NHTSA Complaint #11310146 — 2009 FORD ESCAPE

MY POWER STEERING WENT OUT ON MY CAR WHILE DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS AND DID NOT RETURN ONCE THE CAR WAS SHUT OFF AND RESTARTED. ONCE I WAS ABLE TO RETURN IT TO THE DEALERSHIP, A DIAGNOSTIC TEST SHOWED ERROR CODES OF B2278 AND B1342. BOTH CODES WERE COVERED UNDER ORIGINAL RECALL BY FORD RECALL NUMBER 14S05. MY CAR DID HAVE THE RECOMMENDED RECALL IN 2014 WHICH INCLUDED THE COMPUTER RESET. THIS OBVIOUSLY WAS NOT SUFFICIENT TO KEEP THE POWER STEERING PROPERLY WORKING AND I HAVE NOW BEEN QUOTED $2200 TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE STEERING COLUMN. I HAVE READ REPORTS THAT THIS RECALL DOES NOT POSE RISKS TO SAFETY AS THE POWER STEERING USUALLY IS OFF BY THE TIME THE CAR STARTS SO IT IS KNOWN WHEN DRIVING THE CAR FROM THE START. I CAN TELL YOU THAT, THAT HAS NOT BEEN OUR EXPERIENCE. THE POWER STEERING AS STOPPED WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY. THIS VEHICLE IS OUR FAMILY CAR WHICH REGULARLY CONTAINS MY 4 AND 2 YEAR OLD CHILDREN. I AM OUTRAGED BY THE NUMBER OF SIMILAR COMPLAINTS I HAVE FOUND ONLINE AND YET WE ARE TOLD THIS RECALL WAS 'FIXED.' THIS RECALL NEEDS TO BE FURTHER INVESTIGATED AS IT ABSOLUTELY POSES POTENTIAL HARM.