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:
5 / 0
Average Mileage:
49,937 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.
The car has been stalling, jerking, jumping and skipping every time I accelerate. I have taken the car to the dealers more than 4 or 5 times since I bought it in 2014! they told me those cars will do that. Wrong! I have all the paperwork of how many times I have taking it for the same thing. The car continues to shudders at slow speeds, and jerks into gear. When backing up on incline street/driveway, rolls back. When accelerating in a highway is dangerous as the car does not respond and making it a safety hazard when shifting lanes, entering on intersections or highway. The problem continues after taking if to the dealer many times.
After 2 visit to Ford they stated that I needed to wait for a letter in order for them to replace parts they have. The car is running lean bank 1. when fueling, it stalls. It has stalled while drive on a few occasions. The fuel itself, goes quick, now that the problem has persisted. Getting under the car, fuel tank looks deformed as well and the code I get in the car is P0171. It's been close to year since it's started and I still has not received a letter.
Car has been in dealer at fred grande Ford for over a month for recalls on transmission and fuel tank no resolution recall 18 V dash 735 and transmission shutter dealership will not repair a vehicle and is trying to charge me a fee for a recall
Car stalls at will, gas gauge & miles to empty always wrong, low fuel indicator light never comes on and has huge problem w/ acceleration. It often shakes violently when I hit gas pedal, also takes forever to get up to speed. If it's not shaking violently then it just stalls, literally dies, will not restart. Forget fuel gauge. Not only is it always wrong, it changes at will. I go up or down a hill, gauge & miles to empty changes. Low fuel indicator never lights up so who knows how much gas I have. Last two times it stalled on highway at 65mph. Engine just cut out, died & would not restart. Has been to dealership 3 times in 3 weeks for same issues. First incident, kindle Ford in cape may court house, NJ had it 9 days over labor day holiday. Finally advised repairs eligible under recall however waiting for parts, specifically fuel tank, which according to fedex was in transit. 'lucky for me' he said, finally had loaner available. I'm walking to get loaner when suddenly tech yells over that my car is done! what? he just said tank was in transit! reluctantly took my car only to have it die again. Had it towed to kindle again and he said car started right up for him after he put gas in it. He implied I ran out of gas because gauge was pinned on empty. I had put gas in it that morning. Gauge indicates it was low but it was not pinned on empty (see photo). And if that was the case, warning light never came on (see photo). Now they are saying they can't fix it until they replicate problems for themselves. As if I was lying! car doesn't do it when they drive it so what do I do? I'm afraid to drive my own car but I have to go to work, etc. I just hope my son & I aren't killed when car unexpectedly stalls again while we are on the highway.
- Villas, NJ, USA
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The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA campaign number: 18V735000 (fuel system, gasoline) and stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time to repair the vehicle. Al piemonte Ford (2500 w North ave, melrose, il 60160) was contacted and confirmed that parts were not available to perform the recall repair. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated when attempting to accelerate. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. VIN tool confirms parts not available.
Takara recall the car can run for a few minutes give or take 30 minutes then just shuts off. It takes a few minutes just to turn it back on if lucky or have to call and have it towed.
The Ford Focus I own was manufactured in 2014 with a known transmission problem. The manufacture alongside their franchises know about this issue yet they still refuse to repair it.
Tcm and fuel system purge valve are both recalled on this vehicle, I have taken it to Ford 6 times in a year for this issue, they tell me its not affected but it is according to your website and my car has all the symptoms of it, itll loose power on the interstate and then after I get it restarted I can make it 2 miles and it does it again, it is a death trap.
Complaints: Power train (currently-5th clutch asy having serviced), body: Locks and hatch donot work most of the time..passenger door knob just fell off in passenger hand, excessive fuel consumption, car jerks and stalls, false digital readings on dash. Some lights stay on continuously. Had to have to tire pressure monitoring sensor replaced 2 yrs of having the vehicle.all supporting documents available upon request. All documents have VIN and my name on them, so cant upload them. Multiple dates of service, but am listing the last dos. My vehicle has been at the Ford dealership for 3 wks so far. Awaiting list for a loaner car is 3 wks out. I am without transportation still. Currant dos is an approximate date, as it is still with the Ford mechanic. I bought this vehicle bc I inherited raising 2 grandchildren, and needed a economical and reliable vehicle to Transport them to and from dr appts, school, preschool ect, but this vehicle is anything but reliable. It's been an expensive nightmare. My extended warrant already paid for this fix last time, and now I've been told that my policy maximum may have been reached, thus making me responsible for all balances due from this repair. I have been unable to work bc of unreliable transportation, and do not have the monies to pay for this repair. This design flaw in the dual clutch transmission, there is no permanent fix. The problem recurs continuously. If my warrany policy doesnt pay for these and future repairs, nd Ford isn't paying them, I will either have to have the bank repossess the vehicle, possibly sued by Ford for non payment. I have been seriously just filing bankruptcy. Is there anything that can be done to help me out of this mess? Ford will not take this vehicle back bc it has over 60,000 miles etc. Unable to select boxes, due to frozen boxes.
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. On several occasions, while stopped at a traffic light, the accelerator pedal was depressed and the vehicle failed to respond. On another occasion, while attempting to exit from a parking lot the vehicle failed to start. Roadside assistance was contacted and was able to provide a jump start. The vehicle was taken to pacifico Ford (located at 6701 essington avenue, philadelphia, pa 19153, (877) 349-3923) where it was diagnosed that the fuel tank needed to be replaced. The transmission control module and transmission clutch needed to also be repaired. The fuel tank and transmission control module were replaced; twice however, the failure recurred. The contact was also informed that it would cost $947 to replace the transmission clutch. The repair was not performed. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000.
The contact owns a 2014 Ford Focus. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 18V735000 (fuel system, gasoline). The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. Tss Ford (1733 us-97, madras, or 97741, (541) 475-7204) was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not available for the recall remedy. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and was not able to confirm when the parts were to become available. The contact had not experienced a failure.
I had a recall on this vehicle prior to this complaint I'm filing now. The recall was fuel deformation inspection, Ford installed a fuel vapour Sep the recall number is 18S32. Now this problem was originally fixed 3/18/19. It is 8/13/19 that I am back at the same location for the same exact problem which includes low fuel pressure, the gas isn't getting to the engine (censor) and the car stops out of no where while driving on a highway.
There are two open recalls related to the fuel system of my vehicle. I have been contacting my Ford dealership since the winter of 2018 about having the recall work done. They have not gotten back to me and have only stated that they will when there is a fix available. As of this week, 08/14/19, my check engine light is on. Took to an auto parts store to have them run the code. Two codes came back and both are related to the fuel system. The recalls in question indicate that the vehicle can stop running while driving, and this increases the likelihood of an a collision. The car is now not running at all. It is unacceptable that Ford has taken close to a year to fix their errors which have caused these recalls, especially when safety is a concern.
My car is part of the 18S32 (Ford) recall for the "fuel tank deformation". I had it serviced in March in bolivar, mo at bill grant Ford dealership. The reprogrammed the part as needed due to the mil being on with the code and stated that the recall has been fixed and Ford has closed the recall on my car. The car would not start after fueling and it could take anywhere between 5 minutes to upwards of 45 minutes for it to be able to start after fueling, which leaves me stranded at times. Their repair lasted about 2-3 weeks and it was back to doing it again so I am back at square 1 with this car. The car is back in the shop again after several weeks of waiting to get in the shop. It is currently at the jim trenary Ford dealship in moscow mills, mo where I reside. They are saying that the purge valve is failing due to the recall, as the recall states exactly. And due to the fact that the recall is closed on my car because it was repaired once, Ford is refusing to pay for it. It is not my obligation to pay for this repair as this is 100% Ford's fault and I will not provide payment for it. Ford issues the new recall (19S22) and they are saying that mine is not included in that recall but yet it needs to be as the issue is still happening. I have reached out to Ford and they state that they will not cooperate with paying for the repair on the vehicle, even though this is their recalled part. Or they need to expand the recall for a more broad spectrum of vehicles as this is unacceptable. I request the help of the NHTSA to assist me with having Ford fix what they broke. Thank you.
Prior to, the car would shudder, almost rock back and forth at slow speeds either in the parking garage, parking lots, at home. Recently the car had a rough time turning over after filling up at a gas station. The car shuddered and seemed to have a hard time moving. About a mile down the road the check engine light came on. This had happened previously, however, when the code was checked it went away (P144A). With what I was currently experiencing I took it to a shop and was advised that the purge valve had to be replaced.
The problem occurs when accelerating from a stopped position or upon slowing down and then accelerating. The vehicle jerks and shakes like it is not getting adequate fuel. The amount of gas in the tank makes no difference. It feels like the vehicle wants to stall. I just purchased the vehicle from the original owner. I have not noticed this problem when going in reverse but only when in the drive position. The owner did not have a manual for the vehicle. I started driving the vehicle in May 2019. The original owner said he has not received any recalls on this vehicle.
The car ran out of gas even though the gauge indicated the car had about 60 miles to go before empty. Now, the transmission seems to be going out. When the car shifts from 1st to 2nd gear it feels like the car is about to stall out.
Takata gas tank recall: Last year at 68,000 miles I took my car into dealership for gas tank recall. It was repaired and there were no more problems until about a week ago. My vehicle now has 82,000 miles on it. It started jerking and stalling a lot and I realized in the past week I had stopped to get gas every day on my way to work. I have put a total of $55 in to drive 300 miles. I started noticing the miles to empty dropping rapidly just driving less than 1 mile.I took it to the local Ford dealership who did not perform a diagnostics test and told me to come pick the vehicle up, the recall was already performed a year ago. So I called Ford Motor Company to complain about this peoblem and was told I could only have that problem fixed once! they told me they would open a case#cas22299572 and I would hear back in 1 business day. I am in the process of moving and I can't go to work for fear of the car "blowing up" especially with it being 100 degrees outside. Why is nothing being done with all the problems we as Ford Focus owners have been dealing with? our lives and our family's lives are at stake here. I have lot jobs, been worried sick, not to mention the time I have wasted taking my vehicle in for tge same thing time after time after time. This has been ingoing for 4 years with the transmission and gas tank problems. Why is Ford not offering some kind of compensation to those of us affected by a vehicle they knew had problems before they were put on the market to sell! I just don't understand and now in the process of moving expenses, I will have to get a rental car so ai don't blow up. Please help!
We purchased this car and it cut off on my daughter due to the gas tank not functioning properly. The car was repaired and we paid for it. Shortly after, the car's transmission stopped shifting properly, lose power, jerk, and shake while driving. It has become so unpredictable that we are unable to drive it. We have been to Ford for their secret repairs to the transmission and consistently been told by those that are to do the repair that they don't know anything about it.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Hyattsville, MD, USA