CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2015 Ford Focus & its "Powershift" transmission has a defect trend where the car shudders when accelerating, especially when starting uphill.
Most owners have reported their Ford Focus remains driveable while the vehicle is still at low mileage, but the shuddering is annoying & unpleasant & may reduce the resale value of the vehicle.
However, owners of higher-mileage vehicles from earlier 3rd generation Focus model years report transmission failure & a host of other major & expensive transmission-related problems. Potential buyers beware.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
11 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
6 / 0
Average Mileage:
41,047 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 contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle started to decelerate without warning. After stopping and restarting the vehicle, the vehicle regained normal functionality. The contact stated that the failure recurred while attempting to accelerate from a stop light. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who diagnosed that the transmission shift lever failed causing the clutch to fail. The contact was informed that the shift lever and clutch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 101,000.
My car is not currently drivable. It has stalled on the freeway which is unsafe. I had to drive it to a dealership with my car stoppable multiple times. I-??ve had it at a Ford dealership and they are unwilling to pay for the clutch. The clutch had an extended warranty through Ford and I ran out of the extended warranty by 20K due to being able to take it in sooner due to it being my only car and the pandemic. I feel that this is on Ford due to it being a safety concern and not being drivable. They had an extended warranty because the clutch on these specific models has been faulty and I already had it replaced 5 years ago. I feel I should be compensated at least for the clutch and they are refusing.
When taking off from a stopped position, such as stop sign or light, car stutters/stalled like jumping. It only does this in first gear, once it has shifted into second it continues to shift fine. However, once back in first gear it does it again. I fear that it will stall completely in first or power way down as I-??m pulling into traffic, very likely causing a collision. This is a continual/daily occurrence. The date I specified for date of incident is just a general idea of when this started.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while attempting to accelerate the vehicle, the vehicle failed to shift into gear as needed. The vehicle then stalled with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was diagnosed with transmission failure by several independent mechanics. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed the vehicle with transmission failure. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 90, 000.
Car studdering and shuts off. Transmission seems to get hot and causes car to shut down. After a few minutes can restart car and go again. This seems to happen more if the car stops and goes alot.
- Lafayette , GA, USA
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The contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact received notification of Customer Satisfaction Program Number: 19N08 (Transmission Clutch Warranty Extension). The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. Additionally, the vehicle was not able to reverse. The check engine warning light and transmission failure warning message were displayed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the dealer informed the contact that there was no recall associated with the VIN and she had to pay out-of-pocket for the repair. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.
When moving forward from a stopped position, the front tires shake/stutter which requires you to let up on the accelerator and move forward at a lesser speed to stop the shaking/stuttering. Also while the engine is warming up, the transmission is slow in changing gears, and in some cases it doesn't feel as if they change at all.
The transmission control module was the first to be replaced when the car began to shudder upon acceleration from a complete stop. Took to Ford Dealership where it was replaced under recall warranty. In 2020, was driving on highway and merged to an exit when at a red light then green car would not move forward. Car was turned off and on and nothing. Was stuck in the middle of an exit ramp for about an hour until I messed with the clutch and made a popping noise and began to move. Took to Ford dealership and the power train clutch was also replaced. Notified that there was a recall on that part again. Thought problem was fixed, car began to shudder again. It is 2022, the shuddering is really bad again. Took to ford dealership once again, car no longer falls under warranty because of mileage (I am just over 100,000 miles) and it is the dual powershift clutch again (the same one on recall) just almost two years later and they want almost $3000 to replace.
My vehicle is having issues regarding the clutch and transmission module. This issue has been going on every since I bought my vehicle new in 2015. The last time they fixed the issue (free) was in May of 2020. When I went to the dealership where I bought my car and where they have replaced this issue, I was told that they will have to charge me to diagnose the problem. I told them that they never charged me before and the issue it-??s having is the same so why today are you charging me? They said that it-??s because it could be the clutch issue that-??s not covered. However they have fixed the clutch issue before in which that time was May 2029. The for recall for my vehicle is 18V169000 to be fixed up to 150,000 miles my vehicle has 102,000 miles. Another recall that I looked up is 18S07 which is regarding the clutch. Website https://www.cars.com/research/ford-focus-2015/recalls/ So why will they not fix my car when both recall # say they will be fixed at no charge to me.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated while her son was driving approximately 20 MPH and depressing on the accelerator pedal, the vehicle started to shudder. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The driver was able to continue driving to his destination. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the transmission clutch assembly to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. Upon investigation, the contact became aware that the vehicle was serviced under NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V169000 (Power Train) in 2019 under the previous owner. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.
