NHTSA Complaint #11455599 — 2012 FORD FOCUS

A couple weeks ago leaving work a warning light came on that the power steering assist was disabled/malfunctioning, to have it serviced. It became prohibitively difficult to steer my car. I called AAA and had it towed to an independent service center. They reported that the steering module, essentially the computer brain for the steering, has failed. The repair is overwhelmingly expensive, and I haven’t pursued it due to the crippling cost. When I proceeded to drive the car home, the light was off, and it drove fine. One of the shops I spoke with said this could happen, but it would come back unpredictably, and intermittently until it just won’t be drivable. I’m just glad it was in a safe spot when this failure occurred. Reports I’ve been reading online have scared me with drivers being on the freeway when this component fails, nearly causing accidents in some cases. This seems like a serious safety issue, and certainly not a ‘wear and tear’ issue of daily use. The shop reported the repair would cost $2400 before taxes. I bought this car used for $5000 last year, and so far have had to put in a whole new front end, replace the cooling/ heating reservoir system. So throwing in that much more money into it is having a very negative impact on my livelihood. Other drivers report this issue occurring at anywhere from 60,000 miles to 150,000 miles. My car is at 128,000 miles.