 |
| 150–400k mi | 19 |
Complaint records
Owner-submitted complaint content, presented as stored.
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the power steering seized without warning. The contact was able to stop and restart the vehicle where the vehicle resumed to normal. The contact stated that the failure recurred approximately two weeks later. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the power steering had failed and would need to…
ODI 10864109
Engine · Steering · Unknown Or Other
I have had transmission problems from day one. The car studded and stop from time to time. I almost got into an accident with my daughter when the car suddenly stopped on me because of faulty transmission. The radiator also went out. The steering gear locked up on me while i was driving and i almost had an accident with my kids in the car.
1 injury
ODI 10862323
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving approximately 30 mph, the power steering seized and the power steering warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering gear moduler needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vin was unknown. The approximate failure mileage was 126,000.…
ODI 10862989
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving approximately 45 mph, the steering seized without warning. The contact drifted the vehicle over to the shoulder. When the vehicle came to a complete stop, the steering ability returned. The dealer diagnosed the failure, but it was unable to be duplicated. The approximate failure mileage was 77,600.
ODI 10855171
Electrical System · Steering
Steering freezes, makes a very dangerous moment, door window doesn't suddenly work. Feel a recall should be in effect, chosen states have a recall on the steering, but not in texas, i'm a senior citzen, living off gove. Benitfits , can't afford the price to fix, the vehicle was stationary, and one time in motion.
ODI 10861303
Steering
Started car and put it in gear to begin driving out of driveway. Got a message in the info system that said "steering assist fault" ( think that is what it said) the car had no power steering. Extremely hard to turn the wheel at all. Shut the car off and restarted. Same thing. Shut the car off and started it later in the day to take it to the dealer and the error was gone and the power steering was fine. Dealer said…
ODI 10854261
Steering
Received "steering assist fault " and complete loss of power steering. I had just begun to drive out the driveway. Fortunately i did not make it onto the road.
ODI 10853366
Steering
The display on the dash reads "steering assist fault". It started as an intermittent failure that happened once the car was first started, the problem would go away after shutting down and restarting, that had been happening for a couple weeks. Now it is a consistent problem. There is absolutely no assist in the power steering, makjng the car very difficult to maneuver at normal driving speed and near impossible to…
ODI 10861615
Steering
My 17 year old daughter was driving to basketball and all of the sudden she lost all power steering n it all locked up. Thank gosh she was on a straight a way. I looked up to see if there any recalls n there's not. I have called ford [redacted] they said thy hv no complaints . I told them all the ones i saw on this sight but thy said they need anyone that has had this problem to call ford directly [redacted] then…
ODI 10851305
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving approximately 35 mph, the steering locked. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle and it resumed normal operation. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 15,922.
ODI 10851291
Steering
While driving m power steering goes out. Also when first start car will indicate problem with power steering. Will have to turn off car then start again to resolve issue. I started few months ago and has become progressively worse. I hope they recall this before someone gets hurt.
ODI 10846380
Steering
Steering went out at starting the car. This was just hours after dealer repaired some recalls., has never come back. "steering assist fault service req'" read out on dash. One ford dealer wants $125.00 to look at it after i mentioned steering. Another has refused to answer calls. I discovered that dealers were warned about problems with steering but did not notify owners.
ODI 10853231
Steering
I was driving on a city street going 30mph when my steering started to get hard to steer but not impossible. When i pulled over i got a notification on my dash the "steering loss, stop safely". At that point there was no way what so ever to turn my steering wheel at all. All most seemed like it was locked. Tried restarting the car and still no steering
ODI 10840054
Electrical System · Steering
Went to start my 2012 ford focus se on 3/3/16 and immediately received a message stating "power steering malfunction". The steering wheel felt like it locked up and was very difficult to turn. Thank goodness i was in my driveway and not on the road with my kids in the car! We were able to get the car to apple ford in columbia md where they ran diagnostics and said we need to replace the the steering rack, which will…
ODI 10840405
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving 5 mph, the steering malfunctioned. The vehice was diagnosed and repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 84,800.
ODI 10839883
Power Train · Steering · Visibility/Wiper
On 2/25/16, after a severe rainstorm, i went to turn on my car and tried to turn on the wiper blades, but they would not come on. The next morning they did turn on. That afternoon, when starting my car, the wiper blades turned on without the control being activated. The blades continued to run even when the car was turned off and no keys were in the ignition. The only way to stop the blades was to disconnect the…
ODI 10839402
Power Train · Steering
Transmission shutters and slips and the power steering just shuts down at times, this is very dangerous. My wife was merging onto the interstate and the steering shuts down the engine still running. She has to shut the car off and start it again to get the power steering to work. This has happened around 10 times.
ODI 10837076
Steering
Electronic power steering failure occurred again with warning lights. I shut down the car and it came back on. The steering fairly frequently briefly stops working. I experience this typically while parked before getting out on the road.
ODI 10825739
Steering
I was driving home with my children and the alert light came on to say there was a steering problem then all of a sudden the car decided it wanted to steer itself into oncoming traffic. I could move the steering wheel so i slammed on the brakes and put car in reverse to get into the median before getting hit. My girls were screaming and crying. After cars passed i had to slam the steering wheel in order to pop it…
ODI 10825819
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving various speeds, the vehicle experienced a loss of power steering and the power steering warning indicator illuminated. Mike bass ford (located at [redacted], village of sheffield, oh) was contacted and diagnosed that the battery was defective and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the…
ODI 11019605
Steering
My power steering started working only intermittently and has now completely stopped working. My car is necessary for my job and so i have no choice but to drive it this way. I have done research and found that ford is aware of the problem and has recalled other models, but not the focus. I have contacted ford and was told that there is no recall for this on this model and that i would have to repair it at my…
ODI 10873858
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that after turning on the vehicle, the instrument panel would display a warning message of "steering assist fault". The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the power steering gear box would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 110,000.
ODI 10908493
Steering
Electric power assist system - lost power steering. Lost power steering several times when starting then reset it self when shut off. Last time happened while daughter driving car. Now at shop. Being charged $2200 to fix while still paying on vehicle. Irritating. I have had nothing but problems with this vehicle.
ODI 10825164
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While driving 10 mph, the steering wheel became inoperable without warning. The failure occurred randomly. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the rack and pinion failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 92,000.
ODI 10825544
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that while driving at 55 mph, the steering wheel became difficult to turn. There was an unknown warning message that illuminated. The vehicle was restarted and the steering wheel function as designed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 43,000. ...updated 03-10-16 *bf the…
ODI 10820032