I've got a buddy that just bought a 2012 Brute Force 750 from the local Kawi dealer. It was in seriously mint condition...un-believably clean in places you would have to take it apart to get to.
500ish miles when he got it...They told him an old man had bought it and traded it in on a sideby. Who knows for sure, but it certainly wasn't abused for those 500 miles.

First time out, he noticed the power steering was "catching" and it didn't seem to want to freely turn sometimes. He took it in after the first ride - during the Used-ATV 30 warranty period the stealer provides. They couldn't find a problem and charged him $50 for looking at it(no problem found means a labor fee under their warranty)

So, we take it out last weekend and after just a few miles it became a serious problem. It wouldn't steer at all some and did fine some. Sometimes - It would not turn, and when you tried hard it would sometimes suddenly steer. REALLY UNSAFE. Never made any noise to indicate a problem at all. He continued to ride it in hopes that whatever was wrong would get bad enough to show up at the dealer since the 30 day warranty only had a week left. In the two rides we did - he put another 75 miles on it.
It did get worse and the dealer witnessed it finally.
(lower end of the big plate in the pic)
They say the outer CV boot was punctured and the "fluid" drained out and caused the outer joint to fail...apparently on these CVs - the failure mode happens w/o any indication(clicking etc...) except locked up steering. Go Kawi
The dealer said they wouldn't have sold it used w/a punctured boot so he must have done it on his first ride and they acted like they were doing him a favor fixing it under warranty.
I saw one other mention online of someone having the same problem and didn't give it much weight because it seems so far fetched....Apparently I was wrong.

So - on to my questions for you Kawi/Brute Force guys:

Is this really a problem with these ATVs? It just doesn't seem right that a CV would fail in this way....Seems like Kawi should do a recall on these because someone could easily be killed. I've owned/worked on a lot of CV equipped ATVs(and vehicles) - they NEVER fail and cause steering issues like this - NEVER.
Assuming the puncture/lack of "fluid"(as they refer to it) caused it to fail, and it happened while my friend owned it - it must have punctured and leaked out causing the joint to fail in the first 20 miles because it starting having the steering issues(slightly) on his first ride...it was not till his second one that he was sure something was wrong because it got worse. The Dealer suggested replacing the CVs with aftermarket ones that are better...but they are putting an OEM Kawi one on now.

So, second question is totally unrelated - he bought a KFI winch mount kit to mount his Warn Provantage 2500. It all bolts up fine but the fairlead is aimed at about a 45 degree angle tword the ground. No other pics I've seen show this going on. Does anyone know what gives? We did confirm it is the correct part number from KFI for his 2012 brute force.
It looks like this:
http://d298hbshm01bgr.cloudfront.net...11054-1632.jpg
It almost appears the front part of that big plate should bave been bent more but all the plates from KFI I've seen look like that. Does anyone know what gives? The winch cable won't be hitting a roller in a lot of situations due to the angle...it'll grind against metal.

 

There is no fluid in a CV boot its just a boot to protect the CV joint which is packed with thick grease not pour out fluid.
Even if the boots rips it takes a long while for dirt to wear out a CV joint. When a CV starts to fail its usually a clunking sound that does not effect steering much.

To have a CV so worn out that its unsafe you would of had to ride for a heck of a long time to screw it up to that point a greased CV joint even exposed to water and dirt is till a tuff thing to kill.

Here's a CV joint, Its a Polaris but there all the same. Does that look like a thing that can wear out and fail quickly ,remember its still packed with thick grease even with a ripped boot.

 

My experience and opinion is the same as yours...I dunno why they call the grease "fluid" either, or how it could fail in such a dangerous way in such a short time...None of this makes much sense which is why I posted.
Having said all that - what else could be causing the steering issue? They are replacing the CV axle - if that DOES in fact fix it, what else are we to think except it is all true?

 

I would be very surprised if fixing a CV joint cures the problem. Some car CVs do have a liquid grease in them so the dealer was not too far out in calling it that. Your problem can be anything on the steering from faulty ball joints or track rod ends through sticking diff lock to the power steering, which seems the most likely thing to be wrong, particularly if, as you wrote, it seems to steer by itself. The dealer won't want to mess with it as they are complex and expensive items.