Other steering problem on the 2014 Ford Escape
3 crashes 1 injury 4 of the 93 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 2014 Ford Escape report other steering problem at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 65 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 122,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 117,051 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.
26% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,493 miles | 35,500 miles | 60,000 miles | 91,000 miles | 121,544 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, 3 a crash and 1 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 2014 has 93. 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.
I was driving to pick up my daughter from school and the car steering stiffened up. I was in the parking lot so luckily nothing happened. I stopped and restarted the car but it was still stiff that it was impossible to turn and take car out of the lot. I had to leave the car there and bring the kids home on my own. Not what you can expect from a new car and certainly very luck y to not happen on the highway. Ford saying it is a manufacturing defect and they forgot the harness in the power steering. It was then taken from a new car and placed on my car. I am not comfortable with it but they said they cannot give me a new car. *tr
While driving on highway I accidentally depressed the keyless start-stop button. The engine shut off, power steering and brakes were lost and engine would not restart by pushing start-stop button. I was able to slow car - with other cars close behind- shift gear shift to neutral and apply brake pedal so that start-stop button would restart engine. I have had ford dealership check keyless start-stop system and they indicate that system works as it should. Start - stop button is located in drivers right knee area and is two inches from similar looking climate control button. Power steering and brakes were lost with engine off and car in motion. I contacted ford motor company and they referred us to the dealership. This is a dangerous design flaw. *tr
The vehicle's steering is too sensitive at higher speed. Generally speaking above 65 MPH any movement of the steering wheel will cause the vehicle to go that direction. When a correction is made, the vehicle goes the opposite way (too much) which tends to make vehicle feel and look as if it wanders on the roadway. From what I understand this is due to "electronic steering." many complains are found online of the same problem with other drivers. This is a dangerous crash causing problem and drivers need to be on high alert for this potential problem. I would think if this is investigated, crashes with causes of driver inattention whereas a vehicle goes off the right side of the road or left of center, sensitive steering maybe the root of the problem in many cases. The vehicle has been inspected by two ford dealerships and found nothing wrong. I feel this is a engineering problem such as the ignition switches on the gm products. This was all pointed out to the regional customer service manager heather nabb. Ford's response to this problem is until there is a "failure", there is nothing they will do. *tr
Also reported on the 2014 Ford Escape
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Overheating
Radiator or coolant leak
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 93 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 2014 Ford Escape?
Across 65 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 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 2014 Ford Escape?
93 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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