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.
Shuddering in the first gear. Everybody knows this chronic problem of the Ford Focus. The thing is, I was in the local service of the Ford (De Paula in Albany, New York) and they told me that “the Clutch and the TCM need to be changedâ€. But they didn't let me know about the coverages. Instead of that they tried to charge me 2300 dollars.
My car is now 103000 miles. Warranty is still valid for the TCM but not for the clutch. What an annoying thing.
problems started at 42k miles jerking, would't climb a steep grade. dealer informed me it was unusual let them know if it happened again. jerking and shuddering continued from then on. read online of the transmission shifting problem. car quit on divided highway at 55 mph @ 61,980 miles. had towed to dealer. they said i needed a fuel pump assembly and relearn transmission computer( covered under warranty). 45 miles later car quit again lost power shuddered same deal!! had towed again and was told by the dealer the fuel evap canister caused the car to quit because the tank had collapsed...how could they not know the evap canister was bad, they JUST had the tank out to put in the fuel pump, now they want me to pay $2000.00 to replace tank and evap canister. needless to say i haven't driven the car in weeks because it is so undependable and the dealer takes no responsibility for the previous repair and lack of vigilance by the tech who worked on the car. i have also seen where there is a pending suit concerning the FUEL EVAP CANISTER... gee what a surprise? Wake up Ford before someone gets killed. This is a fixable problem. i didn't build the car , design it, or install any of the parts i have maintained the car with regular oil changes new tires etc. i make my payments every month, i would like to be able to drive the vehicle. i wish ford would at least buy the car back if they cant fix it, or kick in some money so i can trade it without taking a financial bath! the resale is in the tank, no one wants them. i think an added fuel tank vent would solve the fuel problem, the trans is a joke, a disgrace! COME ON FORD STEP UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING!! I OWN 4 FORDS !
We bought this car to have a safe, reliable vehicle. Have driven Fords all our life. This will be our last. It's bad enough to have an issue with your vehicle but to receive no assistance from the manufacturer when it is THEIR fault sends me over the edge. I live in a mountain community with plenty of wildlife and very few other drivers on the road. My car broke down on the mountain highway when leaving for work at 5:15am. I got barely 2 miles from home and I lost power and the check engine light came on. The car would not accelerate more than 10 miles per hour and jerked, hesitated, made grinding noise. It has hesitated from take off since we've had it. We received a recall notice and took it in immediately. That did nothing to take care of the problem. Now it stopped running completely and the check engine light came on. It was towed to the shop and we have been told that the part (TCM module) is on back order and we could be without our car for 1 to 8 weeks. They could care less that this is our main form of transportation and I will have to get a rental in order to get to work in order to make car payments for a car I can't drive. I escalated my concerns all the way up to Corporate Customer Relations at Ford. No one has done a damn thing to help. I reached out to the Service Manager at the dealership we purchased it. I was told, "give me an hour and I'll call you back" 5 hours later no call. The next day I called again "give me 15 minutes, I'll check with my Ford rep to see if we can help with a rental". 2 hours later no call. Tried calling two more times and got his voicemail on a Friday afternoon. So going into the weekend I had no help at all from anyone at Ford and was forced to obtain a rental at my cost. So far I'm looking at $300 and praying that my car is back before I have to return the rental. This is a bunch of horse sh*t from Ford. It's all over the internet the issues with these cars. For them to not provide assistance with rentals is the worst possible service ever. I bet they sure will expect my payment on time won't they? I've filed claims with a Lemon Law attorney and a Class Action Lawsuit attorney.
We bought this car for our 17 year old daughter thinking a newer car would be safe and last our her for years as it only had 30,000 miles. 3 days after we bought it we had to take it in for the transmission. We found out that the dealer we bought it from had already taken it to ford for a leaky seal as it was still under warranty. We took it again about 6 months later and I just made an appointment for June 27, 2016. Same problem with the transmission. Slipping and shuttering.
Transmission started dead panning going up a hill on highway 20 to Clear Lake. This means I lost power and would have to really step on the gas so as to continue accelerating. It did this for the next 80 miles until I got back home. Transmission grinds and rattles almost always, especially bad on hot days and/or longer drives, the longer or hotter it is the worse the problem gets. Can not trust it for long trips so avoid taking the car over 20 miles. Big regrets for this purchase, and vow Ford never again.
- danmarkm,
Dixon, CA, US
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Over the past 1 1/2 years, on three separate occasions, I really needed to accelerate to avoid peril. Guess what happened. Absolutely nothing when I stepped on the accelerator. I thought I was going to get in an accident each and every time. Thankfully, I narrowly avoided collision, no accident, and nobody was hurt. All I could think...was GD it!
It is scary to drive my car.. I have taken it in 4 times & each time the service dept. tells me that they reprogram the computer for the transmission.. one time they kept it for 2 days.. I can be driving & it goes out of gear & then jumps back with a jerk.. it doesn't always shift smooth ...It feels like when you use a clutch & goes out of gear but my car is auto transmission.
I feel because I am a women they think I am crazy... I have to go the 2 dealers because the local dealer does not have transmission equipment to fix my car & that dealer is 38 miles from my home.. I would not have purchased the Ford if I knew this from the beginning ! It all started a few months after I got the new car..
They reprogrammed the computer and said to drive it and should be ok within 1000 to 2000 miles. Needs to get used to your driving pattern. They said they would have to call the factory to get the ok to replace the clutch's. I told them they said they were going to order them the last time I was in. They said they do not have that on record? So they got the ok and will take 6 to 8 weeks to get the parts. Told them that the car had been stalling out on and off since the last time I was in.
I WAS ORIGINALLY TOLD BY THE SERVICE MANAGER THAT THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM AS THERE ARE 2 DIFFERENT DRIVERS AND THE CAR'S COMPUTER DOES NOT KNOW WHICH ONE IT WAS. HE SAID IT WOULD WORK ITSELF OUT AND REFUSED TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Shuddering in the first gear. Everybody knows this chronic problem of the Ford Focus. The thing is, I was in the local service of the Ford (De Paula in Albany, New York) and they told me that “the Clutch and the TCM need to be changedâ€. But they didn't let me know about the coverages. Instead of that they tried to charge me 2300 dollars.
My car is now 103000 miles. Warranty is still valid for the TCM but not for the clutch. What an annoying thing.
- Osman B., Albany, NY, US