What car is this? My 2 cents worth. The question of whether to get a brand new steering rack or a used/recond unit is very much dependent on two aspects as follows;

1. How long do you intend to keep the car
2. Can you accept a reduced performance and unknown reliability

You are quite hands on to be able to change the steering rack of your vehicle yourself. I'm not sure how you can do that as you need a machine to jack the whole vehicle up. To me, only an experienced good mechanic is recommended for this job.

My experience with the replacement of the steering rack on my Ford Focus (now sold) is not a pleasant one as it mirrors your experience with the reconditioned unit. Similarly I have gone with a recond steering rack, not once but twice , and both are unreliable. The first one showed minor friction sound when the steering wheel is turned, and it only lasted for about 8 months before it malfunctioned again. The second steering rack showed even louder friction sound when the steering wheel is turned. It just feels like a defective or damaged unit. I sold the car several months later as I don't want to go through the ordeal for the 3rd time. Most if not all recond steering racks are mostly in bad shape or damaged already, and what these workshops do is they just fix them to customers cars. As a result you will get a less perfect handling or performance and some friction noises with short lifespan.

It's a safety issue as well depending on the type of vehicle. A faulty steering rack is dangerous when it fails with the Ford Focus. The steering rack can fail when you are driving the car, and when that happens you will not be able to turn the steering wheel easily as it will lock up and turn very stiff. Most young men will still be able to maneuver the vehicle to the side of the road with some effort but most ladies and seniors will not be able to turn the steering wheel and when that happens the vehicle will stop in the middle of the road.

My advice is to go for a new steering rack is you can afford it even though it is expensive. A new steering rack for the Ford Focus used to be above RM10k, outside workshop was selling at 9.8k and the price went down to 7.5k the last time I inquired. If you can't afford a new steering rack, at least look for an experienced and reputable mechanic which can fix it nicely for you. However, it's not about the mechanic but the availability of these recond or used steering racks as most of the time they are hard to come by. Usually it's the bad mechanics or workshops which have stocks of these poor condition or damaged units while the good mechanics may not have stocks. It's about timing as well.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Nov 16 2025, 09:10 PM

Well, that's a reason why the resale value of the Ford is so low. The steering rack of the Ford Focus is one of the costliest part to replace. The reconditioned (used) steering rack which I installed on the Ford Focus mk3 at RM2.5k is costlier than the new steering rack of your Sonata. I didn't know new steering racks can be so cheap though. I paid close to RM3k for the second used steering rack before I sold the car away. If I could turn back time, I would have gone with a new steering rack although it costs close to RM10k back then, the cheapest quoted price I could find. Having said that, it all happened for a reason and I'm glad the events had caused an early disposal of the vehicle.

Before I forget, unscrupulous workshops which deal with used or reconditioned steering racks such as the one I went to previously do not care much about quality and have poor work ethics. All they want is just money, that's all. For the 2nd steering rack replacement, they not only fixed a poor condition unit in my vehicle but a different model from another car to mine. My car is the Ford Focus mk3 but they took a steering rack from the Focus ST which is a different model and fixed it in my car. I only found out when I brought my car to my regular Ford specialist workshop for the routine maintenance. The experienced boss there showed me the difference - the steering wheel on the Focus mk3 has a 1 1/2 turn while the one on the Focus ST only has 1 turn. It's just terrible what these workshops can do as they couldn't care less about fixing a wrong unit on customers' vehicles.

In summary, as what I 've mentioned earlier, go for NEW steering rack for peace of mind. If you can't afford it, look for experienced and reliable workshop or mechanics which have stocks of used/reconditioned steering racks, though it's easier said than done as most good workshops only deal with new parts and not used/reconditioned parts.

That picture is showing the shock absorber, not steering rack. Is this the part you have replaced on your car? The steering rack is different.

With the Ford Focus, there is an electronic or ECU box attached together with the steering rack as a complete piece of equipment. If the electronics inside that box are damaged, the whole steering rack would not work anymore. The picture below shows the steering rack for the Ford Focus mk3.

