CarComplaints.com Notes: You should probably steer clear of the 2012 Focus. Otherwise, you might not be able to steer at all.
The 2012 is the first Focus to offer Electronic Power Assist Steering (EPAS). It's also the first year with massive power steering failure. These things are not mutually exclusive.
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 horn has stopped working. It worked the first few weeks we had the car, and it no longer works currently. Fuses and relays were checked associated with horn function via owners manual and were not the source of the issue.
I own a 2012 Ford Focus SE. I bought my Ford Focus in December 2012 from folsom lake Ford located in folsom California. At 20000 miles I took my car in for its factory service and advised the transmission was not operating correctly. According to folsom lake Ford their service department reprogrammed the transmission computer and ordered parts for the transmission'parts that would take a month to arrive, but never heard back from folsom lake Ford after that. About 35000mls started major transmission issues with my Focus-it would not shift correctly. The check engine light never came on, nor were there any other diagnostic/malfunction advisements from the vehicles information system. Other systems began to malfunction 'specifically electronic systems, idle control malfunctioned-. idle rough, sometimes idling wild and extreme fluctuations.my Focus would stall constantly while stopped at intersections, also randomly stalling while at driving speeds. Multiple times my Focus stalled on the freeway, while driving at normal freeway speeds 55-70mph. After my Focus had a stalling incident it would not start at all as if it was due to a power drainage. If it did not immediately fire-up, the starter would continue to operate whether I tried to discontinue or not. When the vehicle did finally start, the transmission always operated unusually after that 'shifting incorrectly, not smoothly shifting into gear, sometimes not shifting into the proper gear or not shifting at all. At about 42000mls service performed on my Focus the battery checked and in good working order. By 43000mls after major transmission issues my battery was corroded/ruined.
*ongoing *please see original complaints # 10473215 and #10670375* long history of transmission repairs since purchase. Latest repair on 1/5/2014 was to replace malfunctioning tcm. When getting car back from service, odd noise and hesitation upon starting. Service manager attempted to start. Symptoms of tcm malfunction again, and then complete loss of power. Service states that chafed wiring was found under driver seat, causing new tcm to malfunction and then shorting out all power in vehicle. After hearing odd noise upon starting, I was very close to driving car out onto very busy highway... decided to turn car off instead and seek help from service manager. I am the only driver of this vehicle and I very rarely move the seat. I was told by service that moving the seat on 1/5/2015 caused the chafed wiring to short out the power in the car. I never moved the seat when I got into my car during pickup. This is very frightening and dangerous! I was just reading that chafed wiring can result in fire, also! these vehicles are putting many people at risk of injury or death. Please help the affected Ford Focus customers to get them recalled, as Ford will not help. I have filed 3 claims with Ford and I cannot even get a call back from them. Told that I don't meet the guidelines for buyback or replacement. Very afraid to drive my car, especially now since the weather is bitter cold and have already been stranded in freezing weather with sleet on 1/3/2015 because of tcm failure. Please help!!
The car was operating fine up to the point after it was parked at a nearby strip mall. After returning to the car, the car would not start. The dash lights come on, radio works, etc but the starter acted like it was not even getting power. I thought the vehicle had a bad battery, after multiple attempts to jump start the car, it finally started. Once the vehicle was running, I put it in reverse and it would not move as if it was in neutral. I checked the dash indicator to see if it was in reverse and the shift indicator had nothing highlighted. I put it back in park then it highlighted the "P", put it back in reverse and again it acted as if it was in neutral. I rolled back a bit and put it in drive and it still acted as if it was in neutral. It would not engage the transmission. I thought it could be due to a low power battery which also had acid leaking so I replaced the battery with a new battery. The car wouldn't start again but everything else worked (I.e. radio, dash, A/C blower, etc). I let it sit a day and tried again the following day and it started right off the bat. I put it in gear and it went into gear this time. A couple minutes later, an incline assist warning came up on the radio screen and the traction control and ABS alerts were lighted on the dash. Suddenly, the car would not go into gear again. I turned the car off and started it back up which it then went back into gear with no problem. I did research online and found others were experiencing the same issue. Some even while driving, which makes me very uncomfortable to think of that happening on an interstate. I contacted my Ford dealer about the issue and they denied ever hearing anything about that type of issue. Extremely frustrating as this could be a potential safety hazard where someone could get killed and Ford is playing coy to cover themselves. Does Ford care about human life?
I have recently had an ongoing problem where my dash lights turn off, head lights turn off, radio turn off, and a message comes on the dashboard saying "hill start assist unavailable". the radio turns back on after about 20 seconds. The dangerous part is when the speedometer shuts off and I cannot tell how fast I am going. I have contact the dealer about this problem, and taken the car in for service on this and they claim there is nothing wrong with the car. I already had a problem with my transmission where I had a full replacement and they are refusing to take any action regarding this problem. This vehicle is unsafe for anyone to drive until they figure this out. I dont know who else to contact regarding this issue since I have gone to Ford, the dealers, as well as independent shops and they all claim they cant find a problem.
In may of 2012 my car had the transmission completely replaced after being in the shop for 6 weeks. The cruise control would stick on and not shut off. The power windows and air conditioner both decided not work at the same time. I have had the struts replaces before 10,000 miles. The gas mileage goes from 14 mpg to 33mpg randomly. The car likes to roll back and not go into gear when driving. I replace tires every 6 months because the car eats my tires up. My favorite problem is loosing power when driving. I have kept all papers regarding the car in the shop. My first year of owning the Focus Ford paid for my rental car to be driven 17,000 miles due to my car being in the shop. I have asked for help with this car for 2 years with Ford to be told I need to learn to drive. I am driving a car know that completely looses power all the time and the transmission sticks. I have had to wait 3 weeks for an appointment on Nov 3 to get these issues looked at. My car is far from safe and I have expressed to Ford I feel this car is going to kill me. I spent 30,000 miles driving this car when in fact I shouldn't had. The dealership can never find a problem on my car. The gas also can only put 10 cents of gas at a time in or gas likes to pour out from the bottom. Sometimes the gas knozzle can't fit in the gas tank because it closes up. Once again Ford couldn't find a problem. I call the dealership and Ford customer care each time there is a problem.
While merging onto the freeway my car would not accelerate. I pushed the gas pedal to the floor and the rpms shot up but car would not accelerate. Finally after almost being hit by other cars it shot off like a rocket. After multiple incidents of jerking and not able to accelerate randomly I took it to Ford and the clutch was replaced in April 2014. Not long after, it started doing the same thing except worse. I took it back to Ford and was told the tranny test results came back normal and that a motor mount was missing or loose. They kept it for 3 days to fix the motor mount. The car is now worse and today the check engine light came on and car had very little power. Going to take it back to Ford and hopefully they will fix it this time. My gas mileage is only 20.1 mpg. Another problem was that my entire sync system went out and had to be replaced in August 2014, costing me $1093. It started messing up by having a very loud popping/crackling noise that would start randomly even when car was off. It was very scary when it would suddenly start making the loud noise while I was driving and almost caused me to wreck at one point.
My first encounter started in March with a warning condition indicating a default in my steering assistance only when I would turn on the ignition, I called Ford dealership and was told it would go away by turning of the ignition and turning it back on.,and it did go away. Now in August, I was driving on freeway and the warning light came on again while driving and the steering wheel became very hard to steer, I was able to make it to a safe stop on the shoulder of the highway. That was the most scariest for me while on the highway. God was with me..
I started my car ignition, began to back out of my driveway. After about 2 - 7 seconds, the power steering froze up and a caution light lit up on my dash. It reads: Power steering assist malfunction, check manual. Or words very close to that effect. This has happened about 10 - 15 times since approximately September !8, 2014. I took it to Ford dealer and they changed the battery. They showed low voltage to the steering...or something to that effect. It did not fix the problem. The exact thing keeps happening. It happens right after I start up the car. I turn off the ignition, restart the car, and it works okay after that.
