NHTSA Complaint #11122861 — 2013 FORD C-MAX

BEFORE 50,000 MILES STEERING WENT FROM INTERMITTENTLY HAVING NO POWER TO CONTINUOUSLY HAVING NO POWER. USUALLY POWER STEERING IS ABSENT AT START-UP. VEHICLE DISPLAYS "SERVICE POWER STEERING" MESSAGE. OBD2/CAN THROWS A PSCM - POWER STEERING CONTROL MODULE U3000 CM CONTROL MODULE CODE. STEERING WOULD OCCASIONALLY NOT WORK UNDER WARRANTY - ASKED AT FORD IF THERE WERE STEERING RECALLS AND TOLD THERE WERE NONE. I DID NOT ESCALATE BECAUSE TURNING OFF THE CAR ONE OR MORE TIMES WOULD RESET. NOW THAT THE CAR IS OUTSIDE OF WARRANTY, NO ACTION I CAN TAKE, (SUCH AS RESTARTING THE CAR OR CLEARING THE ERROR CODE) WILL RESET THE STEERING. STEERING EFFORT IS MUCH HIGHER THAN ANY NON-POWER STEERING CAR OR OLD TRUCK I HAVE EVER DRIVEN. THE FAILED PSCM (POWER STEERING CONTROL MODULE) DOES NOT APPEAR TO EXIST AS A STAND-ALONE PART. FORD TELLS ME ~$700-$800 IF STEERING COLUMN, OR $2300 IF RACK AND PINION NEED REPLACED. HOURS SPENT SEARCHING FOR THE PART TO DO MY OWN REPAIRS HAS NOT GIVEN ME A SINGLE PART NUMBER THAT RELATES TO THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM. THIS ALL SEEMS TO BE PART OF FORDS TROUBLE PRONE AND HUGELY EXPENSIVE EPAS (ELECTRONIC POWER ASSISTED STEERING) SYSTEM. EPAS HAS HAD RECALLS IN MORE POPULAR FORD MODELS, SUCH AS RECALL 15S18 BEGINNING JULY 20, 2015. I SUSPECT LOW PRODUCTION QUANTITY CARS SUCH AS THE HYBRID C-MAX LIKELY HAVE A SIMILAR FAILURE RATE, BUT IT ISN'T NOTICEABLE DUE TO THE MUCH LOWER QUANTITY PRODUCED. FORD REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE SAME FLAWED SYSTEM ON MULTIPLE MODELS DESERVES THE SAME FIX. WHILE I NEVER LOST POWER STEERING WHILE DRIVING, IT WOULD BE CATASTROPHIC FOR SMALL/WEAK DRIVERS OR THOSE WHA HAVE NEVER DRIVEN A VEHICLE WITHOUT POWER STEERING. I'VE DRIVEN BOTH CARS WITHOUT POWER STEERING AND WITH FAILED POWER STEERING, BUT I HAVE NEVER HAD TO USE THE LEVEL OF EFFORT IT TAKES TO STEER THE EPAS SYSTEM WHENE IT SHUTS DOWN.