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
The vehicle has had strange steering issues as follows. 60mph light rain, road barely wet - vehicle starts moving around like in a 100mph cross wind, except there is no wind. Traction control comes on, vehicle nearly looses control. This was on straight road. Next 5 mph dry, in parking lot, steering loss, warning of power assist steering failure. Stop car. Turned off and back on, all ok.next 30mph, 1 minute after…
ODI 10486191
Steering
This is the second incident where the steering wheel locked up and the error message "power steering assist fault" appeared on the instrument panel. During this incident, i was driving the car through a parking lot at approx 10mph when the steering malfunction occurred. The first incident was approx 2 weeks prior to this but i had just started the vehicle in my driveway when the same symptoms occurred. In both…
ODI 10483523
Power Train · Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. While starting the vehicle, the electronic power steering system fault illuminated on the instrument panel and the steering wheel became very difficult to maneuver. The contact stated that the failure occurred on four separate occasions intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the failure could not be duplicated. While driving 45 mph, the contact heard a loud…
ODI 10784979
Steering
Driving from detroit to pennsylvania, car was turned off for 10 minutes. When started, a message said the power steering was no longer operable and indeed it wasn't. Car was towed to dealership and power steering rack was replaced at their expense. *tr
ODI 10548991
Steering
After getting my car back from dealership where they reprogrammed the transmission the car would wonder from left to right at freeway speeds and the steering felt unstable. *tr
ODI 10478685
Steering
New 2012 focus jan. 18-2012. After 9258 miles steering locked while entering busy intersection. Great difficultly steering car off road. Incident happened twice that day (8-6) and again 8-7, fourth time 8-18. Warning light "steering assist fault.". Dealer unable to duplicate problem. Therefore nothing corrected. Dealer offered no recourse. I felt car unsafe to drive. After frustrating conversions with dealer rep, a…
ODI 10474323
Steering
I had an earlier complaint on my first focus purchased in march 2012...incident date june 27 2012...i lost power steering on 3 occasions...service was not able to fix it so they exchanged my car for an identical one on july 25, 2012...the second day i drove the new focus, something strange happened with the steering while on the expressway...i was going about 60 mph on a straight road and the car started to wander…
ODI 10468122
Steering
Got the car on wednesday july 25th after a week long wait for key....long story.....the first incident happened 2 hours after picking up the car. Sitting in a drive thru. "power steering assist fault, maintenance required". Turned car off and on problem went away. Next day sitting in traffic, the problem returned called for service and taking the car in for service. Wish i would have looked this up prior to…
ODI 10467901
Air Bags · Body · Steering · Tires
In june 2012, my daughter was driving and her front passenger tire exploded. This was the 3rd set of new tires we had placed on this vehicle (by 30,000 miles - averaging 10,000 miles per set of tires). Then in july 2012, she was driving home and started to skid. She was not able to recover from the skid and hit a tree head-on. The front of her car was destroyed. The tree centered her car and the front end looked…
Crash reported
ODI 10475687
Steering
While slowing to a stop, driving in a straight line, the power steering suddenly failed. The car was extremely difficult to steer. The dashboard displayed "power steering assist fault: service required." the car had been running for approximately 2 minutes. After turning the car off and starting it again, the power steering returned. I took the car to the ford dealership, and they did not find any problems with the…
ODI 10465739
Power Train · Service Brakes, Hydraulic · Steering
The vehicle was parked. I started it up and backed out of the parking space. I shifted into drive and began moving forward. After going approximately 20 feet the "i" sign illuminated on the instrument panel and the message "steering malfunction, needs service" came on, along with the alarm jingle. I tried to steer the car out of the middle of the drive lane and managed to get it over to the side, but the steering…
ODI 10462989
Steering
As i was turning out of a store into traffic, the power steering went out....power assist fault came up on computer screen....steering became very difficult turn....once i got off the road i turned the car off and then on again and the steering returned....i took the car to a dealership and they said they fixed it per ssm 21987 code. One week later it happened again, twice within 6 miles....first time i was backing…
ODI 10463388
Steering
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford focus. The contact stated that while parked he noticed the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver. The contact stated the power steering failed. The steering default warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The vin was not…
ODI 10478577
Power Train · Steering
The rolling back problem came first. When you are stopped on any incline, between taking your foot off of the brake and placing it on the accelerator, the car rolls back quite quickly, and i have almost hit the car behind me. The steering problems came a little later. The steering requires both hands at all times, and even then it is quite shaky. I feel car sick when i am the passenger because there is so much side…
ODI 10475047
Air Bags · Electronic Stability Control · Steering
I don't know if my ford focus 2012 is included in the tamara airbag recall or not. My clutch has been replaced several times due to sudden acceleration when stopped or slowing down.: it's the powershift transmission. My door latches were replaced per ford recall. New rear engine main seal replaced 7/12/17. Vehicle has only 32,746 miles on it. Tires already had to be replaced.
