2012 Ford Focus Steering Problem

[baris]

Thomas,
We drove our brand new Focus from dealer to our home today and unfortunately experienced the same problem. It was a forty minutes drive on highway and I had a hard time keeping the car straight. I thought something has to be wrong and discovered this forum. I will be sending a PM to you and hope that this problem will be solved as soon as possible.

[cyndyfurby]

Just wanted to say "Thank You Thomas"...The regional customer service rep in my area called...He is coordinating with the dealership and they are replacing the rack and pinion steering on my car...I will let everyone know the results....Thank you

[redtress]

Thomas,
Thank you for all your help. We now have a vehicle that is a pleasure to drive. I don't believe this would have been accomplished without your intervention. After taking car in..and being told nothing was wrong...we showed them the forum pages. After perusal of the pages, the service person said he would drive it home that night to get a good idea of freeway driving. The next day, we get a call from some one at Ford Customer Care (before the dealership called us) letting us know the steering was being fixed and parts replaced (steering rack and assembly) . Customer Care was awesome...the dealership finally called us three hours later to let us know what they were going to do...
Kudos Thomas!

[bruced]

Well, here is the update on the ZIG-ZAG steering. I have a new steering gear assembly installed on the Focus and new alignment. So far so good. I will be taking a 130 mile drive on the freeway early next week and I will post again after that to let everyone know how well it works on the freeway.

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by cyndyfurby

Just wanted to say "Thank You Thomas"...The regional customer service rep in my area called...He is coordinating with the dealership and they are replacing the rack and pinion steering on my car...I will let everyone know the results....Thank you

It's my pleasure; I have my fingers and toes crossed for you! Remember this link when you need routine service done in the future: http://owner.ford.com/servlet/Conten...iceCouponsPage. Keep all of us in the loop!

Originally Posted by redtress

Thomas,
Thank you for all your help. We now have a vehicle that is a pleasure to drive. I don't believe this would have been accomplished without your intervention. After taking car in..and being told nothing was wrong...we showed them the forum pages. After perusal of the pages, the service person said he would drive it home that night to get a good idea of freeway driving. The next day, we get a call from some one at Ford Customer Care (before the dealership called us) letting us know the steering was being fixed and parts replaced (steering rack and assembly) . Customer Care was awesome...the dealership finally called us three hours later to let us know what they were going to do...
Kudos Thomas!

You're most welcome; thank you for the kind words! Was the vehicle able to be repaired before its long trip?

Originally Posted by bruced

Well, here is the update on the ZIG-ZAG steering. I have a new steering gear assembly installed on the Focus and new alignment. So far so good. I will be taking a 130 mile drive on the freeway early next week and I will post again after that to let everyone know how well it works on the freeway.

Someone in this forum put 800 miles on their Focus this weekend! This is a sweet and shorter journey; claim this badge for the road ahead: http://social.ford.com/grab-a-badge/road+trip/. Please PM me if you need anything.

Thomas

[bruced]

I have the new steering gear on my Focus. Just returned from a 130 trip on the expressway at 65-71 mph. Problem solved. No more ZIG-ZAG steering. The vehicle is still very responsive to steering inputs, but it does what I want it go do in a very linear manner. I am curious as to why some Focus vehicles exhibit this problem and others do not. I have driven 6 different Focus cars and only two have this problem; the others were fine. If anyone has an answer, I am sure that many of us would like to know why.

One of my sons also has a '12 Focus and is experiencing the ZIG-ZAG steering. He will be taking the vehicle in to the dealer to have is fixed.

Originally Posted by FordCustomerService

It's my pleasure; I have my fingers and toes crossed for you! Remember this link when you need routine service done in the future: http://owner.ford.com/servlet/Conten...iceCouponsPage. Keep all of us in the loop!



You're most welcome; thank you for the kind words! Was the vehicle able to be repaired before its long trip?



Someone in this forum put 800 miles on their Focus this weekend! This is a sweet and shorter journey; claim this badge for the road ahead: http://social.ford.com/grab-a-badge/road+trip/. Please PM me if you need anything.

Thomas

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by bruced

I have the new steering gear on my Focus. Just returned from a 130 trip on the expressway at 65-71 mph. Problem solved. No more ZIG-ZAG steering. The vehicle is still very responsive to steering inputs, but it does what I want it go do in a very linear manner...

...One of my sons also has a '12 Focus and is experiencing the ZIG-ZAG steering. He will be taking the vehicle in to the dealer to have is fixed.

