My car is an automatic 2012 Ford Fusion with 120,728 miles on it.
This is a lot of info but I am just going to say everything I know prior.
I was out of town for 2 months, and it got really cold/snowed, leading my battery to die. I had roadside assistance come to jump start my car. When it got jump started, I saw that there were 0 miles of gas so he came back to get gas. The nossel of the gas can didn’t work for my car so after waiting 30 minutes, he followed me to the gas station. I made it fine until I was in line to get gas (no gas filled yet), but then I noticed that my car said “Power steering assist fault”, making my car very difficult to turn in both directions. Is there any way I could possibly fix this myself without having to pay mechanics?
There was a recall for this problem back in 2015, you might want to check if it was taken care of on your car.
https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/
Okay thank you so much! I looked it up and it only mentions an incomplete recall status for the airbags. Does that mean that the status for the power steering recall has already been taken care of by the previous owner?
Probably. You could also contact Ford, details for the recall at cars.com include a phone number. (If that car is part of the Takata airbag recall you'll definitely want that taken care of.)
"Ford will notify owners, and dealers will check the Power Steering Control Module (PSCM) for Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC). If dealers find any loss of steering assist DTCs, the steering gear will be replaced, free of charge. If, no codes are found during the PSCM inspection, the PSCM software will be updated, free of charge. Interim notices were mailed to owners on July 20, 2015. Owners will receive a second notice when the remedy becomes available. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 15S18."
https://www.cars.com/research/ford-fusion-2012/recalls/
There was a post three days ago about a 2012 Fusion with power steering problems. Long story short there may be a recall on your car.
Search for Elect power steering almost gone on the forum main page for more info. Good luck.
Okay thank you for your answer!! Does this mean if I take it to the dealership that it would be a free/low cost fix?
Yes. Repairs covered by the recall should be free. I would contact a Ford dealership service department for details.
If the recall was previously repaired : https://www.ford.com/support/how-tos/warranty/warranties-and-coverage/what-is-the-warranty-on-recall-repairs/