US regulator investigating power steering problem in Ford cars

Following the recall by Ford Motor Co of about 1.1 million vehicles this year for power steering failures, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the same problem on another 938,000 cars, The New York Times reported.

The safety agency is now investigating whether a recall was called for on Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ sedans from the 2010-12 model years and Mercury Milan sedans from the 2010 and 2011 model years, according to a report posted yesterday on the agency's website.

According to the agency, it had received 508 complaints from owners, including four reports of accidents that occurred when the power steering assist suddenly failed, warranting ''increased steering efforts that contributed to a loss of control and crash.''

While no injuries had been reported, the complaints could be traced back to 2010 and include many reports of close calls.

''As the vehicle was attempted to be turned right into driveway the power steering completely failed and the driver nearly hit another vehicle,'' one owner wrote to the safety agency in August 2013. ''Every bit of the 120-pound female driver's strength was needed to manually steer the vehicle into the parking lot.''

According to the owner the problem cost $1,600 to repair.

According to a class-action suit filed in June, other Ford models, including the compact Focus could also have the same problem, AP reported.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said four complainants said the problem caused crashes, but no injuries were reported.

According to Ford, it was cooperating with investigation and that people experiencing power-steering problems should contact their dealer.

In documents posted yesterday on its website the agency said in many cases a warning message appears as the failure happened.

Though the problem was corrected with the restarting of the car in certain cases, the problem recurred.