NHTSA Complaint #11502990 — 2011 MERCURY MARINER

While my wife was driving the vehicle, the power assisted steering failed and produced a "power assist fault code" on the display. The car became too hard for a 74 year old woman to be able to steer. I took the car to the Ford dealer near me who confirmed it was the steering torque sensor had failed and needed to order in one and would cost $600 to replace. I did a VIN search on your data base, but it didn't show any recalls for this problem. However a google search showed a recall for my vehicle make, model and date of manufacturer and part of the Ford 14SO5 recall. The information on your web site shows that Mercury Mariners manufactured prior to Sept.11, 2010 were affected. Mine was manufactured in August of 2010. According to the Ford notices as published on your web site my car should be part of that recall and should receive a software update that would prevent the steering assist from being turned off. The Ford dealer is refusing to do the update and sensor replacement for free since that recall doesn't show up under my VIN. Its funny, because my car is doing the exact thing the recall was for and fits the vehicle description and date of manufacture to qualify.