Steering Assist Malfunction

[stefcio007]

Had this message pop up a few times and checked the computer and it told me battery voltage too low.
Replaced the battery as it was getting old anyway (3.5 years) even though it's never had any cranking issues just in case.

Problem did not go away. My "fix" has been just to restart the car.

Doing some online searching shows I'm not alone and in America at least it seems like a big issue. Ford even did a recall on another model that uses the same steering rack and has the exact same issues.
The next stage of restarting to "fix" the issue is this "fix" no longer works.
Luckily for me this has only happened while starting the car and not while driving, yes, that has happened to some people which I consider a very serious safety issue.


Being someone who is big on preventative maintenance I don't want to be stranded and without a car and having to tow it to the dealer and have them fix it...which some people have been quoted $6,500 to replace the rack, Ford even won't let you drive it home if the steering rack has failed (understandable I guess?). Seeing as this is more than half of what the car is worth are there any options?
I plan on getting a case started with Ford CRC but wanted to see what the forums consensus is.
Would Ford turn me away since I did common maintenance on my car and could claim I did something?


Some information I found while searching:

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/F...steering.shtml
https://www.productreview.com.au/lis...-mk1-2011-2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szHMXwcp9fo

Hopefully Ford learns from the transmission saga and does the right thing because it appears that it could be just as bad as that if more owners have the issue/complain about it.

Otherwise I love this car and it would be a real shame if this makes me can it.

[stefcio007]

Seems that replacing the battery has solved this issue so might be worth doing if you are experiencing the issue first time.
Other people online haven't been so lucky and this didn't work for them. A weak battery might actually be harming the module somehow over time.

[stefcio007]

Well, it came back and this time won’t go away. I’m stuck 100km+ away from home with no tools. Might have to just limp home and get the thing replaced.

Can anyone recommend a mechanic? I might just have to go to the dealer, any recommendations? Closest one is Bayford Epping and Ford Bundoora.

[stefcio007]

Made it home. I checked the module through ForScan and it reports the incorrect VIN, other modules report the VIN which is the same as the actual car VIN. Looks like the module itself is gone.
Wonder if Ford might be able to give it a shot and re-flash?
Will find out Monday I guess.

[stefcio007]

Fixed.
Turned out the module software was corrupted so just needed to re-flash the software and all good.

Might help others, Ford insisted on replacing the whole rack, just persist and ask them to try a re-flash first.

At $120 much cheaper than buying and getting a rack fitted so I hope this helps others.

[stefcio007]

The saga continues.

Here’s my band-aid that has worked for a long time now.

Start car get the message.
Turn off.
Wait one minute.
Start again and if the steering feels heavy attempt to drive and turn the steering. It eventually wakes up and comes good.

Don’t know how long this will work for but it’s been more than a year…

[Crazy Dazz]

Its the problem with older cars and be dependent on Stealers for maintenance. Just not worth it in my book.
A complete new, genuine rack, is under $2k, so charging $4k to fit it seems excessive.

For my Fiesta, I hunt around on the UK sites, as there is a much greater range and availability.
At the very least, check out some local specialists, rather than relying on the thieves at your local Fraud Stealer.

I'd be researching and trying to figure out what the specific problem is. have you tried reading the codes?
Yes, its possible that the problem is due to wear & tear, and you might need a reconditioned unit. It's also possible it comes down to a simple sensor.

And don't be afraid of gumtree. If you can find a genuine low km car being parted out, a replacement rack might not be that expensive.

[gumby123]

Had the same problem previously. For a while, I was able to use the same technique as Stefcio to get the PS going again, after starting.

Eventually the rack failed completely. You will find that what appears to be a corrupt VIN reported by the rack, is actually the car's VIN spelled backwards. Perhaps this is a safety mechanism to stop the rack interfacing with the rest of the car.

Ended getting a rack from a wreckers for just over $1k, and replaced it myself. Sounds expensive for a used rack, i guess they are just in demand because of problems like this.

The replacement rack did not appear to need any programming to work in my case.

I recollect that I did run some kind of calibration procedure using Forscan afterwards, not exactly sure what this would have done.

I was hoping to do the job without removing the subframe under the engine. Turned out I did remove the subframe. The reason being (diesel here) there was hardware/pipes related to the diesel DPF vaporiser is strapped on the inner side of the subframe. This hardware was difficult to detach whilst the subframe was in place.

[stefcio007]

The rack still works even if the VIN is mismatched for me which explains why using a rack from another car works so I don’t think this is the root cause.

Let me know gumby how long this rack lasts as some people even had their racks fail with less than 20k when they bought the car new from factory.

We’ll probably never know though honestly what’s causing this but hopefully Ford learned from whatever they found it was.

[stefcio007]

I get DTC.
PSCM U3000:49-48


I am able to clear this with ForScan.


I think I know how it's being set. If your battery charge percentage as reported by the ECU is greater than 80% it does not kick in the alternator when starting the car appears to be why the voltage drops and then it thinks there's an over-current but actually there isn't.


If the battery charge is less than 80% then the alternator is always charging the battery on start-up so it never thinks there's an over-current. It looks like a weird bug in the smart-charging software.

Also, seems like Ford is still having issues with PSCMs :|

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...71034-0001.pdf