AtWhatMileage
Steering · 228 owner reports

Other steering problem on the 2013 Ford Fusion

6 crashes 5 fires 1 injury 12 of the 228 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.

Reports of this failure 228
With an odometer reading 172
Reports per 1,000 built 2.1 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 22%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 12
Typical repair $350–$2,400
What it means when it happens High
Rank among this year's problems 1st

When other steering problem gets reported

Owners of the 2013 Ford Fusion report other steering problem at a median of 77,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 43,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 172 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 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 120,450 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.

22% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 172 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
19,550 miles 42,750 miles 77,350 miles 110,250 miles 140,000 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, 6 a crash, 5 a fire 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 14 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 35,000 miles, and latest on the 2010 at 104,000 miles.

By volume the 2010 carries the most reports, with 1,056; the 2013 has 228. 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.

What owners wrote

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.

I turned on my car and it gave me these warnings: "power steering assist faulty" "hill assist system faulty" "service advancetrack" the power steering did not work, so I wasn't able to drive the car. *tr

6,800 miles NHTSA complaint 993829 filed 2013-07-15

While driving, I noted that the power assist was variable. In the middle of a turn, the steering suddenly became difficult. And then returned to normal. At other times during turning, the power steering would become extremely easy, and then return to normal. This is an intermittent occurrence and has persisted to date. (mileage is now about 3000 miles) this stiffening up and releasing could result in a dangerous situation while driving. A test drive (3-5 miles) by a service rep did not produce this occurrence. *tr

125 miles NHTSA complaint 996867 filed 2013-07-25

When you put on the brakes, the vehicle always turns hard to the left. This has done it since I have had the car. Thought it had to do with low profile tires. Tires are rotated and balance as indicated by manufacturer. The car is also aligned and drives straight forward. *tr

5,000 miles NHTSA complaint 1117550 filed 2014-10-06

Also reported on the 2013 Ford Fusion

Other engine problem

208 reports median 80k

Other body or interior problem

145 reports median 57k

Other powertrain problem

138 reports median 96k

Overheating

128 reports median 95k

Door latch or handle failure

128 reports median 63k

Seat belt or retractor failure

97 reports median 63k

How far this goes

Complaints are voluntary, so 228 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 2013 Ford Fusion?

Across 172 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 77,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 43,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 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 2013 Ford Fusion?

228 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.1 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