2018 Ford Escape steering problems

“My husband bought a 2018 Ford Escape and he took it back to the dealer because it was speeding up when he did not touch the gas and it was veering off the road. I put the vin# in the website and it pulled up 4 past recalls one of which fits the description of what he experienced.”

“2018 Ford Escape. I have had the car since 12/2024. Less then 22000 miles in it. In this time I have had 4 alignment done. First one was 2 day after getting car. I pulls to the left. Second was 2 weeks after the first one. Then drove my car with a trailer on it to [XXX]. I made it [XXX] and dropped my load in a storage because I could not control the car. I was so scared. What should have taken maybe 2 days took a week. That was a nightmare trip. Ok so now in [XXX] took it to car max and explained what happened. Alignment always out. Always pulls to left. Carmax had my car 3 days called me and said I need a Alignment and 4 new tires. I was like what I just drove from [XXX]. Gentlemen told me I shouldn't have drove that car with it like that. I said carmax in [XXX] a load me to. Car repair places just think we can drop of our car and say here. I don't have another car to us will that one in the shop. Now the forth was when I got back into [XXX] which was maybe 2 months later. So my car did a lot of sitting in the driveway when I was in nc. With this car u have to have your hands both on the wheel because if u hit a pot hole the car goes crazy. I have been drive…”

“The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the message "Steering Assist Fault - Seek Service" was displayed , and the steering wheel was difficult to turn. The contact's husband assisted the contact in driving the vehicle to an independent mechanic. The mechanic diagnosed that the electric steering rack had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 15,108.”

“The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel failed to turn in the intended direction. The contact stated that the steering wheel was turned to the left; however, the steering wheel independently turned to the right. The contact stated that the steering wheel had seized. In addition, the contact stated that two days later several warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 69,470.”

“While traveling from Massachusetts to South Carolina we stopped at a rest area for a break. when we re-started the S.U.V., a message was displayed that the power steering assist was no longer working. No warning and it was running fine before stop. Because the same thing happened on my other Ford Edge, I knew what I needed to do. We had to have the car towed off highway to a local Ford dealership, were they confirmed that the rack and pinion steering system FAILED. It took the dealer 2 weeks to repair it at a cost of $3,171.45. Because this as happened on two different FORD products I believe that Ford has a problem with the steering system and that the N.H.T.S.A. dept should look into this?? I filed a complaint with N.H.T.S.A. dept on my first S.U.V.”

“The contact owns a 2018 Ford Escape. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the contact stated that the steering wheel seized, with the steering warning light illuminated. The vehicle was able to restart; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering module had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and referred the contact to the NHSTA Hotline for assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 117,000.”