Steering locked up...

[Vlad Soare]

Fusions and Mondeos made around the same time suffer from an extremely dangerous design fault. They've issued a recall for Fusions, but not for Mondeos, presumably because it's easier to get away with it in Europe than it is in the States.

See this thread for more details:
https://talkford.com/community/topic/394099-steering-bolt-failure-official-response-from-dvla/

And a great video here:


In short, the electric motor is attached to the steering rack by means of three aluminum bolts. These bolts will corrode and will break sooner or later (it's a matter of when, not if). And when they do, they take the steering rack down with them. The movement of the electric motor is transmitted to the steering gears via a rubber toothed belt. When the motor detaches the belt can break, and pieces of it can get into the gearing and can cause a total blockage.

I have no idea if the Mustang uses a similar steering rack and suffers from the same disease, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

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[GB John]

Back in 2015, I test drove a 2014 Mustang GT Convertible. It had been sitting on the lot so long, the battery had completely died. The dealer charged the battery quickly and I left with the car on my test drive. Half way through the drive, the power steering stopped working. The problem was that the amp draw from the power steering exceeded the charging amps from the alternator and the compromised battery couldn't provide enough current for the steering. I was able to wrestle the steering wheel to get the car back to the dealership. I didn't buy the car.

Is it possible your battery is not healthy?

 

[Vlad Soare]

You should be able to turn the steering wheel even without the electric assistance, albeit much harder. If you can't move it at all, then there's a deeper problem.

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