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the vehicle accelerated slowly on occasion. Other times, the rpms would race and the vehicle would jerk forward. The dealer stated that the body control module needed to be replaced. The contact stated that the dealer was not able to reprogram the computer to install the new part and had to re-install the old part. The manufacturer was notified and the vehicle was taken to the dealer a fourth time to have the new part installed. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The sensors intermittently illuminated for the brake assist and parking aide. In addition, while making a right or left turn, the steering wheel locked intermittently more than once. The contact also stated that the clock intermittently shorted out and the time display was incorrect. The dealer provided an interim remedy and suggested that the contact turn off the gps. The interim fix remedied the failure as long as the contact used the feature to disable the gps auto clock manually each time. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 3,000.
The reflective cap that says "Ford" inside the front passenger side headlight assembly fell down, disallowing the headlamp beam to be directly in front of the car causing visibility problems.
I turn the key and the Focus doesn't start. At first the dealer said the problem was with the key - they were receiving an error message. The second time, the problem was with the part that read the key and they replaced it. The third time they said they didn't know what the problem was. Sometimes I can hold the key 2-4 seconds and the Focus will start. Other times after holding the key a few seconds, I release the key and the Focus starts.
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the plastic glaze on the windshield separated from the glass, which caused poor visibility. Also, while accelerating from a stop, the vehicle hesitated and made a bucking motion. The dealer stated that the computer needed to be recalibrated. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 27,000.
I was driving in a residential neighborhood when an error message displayed on the dash computer indicating that there was an issue with the power steering. I was in the middle of a turn onto another street when the power steering went out. This was not the first time that the power steering went out. I have experienced the same issue at least 5 times. On the most recent occasion noted here, the power steering control module (pscm) had just been replaced at my local Ford dealership 4 or 5 days previous. I was told by the dealership that both the original pscm and the replacement pscm were part of the same batch that were apparently defective from the manufacturer. My car is currently having yet another pscm installed by the dealership. If Ford is aware of a defective batch of pscms, a recall should be issued. I am also concerned that the first outage of the original pscm took roughly 2 years to manifest, while the second pscm went out in less than a week. I am not sure if that indicates a broader electrical problem with the car, or was simply a coincidence that the second pscm went out that soon after replacement.
Our 2012 Ford Focus shut off at 70 mph, while simultaneously losing pwr str, pwr brk, & illuminating all inst panel icons as in (key on-eng off). Then while coasting to complete stop, car returned to normal ops & was able to drive away, never touching the ign key switch. Ford dealer cleared multiple codes, which they would not reveal. They did tell me there was a PCM communication failure in history, but could not find any reason for it. They also performed multipoint inspection, with no issues found. 1 month prior to incident the automatic clutch-oil seal recall was performed under warranty. (clutch & inner input shaft seal was replaced). Car has been ok since. This incident occurred while driving in rain.
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that the vehicle lost power and stalled on several occasions. The contact also stated that the parking assist error service required and the skid indicators illuminated. The contact was not able to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer who diagnosed that the electronic sensors needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 62,000.
Without warning, (no lights on dash-board - no unusual noises - no problems starting etc), there were no gears and I was left in neutral. It required coming to a stop, putting it into park and starting again to limp along to get to a safe point to park the car and call for help. Luckily I was not yet onto the freeway! the Ford dealership mechanic was able to replicate these circumstances and he too found himself without gears; he was on the freeway on-ramp and was lucky to not be hit. I can only imagine how dangerous this is if you are in 4 lanes of traffic going 60 mph!!! notwithstanding the severity of this "module" defect, the problem according to Ford does not come under the 'transmission recall' and my car is 3,500 miles over the magical 60,000 power-train recall. I am stuck with a $1,500 bill and the fear that it might happen again; if not to me, someone else with this model/year Focus.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Tampa, FL, USA