NHTSA Complaint #11193955 — 2012 FORD FOCUS

ON TWO SEPARATE OCCASIONS, THE CAR LOST STEERING ABILITY WITHOUT ANY WARNING WHILE MY SON WAS DRIVING ON A BUSY HIGHWAY IN TRAFFIC. HE WAS LUCKILY ABLE TO PULL OVER WITHOUT CRASHING, THOUGH REQUIRED CONSIDERABLE EFFORT TO MANEUVER THE CAR OUT OF TRAFFIC, AS STEERING REQUIRED FULL STRENGTH. THE STEERING ASSIST MALFUNCTION MESSAGE APPEARED AFTER THE 3RD INCIDENT WHEN HE STARTED THE CAR IN HIS DRIVEWAY. I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW FORD CAN CAN CONTINUE TO ENDANGER DRIVERS AND OTHERS BY NOT RECALLING THIS CLEARLY DEFECTIVE ELECTRONIC STEERING SYSTEM. THE EXACT SAME SYSTEM HAS BEEN RECALLED IN OTHER MODELS TOTALING OVER 1.3 MILLION VEHICLES, PER A NEW YORKTIMES ARTICLE. THIS IS NOT A SMALL OR TRIVIAL PROBLEM. IN ADDITION, FORD MANUFACTURING HAS NOTIFIED DEALERS OF 'STEERING PROBLEMS' BUT FELL SHORT BY NOT INVESTIGATING THE ISSUE. THE PROBLEM IS APPARENTLY WELL KNOWN AND DOCUMENTED. PLEASE DO SOMETHING BEFORE INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE INJURED AND/OR KILLED. WE HAVE ALREADY ENDURED THE STRESS OF A TRANSMISSION/CLUTCH MALFUNCTION, FOR WHICH FORD EXTENDED THE WARRANTY TO COVER, BUT DID NOT NOTIFY OWNERS, AS AN OFFICIAL RECALL WOULD REQUIRE. OUR EXTREMELY HONEST AND DILIGENT MECHANIC RESEARCHED IT AND FOUND OUT, SO WE WERE ABLE TO HAVE THOSE REPAIRS DONE AT THE DEALER AT NO EXPENSE. THIS IS A NO-BRAINED, DO THE RIGHT THING AND ISSUE THE RECALL. DON'T PLAY RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES.