Problem with Steering and AdvanceTrac

[NuclearPower]

In your case I think that it is more likely the positive corrosion. I would still take it to dealer as it should not look like that. Mine looks prostine with no signs of any buildup. Next time it happens DO NOT reset. They may not be able to pull the code out if you do.

You got a problem no doubt, but I don't think it is as serious as the electric steering.

Best of luck...mine is still sitting, tires getting flat spots, building up dust...&^$%$(%&*^&^$%^$&^$(_(&*(&&%@#!#@!%$#&^%$:cuss::fm::mj:

 

[me32]

Sorry to here this op. I think ford knows there is a problem because some of the 5.0s 2011-12 are having the same issue

 

[minicobra]

In your case I think that it is more likely the positive corrosion. I would still take it to dealer as it should not look like that. Mine looks prostine with no signs of any buildup. Next time it happens DO NOT reset. They may not be able to pull the code out if you do.

You got a problem no doubt, but I don't think it is as serious as the electric steering.

Best of luck...mine is still sitting, tires getting flat spots, building up dust...&^$%$(%&*^&^$%^$&^$(_(&*(&&%@#!#@!%$#&^%$:cuss::fm::mj:

Thanks for the input, Yeah, I feel like I need to take it down, if not for the steering, at the very least for the corrosion. Something is up with that battery leaking or some connection.

It probably doesn't, but I'm wondering if my radar detector had anything to do with the corrosion building up on the positive terminal. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but it plugs into the lighter socket, which is always on, even when the car is turned off.
Occasionally I would forget to unplug it and it would be on all night, any possibility because of the small current being drawn from the battery attributed to the corrosion build up.

Well, I like the technology of EPAS, but don't like the problems I've experienced so far. My previous car, Nissan 370Z had a similar problem, the electronic steering also went out, then when I turned the car on and off again, it locked into place and I couldn't even turn the wheel.Had it towed to the dealer, they replace the PDM (Power distribution Module) seam to fix it, but what a pain.

Hope they take care of yours soon, I'll be checking in, and let you know on my situation as well.

 

[NuclearPower]

Finally!

So I dropped the car off at the dealership! The part came in today, it was shipped FedEx overnight straight from the assembly line apparently. I also heard from Ford that they are going to cover the rental car, and the car payment for the 2 months that I have been without the car. I have to wait until everything gets repaired to settle up though.

I say the part myself and am glad that there is finally an end insight! Still no technical answers, but I don't think that I will ever get any.

 

[Steve@BAS]

Congrats John! At least they paid for all. The only other thing I would push for is that they extend the warranty 2 months too.

 

[CashMoneyKC]

Nuclearpower,


Ok, ad me to the list !!!

Car is a 2012, about 15K miles, 10 months old.

Was driving today pulling out of a parking lot and everything shut down, almost hit the curb because I lost power steering completely, good thing there were no cars coming. All the lights are on, ABS, Traction Control, Service AdvanceTrac, etc.

I wasn't sure what to do, I was only a few miles from the house and I needed to get to work, so I managed to drive it home safely. Although the steering was extremely hard, way harder then an older car without power steering. I imagine that someone without much upper body strength would not be able to steer the car. I know my wife wouldn't be able to, when turning it's extremely difficult. This would be a really safety issue if it a happened in mid corner at speed. I would guess, or hope that Ford is taking so long, because that are possible considering a re-design of the system.

So I took my other car to work, and now I'm home online doing some searches and come across your thread. Oh boy, sounds like this is going to be fun one.

Can you provide me with any info of whom you talked with at Ford CS ? Names, Numbers, etc. ?? I'd like to call them to see if they can refer me to a dealer, before I just randomly bring it to one. The dealer I bought it from is 300 miles away, so that's not happening.

I guess If I have to bring it to them, I probably should bring up the 1 - 2 shift issue (grinding that a lot have been experiencing)

Appreciate your help

thanks,

Sorry about this problem guys...glad your ok and nothing happened to either of you......Im gettin really paranoid because I have a 2012 and its about 3 months old....3k miles....Getting nervous that this may happen...I am trying not to worry but is there any chance your cars were built around the same time ...Maybe I could see if mine was built same time as well...if that matters I dont know ........so does the car just shut down ...can you accelerate ? so no steering at all? that sux

 

[E.Marquez]

So I dropped the car off at the dealership! The part came in today, it was shipped FedEx overnight straight from the assembly line apparently. I also heard from Ford that they are going to cover the rental car, and the car payment for the 2 months that I have been without the car. I have to wait until everything gets repaired to settle up though.

