NHTSA Complaint #11443392 — 2016 FORD FUSION

I replaced the starter battery after the original battery reached the end of its life. Upon installing the new battery, I had dashboard messages showing “Electric Power Steering Assist failed” And other cascaded systems offline because of no steering. Without the steering assistance, the safety of driving the car is questionable. It is more difficult to steer than a vehicle without power steering. It takes all the strength to turn the wheel, even when the vehicle is moving. This vehicle had been serviced for a previous related recall in which the steering bolts would fail. Perhaps the replacement bolts have also failed. Whatever the root cause, the resultant failure mode has a high severity (lack of steering capability by a normal strength person). This could cause an accident.