ODI 11004957
Steering
To whom it may concern: there is currently a recall for the electric power assist unit which is responsible for certain ford products power steering. The recall includes several ford/mariner suv. I'm not sure if that includes ford's focus( i've read some internet articles that said it had and others it had not) but the affected vehicles include model years 2012 thru 2014. I had reported it to both ford & my…
ODI 10725627
Power Train · Steering · Suspension
Having problems with steering assist.it locks up staring will.and turn off vehicle sensor warning goes away dry for a while sensor warning comes back locks up staring will. I have not droving on the highway . It will lock up still can't find a recall one this problem it comes up when i drive
ODI 11111367
Steering
Whenever i drive the car around 60 miles speed, the steering wheel becomes stiff and starts to wander. It becomes really hard to balance the wheels. I noticed this on my brand new ford focus se for the first time on may 25th 2012, when i was driving on a tollway at 60 to 70 miles speed per hour. I bought this car on may 24th 2012. This car is not good for driving on highways especially for driving around the speed…
ODI 10461291
Fuel/Propulsion System · Power Train · Steering
Car is shuddering, vibrating, rolling backwards on inclines, stuttering bad gas mileage at low speeds between 0 and 20 miles per hour. The car has been in 4 times to the dealer beginning on 5/3/12 through 11/14/13 it has been reprogrammed 3 times and a new transmission replaced it which has solved the problem temporarily but starts happening again. When driving in or pulling out into traffic because the car either…
ODI 10659409
Steering
The power steering assist fails while driving at speed. It just cuts off and steering becomes extremely difficult. Restarting the car seems to reset the psa and i can drive again. But this has happened 7-8 times over the past year. I've gone to the ford dealership 3 times, and each time they acknowledge the error, but cannot replicate it and they do not make any corrective repairs or action. They just expect me to…
ODI 10532108
Steering
At highway speeds the steering appears to lock when making a lane change or when following a curve in the road. Additional effort will free the steering but this causes the vehicle to dart in the direction of the turn. It takes several steering adjustments to bring the vehicle under control. The steering gear has been replaced but the problem persists. *tr
ODI 10486384
Power Train · Steering
Since day one of the purchase of my (march ) 2012 ford focus the steering "feels" like it is constantly wandering, after an hour drive time, your arm is give out from the stress. My car also seems to have a flutter in the transmission or engine during take off. The car will also roll back while stopped on an incline. The dealer checked steering the 4th day after purchase and assured me the steering was fine, that it…
ODI 10465313
Steering
While driving this 2012 ford focus sel, the steering has intermittent issues. At highway speeds at 65 mph the car wanders to both sides of your lane, sometimes almost sideswiping other vehicles. The steering wheel becomes stiff as though the power steering is gone. Other times it feels like it's going through a windstorm and feels out of control. Dealer hasn't been able to "replicate" therefore, no corrections made…
ODI 10552840
Steering
Power steering failed while driving new ford focus se, making it difficult to steer the car. Failure of steering was accompanied by "steering assist fault - service required" message in dash and warning chime. On restart of car, steering returns to normal operation and fault message no longer displays. This has occurred once after purchase of car. I see there are many complaints about this but no solutions. Will…
ODI 10450114
Steering
The ford focus 2012 has problem starting at 556 miles - the engine would not even turn over. The warning light "steering assist fault service require" come on, and the front power windows do not work too. Hope the dealer would fix this soon. *tr
ODI 10448127