Another picture showing a used/reconditioned steering rack. Most if not all of these steering racks are in poor shape or damaged condition, likely salvaged from accident vehicles, and what the workshops which are in the steering rack business do is they will salvage these parts and fix them to customers' vehicles. It's not recommended to go with these used/reconditioned steering racks unless one is looking to quickly sell the car after fixing these parts on the vehicle.

I'm not sure what are the symptoms when the steering rack begins to show signs of failure with other cars, whether they can still be driven like normal although the driver detects a peculiar or strange behaviour with the vehicle which may be contributed by a defective steering rack, or a steering rack which is about to fail.

With the Ford Focus, there are no signs. What you will get is a message like this which appears on the screen, and when you get this message, you won't be able to turn the steering wheel of the vehicle anymore. In other words, you can't control or drive the car already. The danger is it can happen when you are driving the car on the road at say 100km/h and the message suddenly comes up and you can't turn the steering wheel. Just imagine the danger of it. Well, I'm exaggerating a little with not being able to turn the steering wheel. One may still be able to turn the steering wheel but some strength from the arms would be required to accomplish this as the steering wheel will turn very stiff. Most ladies and seniors who are unable to manouvre the vehicle to the side of the road would be forced to leave it in the middle of the road whenever this steering assist malfunctions.



This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Nov 18 2025, 07:57 AM

Right, thanks for the clarification. That explains it. I'm not sure about other cars where the steering rack may be repaired as suggested by other people here. With the Ford Focus, it's not repairable and the only way is to replace the whole piece.

The auto manufacturer(Ford) have ceased production of passenger cars across the globe so they can't continue with their ways already. Since i don't own the Focus now I am not tied with costly repairs anymore associated with unreliable parts and electronics caused by their incompetent design team as you have aptly put it.

I'm not sure what other cars adopt this similar design approach whereby the steering rack is lumped together with the electronic or ECU box which will require costly repairs in the event the electronics in the ECU box fail. Anyway I'm not interested to know already as I'm back to Japanese cars.

Since you have mentioned that a lot of ECU repairer can fix units which are attached to the steering rack, perhaps post some references here as it may be useful for future Ford Focus owners who will encounter failure of the steering rack. As far as I know it can't be fixed.

It's not just about sending a small box to them. The ECU box is attached to the steering rack, the whole car needs to be jacked up and the steering rack dismantled to have access to the boards. IF the ECU repairer only takes in the boards and does not offer service to accept the vehicle with the damaged steering rack/ECU box, a 3rd party mechanic will need to be hired to dismantle the steering rack/ECU box, that if it can be done since the Mercedes is not a Ford. The box attached to the steering rack/parts are all different. Also, say after the electronics in the ECU box are repaired (if that can be done as claimed), it will need to be reinstalled to the steering rack, and the whole steering rack fixed to the car and final testing. Who will do the final testing, the mechanic of the ECU repairer? If anything goes wrong or doesn't work, who will take the blame, and can the costs of repair (trial) be waived? The car would still be dead in the workshop and can't be driven, only can be towed.

This post has been edited by SportyHandling: Nov 19 2025, 11:09 AM

Now I see where the issue lies. Most if not all Ford specialist workshops will only replace the whole steering rack and won't deal with aftermarket ECU repairers. As I've mentioned earlier, several known Ford specialists only deal with steering rack replacement. It's a question mark if the electronics inside the ECU box of the steering rack of the Ford Focus could be dismantled and successfully repaired provided a mechanic who deals with ECU repairers are available. As far as i know, Ford specialist workshops don't deal with ECU repairers.

In my mind, a good mechanic will be required to cover everything and the owner only deals with him only. So it's a moot point for the owner to look for ECU repairers online or Facebook since they won't be able to fix the car. There might be other underlying issues other than the ECU box or steering rack that may be contributing to the failed steering rack, such as the clock spring which was replaced alongside the steering rack by the shoddy workshop. My Ford specialist claimed that the steering rack workshop who replaced the steering rack might have damaged the clock spring when they tried to fix the problem.

In summary, your idea will not work with the Ford Focus as described above. As for your mechanic covering the ECU box repair with Mercedes vehicles, that I'm not sure but is another matter.