Steering pulling to the left/right intermittently on a 2010 Hybrid

[anotherfusionowner]

Hello Everyone,

 

After having my tires rotated, I started to experience my steering pulling to the left intermittently and feeling a bit loose. I took it back in to have an alignment done since I have a lifetime agreement at my local pep boys. It did not resolve the issue. I needed to have the PCM updated to fix the wrench light, so I decided to take it in to get diagnosed by the dealership. They are very adamant that the issue is with the rack and pinion, which they tried to get me to replace before. Long story short, it turned out to be an issue with one of my tires. It's been about 4 years since then and I haven't had a single issue with my rack and pinion. They are now trying to charge me $3000 for the repair, but I declined and just got the update and a coolant flush on my engine/mect. When I picked up the car it is now pulling to both the left and the right intermittently. I looked at the notes and it appears the tech crossed rotated the tires. It doesn't appear that the tech did any other diagnostic work to rule out an issue with the sensor.

 

Before I went into the dealership, I ran the codes and took a screenshot. I reset the codes, so I could get my power steering working again. I did have the typical service power steering light come on along with my abs and traction control lights. I am thinking that the issue is a bad steering angle sensor. I wasn't sure at first, but I saw a few youtube videos of other fords having this issue and it turned out to be a sensor issue. I wanted to check and see if anyone has an opinion or has experienced this issue before. If you have any information on possible diagnostics/calibrations I can do through forscan (I have the full license), that would be helpful as well. 

 

here are some of the videos I looked at: (I was having a hard time finding english videos)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWgY7FDNFt0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc59s9JbpDw&t=608s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsjZfI13fLQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed-KsE9m870&t=5s

 

I wanted to thank everyone who helps on this forum. I have been able to get through quite a few issues and I am very appreciative of everyone's efforts. 

Edited August 15, 2021 by anotherfusionowner

[VonoreTn]

Can you describe your term "pulls to left" better.  It is one thing if the car with hands off on a non-crowned surface "drifts" to the left or right, which is not that serious. Possible related wheel alignment.   If it like indexes the steering wheel left or right, that is a different problem, probably related to the position sensors.  New sensors should not cost $3K.   How many miles on your car, and does it still do electric mode below 46 mph? 

Edited August 15, 2021 by VonoreTn
adjustment

[anotherfusionowner]

Its like the steering wheel will move to either the right or left. I have to compensate by turning the opposite direction in order to drive straight. But it doesn't do it all the time. It gets worse when driving over bad roads or roads that are very slanted. I am currently at 124k. I did the 10 year ev fix not too long ago because I couldn't get EV at all. I don't recall getting ev at higher speeds. It seems like it only works for slower city driving. The best I could get my mpg is 33. That was after replacing the throttle body, 02 sensor, and some seafoam in the fuel tank.

Edited August 15, 2021 by anotherfusionowner

[lolder]

It sounds like you're still out of alignment. Lights for power steering ABS and Traction are not "typical. A weal 12 vdc battery can cause lots of strange problems. If it's more than a few years old change it no matter how it tests.  You may also have a steering system problem.