Terrific news! Since everything is now straight with your ride, keep it properly maintained with these: http://owner.ford.com/servlet/Conten...iceCouponsPage. Tell your son to take it in as quickly as possible. If he needs anything, refer him to our Customer Relationship Center at 1-800-392-3673 for assistance.

Thomas

[vela123321]

So my car is suffering from this "zig-zag" issue, and it's making my 115 mile commute very fatiguing. I sent a PM to FordCustomerService and a case file number was promptly opened. I was impressed with the speed of FordCustomerService's response to my asking for help, but it unfortunately stopped there. The Regional Customer Service Manager for my area contacted me, but has been little to no help. I could tell 1 min into the conversation that this was going to be much different than the issues I've had resolved on my other non-Ford cars. I very much want to like Ford, but this isn't a great start.

In the end, when I mentioned this forum, the service manager said it wasn't relevant and I needed to just bring the car in for a diagnoses. It was a very circular conversation, but he did ask "what can I do?" which was a good start. I didn't get any direction from him, so I finally said, "well, how about you read this link to the issue and help me set up an appointment with my service center next week. I'm out of town on business." I didn't hear any reply. I finally called and he basically hadn't done anything and didn't have any guidance for me. I didn't get the impression he was going to follow up with me. In the end, he said for me to call the service center and bring the car in and explain the problem to them. My concern was that I'd bring the car in and have a tech say "this is normal" and I was hoping they would smooth the way for an easier resolution to the problem. I guess I'll now just go to the dealership and I hope they'll deal with this correctly. I called the dealer service manager this morning, but I haven't gotten a call back yet...

I just want this issue resolved. It's unsafe and it's uncomfortable for these commutes.

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by vela123321

So my car is suffering from this "zig-zag" issue, and it's making my 115 mile commute very fatiguing. I sent a PM to FordCustomerService and a case file number was promptly opened. I was impressed with the speed of FordCustomerService's response to my asking for help, but it unfortunately stopped there. The Regional Customer Service Manager for my area contacted me, but has been little to no help. I could tell 1 min into the conversation that this was going to be much different than the issues I've had resolved on my other non-Ford cars. I very much want to like Ford, but this isn't a great start.

In the end, when I mentioned this forum, the service manager said it wasn't relevant and I needed to just bring the car in for a diagnoses. It was a very circular conversation, but he did ask "what can I do?" which was a good start. I didn't get any direction from him, so I finally said, "well, how about you read this link to the issue and help me set up an appointment with my service center next week. I'm out of town on business." I didn't hear any reply. I finally called and he basically hadn't done anything and didn't have any guidance for me. I didn't get the impression he was going to follow up with me. In the end, he said for me to call the service center and bring the car in and explain the problem to them. My concern was that I'd bring the car in and have a tech say "this is normal" and I was hoping they would smooth the way for an easier resolution to the problem. I guess I'll now just go to the dealership and I hope they'll deal with this correctly. I called the dealer service manager this morning, but I haven't gotten a call back yet...

I just want this issue resolved. It's unsafe and it's uncomfortable for these commutes.

Hi vela123321,

CSMs are best equipped to help when your vehicle is at a dealership. They reach out to Service Managers and Certified Techs who can actually get their hands on your vehicle and correctly diagnose. I encourage you to continue to work with your CSM and dealer; feel free to reach out to me via PM if you have any additional questions or concerns. I'm happy to do what I can to help.

-Crystal

[vela123321]

Originally Posted by FordCustomerService

Hi vela123321,

CSMs are best equipped to help when your vehicle is at a dealership. They reach out to Service Managers and Certified Techs who can actually get their hands on your vehicle and correctly diagnose. I encourage you to continue to work with your CSM and dealer; feel free to reach out to me via PM if you have any additional questions or concerns. I'm happy to do what I can to help.

-Crystal

Thank you for your quick reply and explanation of the CSM's role. If there is any way for me to offer feedback in the shortfall of the dialog I've had with my CSM, I would welcome a call (the PM has all of my info).

I really would like to see Ford continue to increase their percentage of market share. Alan Mulally has done a great job with Ford, and I think you're capturing a lot more of the market with some of these advancements. The CSM didn't help your case, but that's just one employee out of more than 150,000.

I'm eager to get the car looked at, and I've left a VM for the service manager to call me back. When he does, I'll schedule an appointment and we'll see how this goes.