Power Steering Failure

[E229Lt]

I did a Forum search and came up empty. My wife's BS had a power assist Failure notification and she lost power steering. She was by our Daughter's so stopped and went there for about an hour. When she came out and started it up, the problem was gone.
A week later, she went out to use it and same problem before she left the driveway, let it rest and tried again, no luck.
Anyone have this and what was the fix?

TIA

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[dakman]

I had similar on a diff vehicle. The power steering motor was going out and it worked and then not. Usually turning off and restarting it would work again till it went all the way out. The electric motors are usually mounted on the steering column under the dash.

 

[Mark S.]

All of the possible notifications listed in the owner's manual regarding power steering faults require you to take the vehicle in for service. Not much help...

 

[E229Lt]

All of the possible notifications listed in the owner's manual regarding power steering faults require you to take the vehicle in for service. Not much help...

Oh, it's going in for service, I was trying to find out how long it's going in.

 

[Mark S.]

Oh, it's going in for service, I was trying to find out how long it's going in.

I think Jim's answer is the most likely.

 

[dakman]

I think it took me 20 minutes on a chevy hhr. It took longer to remove the panels and replace them for access than to replace the little motor. Haven't been that far in the BS yet.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I did a Forum search and came up empty. My wife's BS had a power assist Failure notification and she lost power steering. She was by our Daughter's so stopped and went there for about an hour. When she came out and started it up, the problem was gone.
A week later, she went out to use it and same problem before she left the driveway, let it rest and tried again, no luck.
Anyone have this and what was the fix?

TIA

Hey there! Can you send over a private message with your VIN and the name/location of your local Ford dealer? I would like to take a closer look at your power steering concerns.

 

[EricD]

I did a Forum search and came up empty. My wife's BS had a power assist Failure notification and she lost power steering. She was by our Daughter's so stopped and went there for about an hour. When she came out and started it up, the problem was gone.
A week later, she went out to use it and same problem before she left the driveway, let it rest and tried again, no luck.
Anyone have this and what was the fix?

TIA

I have a similar issue. The power steering will fail when it is cold, single digits. Once it fails, if I let it set for a few minutes, and then start it up, everything operates as normal - no issues. However, after going through this cycle several times, eventually I have a whole Christmas tree of failure lights. The power steering, the drive mode, the collision avoidance and more. I had it at the dealership for a week, and the best they could come up with was it was a failure in the Steering column module. But they were not 100% sure changing it out would solve the issue.
Has anyone else been through this since the original question above?

 

[thomasm23]

I had similar on a diff vehicle. The power steering motor was going out and it worked and then not. Usually turning off and restarting it would work again till it went all the way out. The electric motors are usually mounted on the steering column under the dash.

The power steering electric motor is not mounted on the steering column. The electric motor is mounted to the rack and pinion steering unit.

 

[Banjor]

I did a Forum search and came up empty. My wife's BS had a power assist Failure notification and she lost power steering. She was by our Daughter's so stopped and went there for about an hour. When she came out and started it up, the problem was gone.
A week later, she went out to use it and same problem before she left the driveway, let it rest and tried again, no luck.
Anyone have this and what was the fix?

TIA

My previous car was a Subaru Forester XT, and a power steering failure totaled it. On paper the 2014-2018 Forester XT is remarkably similar to a Bronco Sport Badlands (both use electric power steering, and have nearly identical dimensions, displacement, HP/torque, twin-scroll turbo, torque vectoring, upright glass cabin, etc.). Pretty much the same AWD and ground clearance is identical, the suspension has only minor differences.

My battery was worn out, and a replacement had been shipped and was in transit. It was a particularly cold night (close to freezing), and I had about a 3 mile drive to get home. Anyway, without warning the electrical system lost power and the engine stalled while I was changing lanes. I not only lost power braking and power assisted steering, but the steering locked so I couldn't turn the wheel. I drifted over a median and into oncoming traffic and hit another car head on while we were both traveling about 25-30 mph. Fortunately I wasn't hurt but the other driver broke her ankle and I was found at fault, and my insurance rates went up over 400%.

Check your battery and don't fool around about finding a root cause and getting it fixed. Also, I recommend turning off auto stop-start to prevent battery drain.

 

[thomasm23]

My previous car was a Subaru Forester XT, and a power steering failure totaled it. On paper the 2014-2018 Forester XT is remarkably similar to a Bronco Sport Badlands (both use electric power steering, and have nearly identical dimensions, displacement, HP/torque, twin-scroll turbo, torque vectoring, upright glass cabin, etc.). Pretty much the same AWD and ground clearance is identical, the suspension has only minor differences.

My battery was worn out, and a replacement had been shipped and was in transit. It was a particularly cold night (close to freezing), and I had about a 3 mile drive to get home. Anyway, without warning the electrical system lost power and the engine stalled while I was changing lanes. I not only lost power braking and power assisted steering, but the steering locked so I couldn't turn the wheel. I drifted over a median and into oncoming traffic and hit another car head on while we were both traveling about 25-30 mph. Fortunately I wasn't hurt but the other driver broke her ankle and I was found at fault, and my insurance rates went up over 400%.

Check your battery and don't fool around about finding a root cause and getting it fixed. Also, I recommend turning off auto stop-start to prevent battery drain.

Was your Forester steer by wire?

The BS is not steer by wire. There is a direct mechanical link to the rack and pinion unit. The electric power steering motor assists the rack and pinion unit. Very similar to a hydraulic power steering system.

 

[EricD]

My battery was only 10 months old when this issue showed itself again this year and took it in for service. The dealership had my BS for a whole week. Durning that time they ran multiple tests and even replace the battery. No matter what they did, the Power Steering Assist failure kept occurring. Finally, they decided that the issue might be in the power steering module which is in the heart of the steering column. They said they could change it out for $2500 but could not guarantee that would solve the issue.
It is a 2021 BS base model and this problem has occurred multiple times every year since the day it was driven off the dealership lot. No none has been able to determine or correct the issue.
My problem is that it seems to be getting a little worse each year. As it is, if I start it up, let it run a few minutes, shut it off and restart, the issue clears up for that day. Tomorrow it is like Groundhog day, same thing all over again. This only happens when the temps get down to single digits. It will go through this cycle several times until eventually, it won't clear out again. Then I have to muscle it to the dealership where the reset the computer chips and then i am good to go again for a while.

 

[Dude]

The cold temp is the clue to give the dealership if they have a tool to lower the temp to freezing around the steering column module and it’s connector(s) - probably will be costly to repair due to the disassembly and diagnose and to replace whatever is causing the issue - might be better if you had a trusted mechanic and a local shop that has the capability and tools

Electronics often fails at low temps for various reasons like bad solder joints

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