While returning from vacation, my transmission failed with only a displayed message that the transmission was hot and to stop for 5 minutes. I immediately pulled off the highway and parked the car for 15 minutes. The message cleared and I proceeded to drive about another 15 miles and the car lost power to the transmission while in traffic on the interstate. I had to make a lane change and pull off the road. Fortunately I was close to a vehicle repair facility so I drifted to the facility. They immediately evaluated the problem and I was told the transmission had completely failed, which apparently is an issue that Ford was aware of during manufacture. This failure could have caused a crash because I had to switch lanes with perfect timing to prevent an accident. The repair facility contacted a Ford Technician about a mile away who came and tested/evaluated the transmission and confirmed that it had a total failure. From the first warning message until the complete failure was within a ten minute period after allowing the first warning message to clear from the 15 minute cooling period. I am still waiting on parts and repair bills as of 02/09/2022. They will be forwarded as received. This will be the 3rd transmission installed on this vehicle.
Check engine light went on 2 minutes later a notification came on dash saying transmission hot safety pull over for 5 mins. Sat there for an hour scared to drive it cause I didn't want to make worse. When I went to drive home it struggles shifting into 1st and not even 3 mins after it shakes into 2nd gear it notifies me that transmission is hot to pull over. I will not drive it afraid it could catch fire and won't shift Car in a shopping plaza waiting to tow to house. Called 2 shops in Canton Ohio and they both said not a shop in town would touch the dual clutch transmission to take it to ford.
CLUTCH ASSEMBLY part of Ford recall. This vehicle had CLUTCH ASSEMBLY recall repair in 2017, 2018, 2019. I purchhased in Jan 2019 & NO info regarding ongoing SAFETY issue of this CLUTH ASSEMBLY failure was ever disclosed to me by dealership, King's Ford Cincinnati, Ohio! I now am told it needs the 4TH repacement of CLUTCH ASSEMBLY @ the cost to me of over $1800!. This is a total failure on Ford Company & the dealership that sold me this car without disclosure! I am on a fixed income, senior citizen with an active life to live and should not have to endure the cost or more importantly the SAFETY ISSUE on this vehicle.
We have brought the vehicle in twice to the dealership, once at 30k miles and another at 64k miles for a clutch replacement in the automatic transmission due to shuddering. It is now at 88k miles and the clutch is shuddering again. Ford reuses to fix the problem even though this is the third instance of this issue occuring. This shuddering makes merging unsafe as the vehicle hesitates and the car jerks back and forth. It extreme cases, it causes motion sickness to the passengers. Shuddering takes place up to third gear which does not help the driver concentrate and negotiate traffic if the car is shaking or jerking back and forth. There is a constant fear that the vehicle will just fail in the middle of traffic and we will be stranded. No illuminated lamps on the dash board to indicate a potential code. As stated before this vehicle has been brought to Ford twice already and the part they replaced keeps failing at roughly every 30k miles. We have tried to work with Ford to have them fix the problem but instead of replacing the faulty part they now want to charge us $2500 dollars. Why does the transmission seem to fail at every 30k miles? The dealership does not return our calls: we have called roughly 10 times and left messages. When calling Ford directly they state we have to bring it to the dealership, the same dealership which does not return our calls. Having a component in the transmission that makes it unsafe to drive is unacceptable. What makes it even more unacceptable is the fact that Ford has replaced this part 2 times already and it is failing again just 30k miles later, but now it somehow is not covered under the part warranty.
I have read multiple reports on ford focus from 2012 and newer having the same issue as me. I was driving one day and the car started to rev, shake and drastically slowed down then the check engine light came on as I was almost rear ended. I took an obd reader and got code P07A5 came back to transmission friction element B stuck on. I Have found I-??m not the only one with this issue I feel ford should be responsible to fix this problem before someone gets hurt or killed from the car just at random not wanting to go and shake violently. My car only has 89,000 miles for a 2015 it shouldn-??t be having this kind of problem already.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving approximately 35-45 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently stalled temporarily. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving uphill and while driving at slower speeds. The contact stated that the vehicle would also hesitate to respond when accelerating from a complete stop. The contact stated he received an unknown recall notification from the manufacturer for transmission control module failure however, the dealer informed the contact that the parts for the recall repair were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 52,000. Parts distribution disconnect
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated the vehicle failed to accelerate over 25 MPH. The vehicle was jerking while shifting gears. The vehicle overheated and shut down however, the vehicle was restarted. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The transmission warning message was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer on several occasions and diagnosed that the transmission module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified however, no further assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 72,664.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle shuddered without warning. The contact then received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 18V169000 (Power train). The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where the recall was serviced, and the clutch was replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the failure recurred a year later. The contact then took the vehicle back to the dealer where it was diagnosed with the clutch needing to be replaced. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure and informed the contact that they could not assist due to the warranty being expired. The failure mileage was approximately 82,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Philadelphia, PA, USA