2010 Ford Fusion
Complaints about this year name power steering far more often than the other years of this generation — 29% of them, about 26× the usual rate of 1.1%.
Generation 1 of the Ford Fusion, which began in 2006 and ran to 2012. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 5,125 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 1,949 |
| Involving a crash | 122 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 13 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- power steering — 31.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the other years of this generation (17.9×). Owners wrote it as: power steering, assist, steering assist, assist fault.
- throttle — 26.9% of this year's complaints, against 5.3% across the other years of this generation (5×). Owners wrote it as: throttle, body, throttle body, wrench light.
- wrench — 23.8% of this year's complaints, against 5.7% across the other years of this generation (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: wrench, light came, waited, car lost.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- off — 30% of complaints, 3× usual
- throttle body — 18% of complaints, 8× usual
- steering assist — 10% of complaints, 24× usual
What owners wrote
STEERING ASSIST FAULT. NO POWER STEERING. WAS ON AND OFF, NOW JUST NO POWER STEERING AT ALL.
WHEN I START THE CAR JUST ABOUT EVERY 4-5TH TIME THE POWER STEERING ASSIST FAULT WARNING WILL COME ON AND I HAVE NO POWER STEERING. I HAVE TO TURN THE CAR OFF AND ON TO GET IT TO WORK PROPERLY.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V001000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V158000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V081000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21E013000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V775000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 19V904000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 18V046000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V793000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 13. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Fusion was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2010 Ford Fusion? What happened to yours?
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