2009 FORD ESCAPE — Complaint #1789100
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:HYDRAULIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM filed January 19, 2022
NHTSA complaint #1789100 (ODI reference 11448055) concerns a 2009 FORD ESCAPE and was filed on January 19, 2022. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 17, 2022. The vehicle had 165,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:hydraulic power assist system, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD ESCAPE cohort independently describe similar steering:hydraulic power assist system failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2009 FORD ESCAPE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2009 Ford Escape. The contact stated while driving 15 MPH and attempting to make a turn, the vehicle inadvertently lost power steering. Consumer almost ran here car into a house as even with two hands was not able to turn the wheel. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact was unable to turn the steering wheel after several attempts. The contact shifted to reverse and reversed back to her parking space using excessive force to steer the vehicle. The contact referenced NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V284000 (Steering). The dealer and the manufacturer were notified of the failure. The vehicle was diagnosed but not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 165,000. Consumer was told by the mechanic Torque sensor and the Electric Power Steering module that needed to be replaced. These are the exact parts that were in the original Ford recall but car recall is closed.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1789100 |
| ODI Number | 11448055 |
| Date Filed | January 19, 2022 |
| Failure Date | January 17, 2022 |
| VIN | 1FMCU03GX9K |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.