A recent failure of the steering rack on my car has somewhat caused be to be phobic about another imminent failure. I'll try to cut a long story short. Basically I am curious to know if anyone has had experiences with the failure of the steering rack in your vehicle. If yes, is your vehicle running on electric power steering and at what mileage did the steering rack fail.

From my conversation with an experienced mechanic, I was made to understand that the steering rack failure is common with all vehicles which operate on Electric Power Steering, and the lifespan is about 8 to 10 years. He mentioned that vehicles with hydraulic power steering rarely have steering rack failures. Is this true?

The recent failure of the steering rack in my vehicle has also suggested that a half-cut steering rack is not a wise option for the replacement of the faulty or broken steering rack as in my experience, it does not last long. The steering rack of my vehicle a Ford Focus mk3 malfunctioned last year when it was 8 years old with mileage 70,000+ km. During that time, the steering rack could not be turned when the engine was started and the error message came up on the display, it was towed to the workshop for the replacement of the steering rack. However, just after 8 months, the (half-cut) steering rack failed again this year and this time, it was much dangerous. It happened when I was driving the car on the road, and the message suddenly came up and the steering wheel cannot be turned! This was when the car was moving at speed on the road and the steering wheel became very stiff and cannot be turned easily. I have to use all my energy to steer the vehicle to the emergency lane. This is extremely dangerous and can cause an accident. If it's a senior citizen, he/she might not have the energy to steer the vehicle to the emergency lane due to the very stiff steering wheel, and the vehicle might need to stop in the middle of the road or highway.

I am not sure if this is an inherent issue with the Ford Focus mk3 in that the steering rack fails rather early, in my case going into the 8th year with low mileage. I was made to understand that all other Focus mk3 also has this same problem and some owners experienced even earlier failure in their 3rd or 4th year. So back to the question. Does anyone here experience a steering rack failure in your vehicle, and how was the situation like? In my case it was a dangerous experience. Does this happen in all vehicles which come with EPS? Some checks on the internet revealed that the steering rack has a lifespan and will somehow fail at some point of time, and the average lifespan is around 160,000 km depending on usage pattern.

Perhaps I made a mistake of going with half-cut steering racks which have a short lifespan. A new steering rack will likely have a longer lifespan but it's fairly costly (RM13k at service centre for the Focus mk3), lower price at outside workshops.

I've 3 cars with EPS and 1 car with hydraulic power steering.

Most problem i had was with the hydraulic one.... steering rack needed repairs, i refurbish it... power steering pump serviced once... and after leaking again, replaced it.
EPS only 1 car had a minor issue, reduced power assist, steering just a bit heavier, never bothered to replace it... just live with it.
Overall i prefer EPS over hydraulic. Simpler and less problems.

Car age
- 1st EPS car : 4 years (accident and total loss)
- 2nd EPS car : 17 years (sold off in 2021, new owner i think still happy with it)
- 3rd EPS car : 10 years (still driving it)
- 1st hydraulic car : 13 years (still driving it)

Sorry to hear from your encounters
I guess it is really hard to put a number on steering rack lifespan.. There are certain models with higher reported steering rack issues like Civics, certain Honda models and F30s with low mileage while some are just fine after more than 10 years. It also got to do with design issues and the way owners driven their car.
My previous VW has clicking sound and knocking sound underneath the car as I go over uneven roads. Got it refurbished instead during 8th year of ownership (120,000km). Not life threatening, just annoyed by the sound coming from underneath the car.

This post has been edited by OrangeGrove: May 29 2023, 05:33 PM

Thanks for the response. It appears that not all vehicles with EPS are built the same, and the failure pattern of the steering rack with different vehicles is also different. Good to note that you didn't encounter any serious issues with the steering rack of your car, just minor symptoms unlike my case whereby the failure is way more dangerous. Looks like the steering rack of the Ford Focus mk3 is poor with low durability with it's low lifespan not withstanding the danger that comes with it when it fails.

how much to refurbish the existing one?

Good to know. Yes, clicking and knocking sound is not life threatening. My case is just dangerous. If one has not experienced the real situation he wouldn't know.

Those driving ford with eps failure will see death infront of them

D S Auto Enterprise Sg Buloh
Initial quote was RM880 but turn out to RM1500 as VW's steering rack is a combination of EPS and hydraulic, a bit more complex for them to do.
This was 2021.

OK.. Thanks boss

My VW Polo Sedan steering rack first knocking about 1.5 years 15k km, sent back they repaired the steering rack coupling under warranty.

Second time knocking around 55k km, about 6th years ownership (out of warranty), didn't replace it and it gradually getting worse knocking at very slight uneven road, sold the car at 73k km.

Thanks for all responses.

From the responses here so far, it's only with VW vehicles that show issues with the steering rack, and those issues are minor since it's knocking or clicking sound from the steering when going over uneven road.

Are there any severe cases of steering rack failures with other cars other than the Ford Focus mk3 whereby the steering wheel suddenly became very stiff without warning when the car is in motion on the road? To me, this is a serious safety flaw where the failure of the steering rack happens when the driver is still driving the vehicle on the road, and the driver is unable to control the vehicle anymore as the steering wheel is locked. Women or senior citizens will likely not be able to steer the vehicle to the emergency lane if this happens and it's a dangerous situation especially when the vehicle is on the highway with other vehicles traveling at high speed.

