2013 Ford Taurus
Complaints about this year name power steering far more often than the model's other years — 37% of them, about 8× the usual rate of 4.9%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 587 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 175 |
| Involving a crash | 20 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- steering — 49.4% of this year's complaints, against 11.4% across the model's other years (4.3×).
- assist — 28.8% of this year's complaints, against 9.6% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: assist, steering assist, fault, assist fault.
- vin — 20.3% of this year's complaints, against 7% across the model's other years (2.9×).
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
- steering assist — 16% of complaints, 39× usual
- fuel — 15% of complaints, 6× usual
- steering wheel — 18% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
During the process of starting my vehicle I immediately receive a power steering assist fault. And at this time the steering wheel locks up and I can’t drive the car.
WHILE DRIVING VARIOUS SPEEDS, THE STEERING WHEEL SEIZED AND THE POWER STEERING ASSIST INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO MCDAVID FORD (300 W LOOP 820 SOUTH, FORT WORTH, TEXAS 76108, [phone]), BUT WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED. THE DEALER STATED TH…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V040000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 16V621000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 15V340000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 14V285000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V812000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 14V393000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 13V227000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 13V270000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Ford Taurus 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 2013 Ford Taurus? What happened to yours?
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