I say the part myself and am glad that there is finally an end insight! Still no technical answers, but I don't think that I will ever get any.

ISITDONEISITDONE YET Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn we are waiting to hear.. it's only a couple hour job....... that shop should have had 2 techs standing buy when you came in, NASCAR style, up on the lift and wrenches flying :lol:

 

[NuclearPower]

ISITDONEISITDONE YET Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn we are waiting to hear.. it's only a couple hour job....... that shop should have had 2 techs standing buy when you came in, NASCAR style, up on the lift and wrenches flying :lol:

S%$t, I wish. They are only letting the master tech at the dealership touch the car. All 3 of his bay were full. They said that it should be done on Monday with an alignment to verify all the settings. I hope to pick it up Monday. I'll keep everybody posted.

 

[NuclearPower]

Sorry about this problem guys...glad your ok and nothing happened to either of you......Im gettin really paranoid because I have a 2012 and its about 3 months old....3k miles....Getting nervous that this may happen...I am trying not to worry but is there any chance your cars were built around the same time ...Maybe I could see if mine was built same time as well...if that matters I dont know ........so does the car just shut down ...can you accelerate ? so no steering at all? that sux

Car still does everything, just the steering is about twice as hard as old school manual, plus all the lights are on. I bought my car in May of 2011. I suspect my build date is April. I don't know for sure, but I would suspect that their could be a TSB or a recall, I truely think that the part had to be re-designed. What else could have taken 2+months! Just pray that you are by yourself going in a straight line if it goes out. If you are in a turn, then heaven help you...

Luckily this seems to be a very select few circumstances. Like I said earlier I had 16xxxm miles and it was 10 months old when it happened.

 

[NuclearPower]

Got call from Ford dealer that the motor mount bolts have to be removed to raise the engine in order to replace the rack. Guess what...Ford lists the bolts as one time use only and the dealership did not have ANY in stock. They just barely got them in the store yesterday (I think). So now even though they have the parts they still didn't work on it, the tech has been out sick!

I just can't seem to get a break with this issue!!!Hopefully tomorrow or Friday. I'll let everybody know.

 

[NuclearPower]

So I finally got the car today. Did not get to drive it very far though...raining. First drive comes tomorrow on way to work, 100 miles. Seems fine. Suppossed to be able to go back to dealership and pick up the check that Ford is reimbursing me for the 2 months that the car was down.

At this point I'm not sure about keeping it. You guys have any opinions? I just don't know if i will be able to fully trust it anymore...

 

[Steve@BAS]

Well drive it first for a little bit and see if it puts a smile back on your face. Hopefully it will and this will all seem like a distant memory soon!

 

[NuclearPower]

So I went to local Ford dealership today to pick up the promised check to reimburse the lsat 2 car payments. Waiting for me in a sealed envelope was said check for 2 months. This closes out my ordeal with Ford on the steering.

I just wish that I had some technical answers. I still haven't seen or heard of a TSB or recall, so not sure...

Hope this doesn't happen to any of you guys!

 

[PistolWhip]

I'm glad you got it all squared away.
My opinion on keeping it; if the car no longer makes you happy than the only option is to dump it. If the mear fact that there was a steering issue is why your unhappy with it, get over it man, these cars are way too fun and cool to let a malfuntioning part ruin that. Ford fixed it and I'm sure they wouldn't give it back to you if they weren't confident it was fixed. If it fails again, then you have an issue, but think about all the electronic parts on cars now adays that could go any day and cause a complete lack of control.
You can't live that way, or drive that way for that matter. You'll make yourself crazy thinking about all things that "could" go wrong.

 

[NuclearPower]

You are correct sir! I would also lose my shirt right now between the mileage and the hit for the 2013s. I think that I am going to call Van instead and use some of that money that I just got:banana:

I do smile everytime I start the car and when I mash the throttle!