Both issues you say are common with Honda cars (Civic for the past 2 generations, City for past 2 generations, Accord gen 9)

Thanks for the information. Does this apply to the current Honda vehicles as well, Civic or City etc.? I wonder if car manufacturers or perhaps engineers can prevent this from happening as it's a serious safety issue. To me, this problem with the steering rack failing without warning thus causing the steering wheel to be very stiff has a high potential of creating an accident especially if the vehicle is on the highway.

I was guessing that this serious steering rack issue is only applicable to the Ford Focus mk3 model only but apparently Honda cars also have this problem.

First of all, need to understand why it become stiff? Usually electronic power steering after certain speed like 60km/h it will cut off power to the EPS to provide better road feel and control at high speed. If suddenly become stiff, mostly is due to the motor controlling the rack already fail/off and with big & heavy sport rims you will feel even more worse.

BTW, most of the time is not the steering rack motor issue but the ECU that controlling it, from my mechanic experience a lot of modern EPS failure are not from the rack itself but related to the ECU control box & wiring issue. He recently encountered a Mazda EPS issue due to poor earth connection, the owner go do painting outside and the paint thickness (too thick) until unable to get good earth grounding and cause the EPS fail, spend few thousands fixing it still fail and finally drag to my mechanic place use voltage meter test gg fail earth reading. Solution: sand the wiring ground area..

If a good mechanic, they will do test using meter and also try feeding power to the steering rack motor to test if it is the EPS rack or ECU control box issue.

This post has been edited by littlefire: May 30 2023, 10:49 AM

Yes, I am aware of that as the steering rack specialist and another mechanic had explained to me earlier on the failure of the steering rack. The electronic control box or ECU control box or whatever they call it, it's a small box fixed to the steering rack of the Mk3. It's the electronics that fail and for this reason the whole steering rack needs to be replaced as the electronic control box is fixed to it. So basically we just refer to a "steering rack failure" as the electronic control box and steering rack come together as a one-piece. So it's basically replacing the whole thing altogether.

The cause of the failure of the electronics, as explained to me by both the steering rack specialist and experienced mechanic (consistent advice from both which is a good thing) is that contaminated rain water will seep into the electronic control box as the vehicle goes through puddle of water and especially deeper puddles of water on the roads during a rainy weather. With prolonged deterioration, the electronics inside the box that is fixed to the steering rack will be damaged. So the advice is to avoid driving the car through deep puddle of waters wherever possible to avoid early damage of the electronics.

First time I'm told about this. Of course we can avoid driving into puddles of water but during rain, eventually water will splash onto the box. I wonder why manufacturers can't waterproof the ECU box to prevent water from seeping into it thus damaging the electronics? Water on the roads will still splash onto the box and if it's not properly sealed it will eventually find its way into the box.

There is no such thing need to replace whole set if just the electronic control box issue. If someone fix or assembly with it together means it can be taken out individually and ECU or PCBA board can be fix or exchange out. Nowadays a lot of PCBA/ECU repairer outside, is just either your mechanic or specialist did not get the correct personal to fix it. If really cannot fix, i believe open market especially China sure got people selling individual PCBA/ECU board for replacement. There is always a way if there is a will, unless you are cash rich and cannot take risk then buy whole set new.

hydraulic steering issue i have is just small leaking and steering play.
nothing serious.

EPS problem i had is knocking clunking noise when going over rough road.
5 years old bezza, 6 years old elantra, 3 years old saga vvt.
not much problem on the motor or sort.
got 1 incident got motor grinding noise when in carpark. afer restart car noise gone.

my bezza after 5 years need to change to refurbished type, costing RM 600+

Civic - Current generation and previous.
City - GM6
Accord Gen 9

https://www.autoblog.com/2023/03/21/nhtsa-h...-investigation/

I can tell you from a perspective of "engineer". We take calculated risks, and sometimes we do not convey this risk in terms of RPN properly to management. In the name of cost, time and performance, a lot of design aspects related to reliability is short cutted. Often times we think the risk is 1 per million and it is well justified ie safe to ship. But we underestimate things and in reality the occurence is much much higher example 1000 per million. Then comes to the owh crap part.
Then, as management they also instruct the engineering teams to take more risks in the name of profit. You know where this goes.

Next, these subsystems are "reused" by other teams and projects and they are deemed extra safe to use because its been used for a long time "without issue". The problems goes unfixed for generations until another top engineer redesigns everything and thinks he is the smartest man alive, only to repeat the lessons not learned.

So, no, there are far too many examples of shit hitting the fan. Takata airbags come to mind.

Yes, it is a safety issue for steering to be sticky. If you ask me, there should be people being put into jail for these issues then perhaps someone will care. Look at recent Toyota side impact issue. Until now perodua pretends there is no problem, Daihatsu say there is no problem but Toyota chairman flying here and there and apologising up and down.