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2006 FORD ESCAPE — STEERING

1 injured · 1219426 · 2015-09-16

Vehicle

Make
FORD
Model
ESCAPE
Year
2006
Manufacturer
Ford Motor Company
Component
STEERING
Miles at failure
126,466
Speed
25 mph

Severity

Deaths
0
Injured
1
Fire
No
Crash
No
Police report
No
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

ON JULY 24, 2015 MY WIFE AND 2 KIDS, 6 AND 2 YEARS OLD WERE ALMOST KILLED WHEN THE POWERED STEERING SYSTEM FAILED, THE CAR WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTROL AND HIT THE CURVE GOING OVER THE SIDEWALK. MY 6 YEAR OLD GOT A BRUISE ON HIS HEAD FROM HITTING THE WINDOW AND A WALKING PEDESTRIAN ALMOST GOT KILLED. IF MY WIFE WAS GOING A LITTLE FASTER, WE WOULD BE DEALING WITH A MURDER BY NEGLIGENCE CASE. THE POWER STEERING IN THIS MODEL IS ELECTRICAL, NOT HYDRAULIC; I HAVE ATTACHED PICTURES OF THESE PARTS. IVE NEVER SEEN THIS SYSTEM BEFORE; AS AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER I KNOW THIS SYSTEM IS UNRELIABLE FOR ANY OF THE CRITICAL SAFETY SYSTEMS IN A VEHICLE, SUCH AS STEERING OR BRAKES. THE MOTOR COULD SHORT OR THE BRUSHES MAY WEAR, MOTOR DRIVES MAY BURN, AND EVEN A LOW BATTERY COULD TURN THESE STEERING ASSISTANCE INTO A LOAD, MAKING MANEUVERS EVEN MORE DIFFICULT. ALSO A COMPUTER CODE COULD CREATE PROBLEMS THAT CAN CAUSE FATALITIES MAKING SHARP TURNS AT HIGH VELOCITIES. A HYDRAULIC SYSTEM MAY GO LOW ON FLUID AND MAKE SOUNDS; IT MAY GET A LITTLE HARDER TO TURN BUT NEVER WILL GET TOTALLY STUCK. THIS SYSTEM IS NOT SAFE FOR SOMETHING AS CRITICAL AS THE STEERING TRAIN!

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
10764148
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown