This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Focus. While parked in the backyard, the contact started the vehicle and the rear window blew out. The dealer repaired the window. A few days later, the locks on the passenger side door would not unlock. The dealer repaired that failure as well. Afterwards, the ignition cylinder began to fail. The contact took the vehicle in for repair and had to pay $300. The current and failure mileages were 5,000. Updated 05/21/08 the consumer stated the trunk needed to be repaired as well. Updated. 05/20/08.
Rear window was shattered for no known reason while driving 65-70 mph. The shattered glass flew fell the vehicle while child was sleeping in a child safety seat. No injuries were reported. Dealer was notified.
The rear window in my 2003 Ford Focus sedan zts spontaneously shattered overnight while parked in the driveway. The next morning it was found completely intact with no sign of impact or forced entry. Ford refused to pay for the repair stating that I should contact my insurance company and have them sue Ford.
My wife barbara purchased a new 2003 Ford Focus. She brought it home on fri. Oct.10th. 2003, she put on about 100 miles. She parked it in our driveway. On Monday Oct. 13, 2003 when I went out to the car I noticed that the rear window was crazed. With a closer inspection I saw that the window was completely cracked. The window was intact with no sign of impact. I called the dealer and they asked me to bring it in to their service center. I did and they are repairing it. We live in a remote area with no trafic. The car was parked in a driveway with the rear window facing away from the road. The temperture was 38 deg. F.at night and 70 deg. F daytime. We live in alpine, AZ ellevation 8050 ft.
After leaving my auto, I returned to find the rear window shattered, but in tact/in place. There no signs of any impact or attempted entry. The police were called and they said they could not find any evidence of anything striking the window and appeared it might be a faulty window. Upon bringing it to the dealer's sevice shop, the manager said he would notify his Ford rep of this problem. He said normally they would not do anything but since the auto was so new, he would try to see what he could do. Upon investigating if there was a Ford recall or similar regarding this problem, I came accross at least one other occassion where the window just shattered and was replaced by Ford under warranty. The individual said Ford claimed it was due to welding irregularities and such. When I was speaking to the service manager at Ford, he claimed that the 2003 Ford Focus rear defroster was changed and they had given it a higher amp to make it hotter. Since it has been about 6 dgrees outside, it could have been hot and shattered when cooling quickly - he did not know and was just searching for answers. Regardless, the auto had 440 miles on it and was only about 10 days old when this occurred. It could have been serious if this windowed shattered and blew out while driving, possibly causing harm to any passengers in the back - or anywhere for that matter. I believe this needs to be checked out to prevent any possible harm to anyone. The auto is a 2003 Ford Focus SE sedan.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Flushing, NY, USA