NHTSA Complaint #11403618 — 2009 FORD ESCAPE

EVER SINCE I BOUGHT MY USED VEHICLE ABOUT HALF A YEAR AGO FROM A DEALERSHIP, I STARTED HAVING POWER STEERING PROBLEMS WITH IT, IN WHICH IT WOULD JUST RANDOMLY GO OUT WHENEVER I WAS DRIVING AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES DIDN'T MATTER (NO CERTAIN SPEED, OR TURNING, IT WAS ALL RANDOM). I COULD BE DRIVING ON A 70 MPH HIGHWAY, A 20 MPH TOWN, MID-TURN, OR JUST DRIVING STRAIGHT FOR SEVERAL MILES AND THE STEERING WHEEL WOULD LOCK, AND WOULD ONLY TEMPORARILY FIX ITSELF IF THE CAR WAS TURNED OFF AND BACK ON. MY VEHICLE HAS ELECTRICAL POWER STEERING THAT DOESN'T REQUIRE FLUID, AND WAS ON A RECALL FOR THE POWER STEERING TO BE FIXED. WE WEREN'T AWARE THAT MY CAR HAD BEEN TAKEN BACK FOR THIS RECALL, SO WE TOOK IT TO AN ACTUAL FORD DEALERSHIP WHERE THEY TOLD US THAT IT HAD ALREADY BEEN 'FIXED', WHERE THEY HAD REPROGRAMMED THE SENSOR IN THE ELECTRICAL POWER STEERING. THE ONLY THING THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND IS WHY THE REPAIRS TO FIX IT ARE SO EXPENSIVE (THEY TOLD ME ALMOST $3900 IN TOTAL, AND THAT I WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING THE FULL AMOUNT, BECAUSE AS FAR AS FORD WAS TECHNICALLY CONCERNED, THEY HAD FIXED THE PROBLEM) WHEN IT'S STILL HAVING THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM AS BEFORE, SO WHATEVER FIX THAT THEY DID DIDN'T WORK.