 

[PistolWhip]

Then you don't need anymore advice. Keep that bear and enjoy it for what you got it for. Van will help you forget all about this mess. :beer:

 

[dc2r]

i'm not sure if my problem is related to this.

i've had the service advancetrac warning before, but it goes out if i cycle the ignition, which makes it hard to diagnose by the dealer because it does not store a code. the last time it happened i basically dropped everything and drove across town to my dealer and left it running outside while i dragged a tech out to read the ecu, and it was diagnosed as a bad brake pedal sensor/switch, and it was fixed under warranty.

fast forward to 1 year later and the warning is back, but the circumstances are different. at low speeds, doing parking manoevers involving steering full lock, the warning comes on, and the steering loses electric assist. because i'm not at speed this is more of an unexpected upper body exercise rather than a safety hazard. but when i cycle the ignition (ie. turn the engine off and restart) the warning is gone and the steering is fine again. this has happened 3 times in the last month.

today i noticed something strange in the steering while driving. on good pavement, it drives straight. but when the road starts to crown and i start correcting for it by turning the wheel to the left, i start to feel this resistance in the wheel, like it's trying to fight me, and i get this feeling that the car is starting to drift to the right towards the curb.... and then it stops. no warning messages in the dash.

just wondering if anyone has had this happen before, because this is the only topic that comes close when i did a search...

 

[NuclearPower]

Sorry to hear that you are having problems. What I found out in the end was that 2011-2012 Boss and GT500 are potential to have this problem with the electric steering. When mine happened there was an extreme wait list. It took me 2 months to get it fixed, but I think that was because I was all up in them since this is my daily driver. There were something like 200 on back order. That is also why the 2013 were delayed. They were supposed to be released in March and didn't hit the showrooms until May if I remember right.

The computer for the electric motor (which is down at the steering unit by the passenger front tire) is basically not talking with the sensors in the steering shaft. I do not recommend cycling the ignition. Let it be and then the code should stick long enough for them to read it. The "real" solution is to have the entire unit (computer, motor, steering unit) replaced. There are no serviceable parts. It is one unit.

The fight that you are feeling on "bad" roads is definitely from the motor fighting you. This is a little common to a certain extent as it is trying to compensate tramlining (following the groves) without you doing anything. But it should not be extreme and when you start to turn at all it should immediately go away. Eventually it will fail hard and will need to be replaced, but you might be on the hook for it. Ford has not and does not plan on a recall or TSB that I have found.

Everytime it happens try to take it to the dealer to show that you are having issues and talk with the service manager and let him know that this is a known concern on 2011 and 2012s...If he calls his Ford Advisor they should confirm and recommend replacement - especially if you have continued to bug them everytime. Hassel on your part I know.

Good luck!

 

[Tmatt142]

Sorry to hear that you are having problems. What I found out in the end was that 2011-2012 Boss and GT500 are potential to have this problem with the electric steering. When mine happened there was an extreme wait list. It took me 2 months to get it fixed, but I think that was because I was all up in them since this is my daily driver. There were something like 200 on back order. That is also why the 2013 were delayed. They were supposed to be released in March and didn't hit the showrooms until May if I remember right.

The computer for the electric motor (which is down at the steering unit by the passenger front tire) is basically not talking with the sensors in the steering shaft. I do not recommend cycling the ignition. Let it be and then the code should stick long enough for them to read it. The "real" solution is to have the entire unit (computer, motor, steering unit) replaced. There are no serviceable parts. It is one unit.

The fight that you are feeling on "bad" roads is definitely from the motor fighting you. This is a little common to a certain extent as it is trying to compensate tramlining (following the groves) without you doing anything. But it should not be extreme and when you start to turn at all it should immediately go away. Eventually it will fail hard and will need to be replaced, but you might be on the hook for it. Ford has not and does not plan on a recall or TSB that I have found.

Everytime it happens try to take it to the dealer to show that you are having issues and talk with the service manager and let him know that this is a known concern on 2011 and 2012s...If he calls his Ford Advisor they should confirm and recommend replacement - especially if you have continued to bug them everytime. Hassel on your part I know.

Good luck!

I had this on my 11'. Can't remember the number service bulletin but it does exist. Something like TSB 11-64 or something like that. search the threads a bit and you'll find it. Mine was in and out under high speed so the steering wheel "shimmy'd". The flash and update solved the problem. $128.00 at the dealer I believe.

 

[NuclearPower]

You are right about that TSB (not sure about number either), but that referred to the shimmy that you are talking about and not the system going into off. Mine did not shimmy at all. It was off then on then hard off. Still definitely worth bugging the dealer everytime it happens and not cycling the ignition.