Other steering problem on the 2009 Ford Escape
5 crashes 2 injuries 7 of the 497 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other steering problem gets reported
Owners of the 2009 Ford Escape report other steering problem at a median of 124,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 97,000 miles and a quarter after 152,000 miles, from 387 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 68,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 180,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 111,757 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
5% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68,237 miles | 97,379 miles | 124,000 miles | 151,500 miles | 179,994 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 5 a crash and 2 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,400 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 22 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 20,000 miles, and latest on the 2021 at 190,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 664; the 2009 has 497. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 ford escape. He purchased the vehicle new and within the first week while driving out of the drive way he noticed that when he turned the steering to the right there was a loud noise as if metal hitting against metal. He took the vehicle to the dealer several times. The dealer stated that nothing was wrong with the steering. The dealer stated because the vehicle is black and it is warm, that is why he was hearing that noise. However the contact took the vehicle back to the dealer. The dealer replaced several parts. He doesn't know the name of the parts that were replaced; however the failure was not corrected. The dealer ordered an engineer to inspect the vehicle. The engineer's investigation concluded that the noise was normal. He contacted the manufacturer .the manufacturer stated that the dealer was an independent dealer therefore they could not assist him. The failure mileage was 1,356 and the current mileage was 13,200.
Shortly after entering highway on dark rainy evening, with no fore warning, car began to shake and lose power. Was able to pull to side of highway. Even though I was pressing on the gas, car would not go forward. Wrench light was illuminated on the dashboard. Called for assistance. When help arrived they suggested I turn off vehicle. When I turned back on, car was fine. The next day, with no warning, same thing occurs on neighborhood road. When we took to ford dealer today, the problem did not repeat so they have no repair code. This is a very dangerous situation....could lead to accident on highway...I have to drive 17 miles to work on highway and I am scared. *tr
First occurance was while at idle the wheel wouldn't turn without extreme pressure. Now, 1/24/2013 the power assist goes in and out with no warning. The vehicle steering comes close to locking up but doesn't actually get there. *tr
Also reported on the 2009 Ford Escape
Other speed control problem
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Other fuel system problem
Steering column or shaft failure
Loss of power steering
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 497 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other steering problem happen on the 2009 Ford Escape?
Across 387 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 124,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 97,000 miles and a quarter after 152,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2009 Ford Escape?
497 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 5.4 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed