The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun an investigation into a possible steering defect affecting an estimated 983,000 Ford and Lincoln cars.
DETROIT, MI - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun an investigation into a possible steering defect affecting an estimated 983,000 Ford and Lincoln cars.
The move follows 508 complaints received by NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation before launching the inquiry Oct. 2.
The probe includes the 2010-12 Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ and 2010-11 Mercury Milan model vehicles. It focuses on Electric Power Assisted Steering (EPAS) suddenly failing while driving, essentially resulting a loss of power steering.
"Four of these complaints allege that the steering assist failure resulted in increased steering efforts that contributed to a loss of control and crash," NHTSA says in a summary of its probe.
NHTSA goes on to say that in many instances, a power steering warning messages appeared as the failure occurred. The problem was also at times remedied by turning the vehicle off and back on.
The Dearborn automaker said it is cooperating with the investigation.