NHTSA Complaint #11478707 — 2018 FORD ESCAPE

I have had intermittent steering problems on my 2018 Ford Escape where the steering wheel will lock up. I have been at stoplights and intersections where I had to wait for traffic to move so that I would not hit anyone. It usually rectified itself when I started the car in motion. It would free up and begin to move again. This past weekend, 8/6/22, the steering wheel locked up and would not turn at all. I attempted to move forward, and it did not free up. After a few feet, the steering wheel would move, but I had to use a lot of force to get it to move in the direction I needed to go to get out of a crowded drive thru line and to a safe parking spot. Even with that, the car moved at a minimal turning. I parked the car. My husband arrived 20 minutes later. After restarting the car, he was able to move the steering wheel but it was still sluggish. We did not have any warning lights for any of the instances where it locked up. We drove it across the street to a Ford dealership. The service department at the dealership says they cannot reproduce the problem. They state they have "worked their way back through the wiring", and seem to think it is the steering gear. We are now going to pay $2200 to repair the steering on a 2018 model car. The dealer stated they had seen this problem in the past. I refused to take it from the dealership because I am afraid it will seize up again while I am driving and not rectify like it did before the incident on 8/6/22. I have researched recalls and litigation, but do not see anything for my model year. I do not have an invoice for the repair because the dealer is waiting on the part from Ford.