CarComplaints.com Notes: For the third year in a row, the 3rd generation Focus is experiencing massive transmission problems.
Most notably owners keep complaining about how there's bad hesitation and jerking when starting from a stop. This isn't the result of an old, worn out part. In fact, the average mileage it's reported to us is just over 15k miles.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
9 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
9 / 0
Average Mileage:
49,863 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
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.
Several times while driving, the radio will make a loud cracking sound from the speakers, other times it will *crack* and all radio/bluetooth controls stop working, and other times the radio will *crack* and stop working entirely, where there is no sound until the car is turned off, and turned on again.
While my daughter was driving with 2 young children in car on a city St/highway, car suddenly stopped, & had to be towed to a repair shop.. mechanic reported that electrical wires were laying against engine, which overheated & melted wires, causing vehicle to stop... he added that it could have caused a fire & ought to be a recall item.
Vehicle was having many electrical issues including security system randomly going off, headlights flickering, inability to start engine, inability to stop engine even when electrical was powered down and battery drainage. The problem was the body control module (BCM) having been damaged from washer fluid ingress from the pump, along the wire harness, then into the BCM. Corrosion and damage was beyond repair. Needed to replace and reprogram. Will be without a vehicle for 2 months because of part backorder. Repair costs will end up being close to $2,000.
I just purchased used Nov 2020 it did not make it 30 days and has to have transmission, radio doesn't work. It slips bucks no acceleration and cut off in middle of interstate 3 times. Now I am stuck with this nightmare I don't have $4500.to fix!
I drove to work and everything that morning but when it was time for me to go home, out of nowhere when I turned my car on it said steering loss. I wasn't able to turn my wheel or anything, so I had to get it towed. Thank god I was not on the road and it locked up on me because there's no telling what would've happened.
- Dacula, GA, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
The car displays the P0902 obii code. The engine stalls and wont change gears properly. This is specially dangerous when turning since the cars behind you can't see you're stalling and may crash into you. Some times it gets so bad that the dashboard displays a message that the transmission has heated up and I have to pull over immediately. The car won't even run or change gears at that point. This problem happens randomly when driving. Specially when the vehicle is idle for a while.
The push start/stop button will not stop the engine sometimes! I have not had any problems starting the car using the same button. The vehicle was stationary and in park.
1. clutch slips in transmission causing vehicle to stall or reach dangerous RPM's before switching into another gear. 2. repair was denied by Ford stating that it wasn't related to the current recall but was the clutches that needed to be replaced. Clutches are going out due to the tcm that was recalled on the vehicle. 3. horn has decided to stop working along with controls on the steering wheel due to a wiring issue with the vehicle. Fuses have been changed ensuring that it is a wiring issue. 4. hazard lights as well as half the buttons on the dash including radio, etc. Have also decided to stop working due to a wiring issue in the vehicle. No hazards making it a risk and unsafe to pull vehicle off of road in case of an emergency. 5. Ford dealership that car was taken to stated all recalls were completed but when VIN is entered through Ford website it states that all recalls are incomplete. Ford sent me a notice for repairs on transmission stating it will be almost $1400 to replace clutches in transmission. There would be no problems with the clutches if there was never anything wrong with the transmission control module to begin with. Repairing the transmission should not be on the owner of these vehicles and Ford should be liable for the repairs to an issue that was their responsibility to correct from the beginning and was not corrected in a timely manner.
Ongoing electrical issues that may or may not be related. Vehicle will "stall" while in motion or while powered on but stopped at a light for example. It's an electric vehicle so the cause of the stall is unclear. Vehicle will be inoperable for 1-10 minutes, including power steering while the system resets. This happens usually at slow speeds or while stopped - in reverse, climbing hills, stopped at traffic lights. The problem was "fixed" in October 2019 and we were told that something doing while addressing one of the electrical recalls had caused the problem. Now it's happening again and Ford can't tell us why. We've been stranded pulling out of our driveway in the path of on coming traffic, blocking one lane roads in our neighborhood and at intersections.
Engine stopped while in motion on freeway. Entire electrical system and acceleration would not power back on. Steering and brakes were still operational. After pulling over, the car will not turn on, and doors will not remain locked.
The power steering just stops working from time to time. This happened while taking a curve the last time this happened. I have found that numerous people are having this issue with a number of their Ford that have the electronic sterring assist. This happened to me the first time on March 5 this year. (2020) I remember because it was my birthday.
The horn stopped working most of the time. It very rarely works. Our local Ford dealership says its out of warranty and it will be $224 to replace it. Given the large amount of problems this vehicle has had, I suspect its a widespread problem.
Horn doesn't work or only intermittently when parked, moving in all situations or road conditions, or during locking/unlocking doors with remote..have had this problem for at least 2 years. Apparently from a web search, this is known problem for this model..have tried to fix it, checking the electrical connections, spraying WD40, checking and tightening the mounting bolts. Attempts to fix may only last a few days or hours. This is a vital safety component to reduce risks of crash and should be subject to a recall or repair or replacement of the horn assembly or wiring.
3 times car would not start. All lights wipers radio and all gauges worked when turning key but car would not turn over. Happened when shopping had to have car towed home. After sitting for a day car would start
Check engine light comes on and the engine has stopped while in motion, have had it checked out 4 times already. 1st time dealer said there were some wires that are close to the manifold were frayed and then repaired. The last 3 times the check engine light came on I pulled over while driving, turned the engine off waited a few minutes and restarted the car and was able to drive a few miles. I have now taken the car to a different for dealer 3 times in the past 5 weeks and every time it's a different code with the exception of the 3rd time. They replaced the battery at no charge now today 5 days later the check engine light came on again. This will be the 5th time! this has happened on the highway and on city streets. We have spent over $500 and my time getting back and forth from this dealership to remedy this problem.
Horn stopped working. Took it to the Ford dealership. They charged me $67 to clean the erosion from around the connector. Two weeks later, horn stops working again. Took it to the Ford dealership and they stated the horn needs to be replaced. I was charged another $67. Never in my entire life had I ever had to replace a horn. This is a safety issue that needs to be addressed by Ford. There are many other owners of the Ford Focus who have had this same issue. Read it at https://www.cargurus.com/cars/discussion-T11974_ds503836.
Repeatedly the speakers will randomly pop very loudly, even when radio is off, and the speakers will not function again until car is restarted. The loud noise is very startling and dangerous. It occurs at irregular intervals, when moving and not, and with radio on or not.
Wiring harness that controls the transmission control module had 6 wires rub on the throttle body causing them to break or tarnish which caused the vehicle to stop in the middle of the road while driving on a city street on 2 occasions. Dealership that did repairs stayed this is a common problem. They had 3 other vehicles in for service with same problem.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Nampa, ID, USA