A few weeks ago my battery light came on but it didn't seem to affect anything. Yesterday, while driving, my radio went off and and said something about low battery. When I parked, (car still running)all my instruments went dead and the windows wouldn't open. I kept it running but as soon as I turned on the AC the car died and wouldn't start. Bought a new battery and had the alternator checked. Alt was only putting out 30 amps. Didn't check voltage. Car seemed to run ok after installing new battery but haven't driven it yet today.

Also, I hear this grinding noise from the front end when I turn my wheel. Been going on for a couple of months now.

After reading all these complaints I am thinking about car shopping this weekend and it will not be another FORD Focus!

This car is such a piece of crap! Ok...I have a '07 Ford Focus SES. My first alternator went out at around 47,000 miles. Well, now the car is at about 51,000 miles. And guess what? Alternator appears to be dead again! (If it's not the alernator, it is definately something electrical.) I was driving a very short distance today when I noticed that the car was accelerating at a slow speed. It seemed to be extra "heavy" like it didn't want to really get up and go. Eventually, I got up to speed. I had the A/C on full blast and my CD player going. Suddenly, I noticed my speakers were souding like they were full of static. I lowered my speakers and noticed that the engine was idling rougher than normal. So, I turned my A/C off and everything went back to normal. The speakers were working just fine. I noticed though that right after I turned off the A/C, the stereo display looked like it was fizzling in and out. I pulled into my parking space and decided to investigate a little bit more. (This was reminding me of the first time the alternator went out.) I turned everything off and it sounded like the engine's idle was very erratic. It would slow down, almost to a stall out, and then speed up. I reved the engine 'til it straightened itself out. I turned the A/C back on, and the stereo, and 10 seconds later the static in the speakers started up again. So, once again, I shut off the A/C. Everything returned back to normal. So, I decided to give her the ultimate test. I shut off the engine and tried to restart it. All I heard was a "click", "buzzzzz". It was dead. I waited a few hours and then tried to restart it. The engine fired right up. Everything seemed ok until I turned the A/C back on. My "open door" dash board light was flickering (instead of being solid) ((my door was open)) and the static returned. I instantly thought "alternator" also because the CD player switched over to AM radio on it's own. I attempted to put the car in reverse but no sooner I try to put it in gear, it began to shake, rattle and roll. I tried to lower my window and it worked, but it groaned while it did. I then shut it off and attempted the restart. All of the dash board lights flickered on and off and then she gave up the ghost.

I am going to be having it towed to our mechanic tomorrow morning. But, I am so disappointed right now. This is a 3 year old car with barely over 50,000 miles. We've kept up on maintenance faithfully. And this is what we get??? This car ain't no lemon. Lemons are sweeter. You would think that Ford would step up to the plate and admit that they screwed up on the design on some of the components of this car. From what I understand, the alternator going out on these cars is common because of the fact that when they designed this car, they had a "dee-dee-dee" moment. They put the alternator too close to the engine manifold. So, you have all of this extra extreme heat (plus the New Mexico summer's heat) and you have the result of a fried alternator.

If you are considering buying a Ford Focus...DON'T DO IT!!!! We are just waiting to have this thing paid off and then adios amigo...can we say, "trade-in"?