NHTSA Complaint #10817444 — 2008 FORD ESCAPE

THE CAR IS EQUIPPED WITH ELECTRONIC POWER STEERING. THE VEHICLE STARTED EXPERIENCING INTERMITTENT POWER STEERING ISSUES WHERE THE STEERING WHEEL WOULD SHUTTER WHILE DRIVING NORMALLY AT ANY SPEED (STATIONARY OR IN MOTION, AND ON CITY STREETS OR HIGHWAYS, WHILE BRAKING, ETC - EVERYTHING) AND SOMETIMES COMPLETELY SHUT OFF POWER ASSISTED STEERING ALL TOGETHER MAKING THE VEHICLE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO STEER. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO FORD FOR THE RECALL PROCEDURE APPROXIMATELY A YEAR AGO FROM THIS POSTING, HOWEVER, ONLY A SOFTWARE UPDATE WAS PERFORMED. THIS SEEMED TO TEMPORARILY FIX THE ISSUES WE WERE DESCRIBING, BUT ABOUT 10 MONTHS TO 1 YEAR LATER THE SAME ISSUES STARTED OCCURRING. THE VEHICLE HAS NO POWER STEERING AVAILABLE AND WE WERE TOLD THAT THE TORQUE SENSOR IN THE POWER STEERING UNIT NEEDED TO BE REPLACED (IMPLYING THAT THE PSCM MODULE WAS REPORTING A FAULTY SENSOR), BUT THE PROCEDURE WAS NOT GOING TO BE COVERED BY THEM SINCE THE CAR WAS PREVIOUSLY 'SERVICED' BY FORD FOR THE RECALL. HAD WE WAITED ABOUT 10 MONTHS TO 1 YEAR BEFORE PERFORMING THE FIRST RECALL, EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN REPLACED AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. NOW, WE ARE FORCED TO REPLACE THE TORQUE SENSOR FOR A QUOTED $550 - WHICH THEY TELL US MAY NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM (ALTHOUGH THAT IS THE ONLY CODE THAT IS BEING REPORTED) AND MIGHT HAVE TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE COLUMN. IDENTIFYING A RECALL PROCEDURE BY ONLY CHECKING IF THE CODES WERE PRESENT AT THE TIME OF RECALL IS NOT A GUARANTEED WAY TO REPLACE ALL FAULTY SENSORS. A MORE ACCURATE WAY TO FIND THE FAULTY PART IS FOR FORD TO ANALYZE THEIR DATA OF FAULTY POWER STEERING VEHICLES AND REPLACE VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH SENSOR SERIAL NUMBERS FROM SPECIFIC RANGES, MANUFACTURING DATES, AND MANUFACTURING LOCATIONS.