Steering Assist Malfunction

[stefcio007]

Had this message pop up a few times and checked the computer and it told me battery voltage too low.
Replaced the battery as it was getting old anyway (3.5 years) even though it's never had any cranking issues just in case.

Problem did not go away. My "fix" has been just to restart the car.

Doing some online searching shows I'm not alone and in America at least it seems like a big issue. Ford even did a recall on another model that uses the same steering rack and has the exact same issues.
The next stage of restarting to "fix" the issue is this "fix" no longer works.
Luckily for me this has only happened while starting the car and not while driving, yes, that has happened to some people which I consider a very serious safety issue.


Being someone who is big on preventative maintenance I don't want to be stranded and without a car and having to tow it to the dealer and have them fix it...which some people have been quoted $6,500 to replace the rack, Ford even won't let you drive it home if the steering rack has failed (understandable I guess?). Seeing as this is more than half of what the car is worth are there any options?
I plan on getting a case started with Ford CRC but wanted to see what the forums consensus is.
Would Ford turn me away since I did common maintenance on my car and could claim I did something?


Some information I found while searching:

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/F...steering.shtml
https://www.productreview.com.au/lis...-mk1-2011-2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szHMXwcp9fo

Hopefully Ford learns from the transmission saga and does the right thing because it appears that it could be just as bad as that if more owners have the issue/complain about it.

Otherwise I love this car and it would be a real shame if this makes me can it.