Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2012 Ford Fusion
3 crashes 1 injury 4 of the 214 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 steering rack, gear or tie rod failure gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Ford Fusion report steering rack, gear or tie rod failure at a median of 84,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 54,000 miles and a quarter after 111,000 miles, from 182 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 34,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 138,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 104,000 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.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34,000 miles | 54,230 miles | 83,750 miles | 110,750 miles | 138,000 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 $700–$2,600 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 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 57,500 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 93,000 miles.
By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 232; the 2012 has 214. 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 2012 ford fusion. The contact stated that the steering warning light flashed once as the steering failed. The wrecker service towed the vehicle to the dealer where the steering rack was replaced. The dealer advised the contact that the electronic power assist failed. The failure mileage was 600 and the current mileage was 2,500. Updated 02/15/12*bf updated 03/08/12
Multi function screen showed power steering malfunction at stop light. Vehicle restarted and warning was gone and steering was normal. Next day warning appeared while driving on a straight road, steering was very difficult. Vehicle pulled over, restarted and warning was gone, normal steering. In one hour it happened again, vehicle was brought to local ford dealer, and the first diagnosis was unknown as "codes" did not indicate steering problem. Today they called and stated the car needs an entire rack and pinion steering set replacement. Unfortunately there is a national back log and no parts available. Car is inoperable. Working with ford customer care solutions center for resolution. *js
Started the car, message center displayed power steering assist default.steering wheel completely tight. Followed manual directions to turn of ignition,restart after 10 seconds,message returned. Terribly frightened. In an effort to get to safe location, drove the car slowly using incredible upper arm strength to turn steering wheel. Towed to dealer next day..informed that rack and pinion need replacing. Defected from manufacture. Just purchased the car, its only 90 days in my ownership. I do not trust this car at all. I had an 11 month old in the car, this could have been a major accident. *tr
Also reported on the 2012 Ford Fusion
Other steering problem
Airbag inflator rupture
Loss of power steering
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 214 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 steering rack, gear or tie rod failure happen on the 2012 Ford Fusion?
Across 182 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 84,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 54,000 miles and a quarter after 111,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is steering rack, gear or tie rod failure on the 2012 Ford Fusion?
214 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 3.3 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