Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault Reliability

Our car experienced a Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault.  The car would start but the power steering would not work.  This 2012 Ford Fusion car, which had less than 48,000 miles, was then towed to the Covert Ford Service and Dealership on the Saturday morning before Memorial Day; i.e., May 23, 2015.  Fortunately the car arrived before 1:00, the service center’s closing time; however, there was not time to diagnose the problem before closing that day.

Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault Reliability Problem: Research and Background

Before having our car towed, I did an Internet search and found that many vehicles have experienced a Power Steering Assist Fault and there was not an obvious simple fix without getting the vehicle serviced.  When talking to our Ford Service representative, Linda, I kept asking about there being a design flaw and a recall, since it seemed like this type of problem should not occur and a repair could be very expensive.

Our previous car was a Honda, which never caused us a problem; however, when we were in the market for a new car in 2012, the Honda dealership did not really seem to be interested in selling us a car and they did not have many cars in their inventory.  An on-line review of the Ford Fusion was good; hence, we chose this type of car for our purchase.

Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault Reliability Problem: Memorial Day Weekend

My wife and I had some friends over at our house for dinner on Sunday before Memorial Day.  We told them about our Ford Fusion problem.  Our friend, a Honda car owner and fan, told us that she knew we made a mistake at the time when buying a Ford Fusion instead of another Honda. I think that she had an I-told-you-so look on her face. We did not comment.

The Ford Service Center was open on Memorial Day.  Linda called to tell me that the Warranty portion of the business was closed for the day and she would call back on Tuesday.

Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault Reliability Problem: Bad News about the Cost

On Tuesday we got a call from Linda saying that we did not have any extended warranty, which was no surprise to me.  She also gave me the bad news about the repair amount being over $1800.

I was not very happy and stated that there must be a design problem since this issue is not obviously unique to our car because of what was documented on the Internet. I expressed my dissatisfaction and told her that I would convey my unhappiness on the Internet, which could influence others in their car-buying-decision.

Linda said that she would have her manager call me; however, I never did a phone call from him/her.  Linda was nervous; she said several times that any negative comments that we give on any future survey reflects on her performance, not Ford.  I said that I was not upset with her but Ford’s performance.

Linda asked if she should have the part ordered and proceed with the repair.  I said, “What choice do we really have?”  She said that the car would be ready Wednesday or Thursday.

Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault Reliability Problem: Picking up our Car

Linda texted me on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 to state that our car was ready. She also noted that she was able to get a reduction in price to $1737.03. Whoopee, still a lot of money for a problem that I don’t think should have occurred.  She also noted that Ford‘s customer service number 800-392-3673 should be used to state any complaint that I had about the car’s problem.

My wife and I went to pick up the car.  We stopped by Linda’s booth.  Linda again stated that anything less than a very positive response about our experience with Ford servicing would reflect on her. She also stated that if there was a recall we would get our money back.

When we went to pay for the servicing, they could not find our paperwork.  Linda needed to come into the check-out office.  The checking-out office had to re-print our invoice because they could not find it.  My thought was that it looks like there is an opportunity for improvement for this process, but I did not say anything.

Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault Reliability Problem: Recall

Ironically when driving home I heard on the radio that Ford was conducting a recall of many vehicles because of a power steering problem.  I was very happy in that it seemed like we could be getting our money back.

Later we noted the following about the Power Steering Assist Fault recall:

• ABC news about Ford Fusion Power Steering Recall
• CBS news about Ford Fusion Power Steering Recall
• Video about the recall

Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault Reliability Problem: Voice of the Customer Process

At 3:44PM 5-29-15 I received the following text message from 512-845-2719.  <Subject: Recent service. Covert Ford-Lincoln> Thank you for choosing Covert Ford Lincoln for your service needs! Text back”yes” if you were completely satisfiedwith us.  If not, please let us know. Emily

To date, I have not respond to the text since Linda might be getting any negative comments.  Please note that the above missing spaces were in the actual text message.  The question I had is the following: did Emily type this message for all customers?  If so, this would be a huge amount of work.  If not, why would the text have a couple typos?

I tried to call Ford customer service, 800-392-3673, on Saturday, May 30, 2015, but a recording said to call back 8:00 – 5:00 local time.  I put a reminder note on my calendar to make the call next week.

To date I have not received a customer satisfaction survey beyond the above simple text message.

A customer satisfaction survey should address issues with the company, not just an evaluation of the service representative that you dealt with.

Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault Reliability Problem: Summary

Hopefully we will get a timely response and reimbursement from Ford.  Wishfully this will occur quicker than a reimbursement from the post office, where we still have not reimbursed from from our front-yard damage when a postal vehicle ran into the trees in our front yard, as described in the blog Postal Truck Accident in our Front Yard.

My thoughts right now are that our next car should not be a Ford.  My wife really likes the heater in our Ford Fusion’s front seats.  The heater on the driver’s side of our Ford Fusion no longer works.  My wife chose not to get this defect repaired since it would cost several hundreds of dollars; i.e., the Ford Fusion Power Steering Assist Fault Reliability Problem is not the only reliability problem that we have had with the Ford Fusion.

Apparently some people even have had a power steering problem when the vehicle was in motion and resulted in an accidents.  Fortunately our problem occurred with the steering when the vehicle was not in motion.

Should we get another Honda next time around when purchasing another car? Vehicles should not have these types of reliability problems.  Ford’s design process needs improvement! Seems like the company could benefit from the Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) business management system.

Your thoughts about buying another Ford?