CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2016 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:
0 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
31,352 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.
When on freeway car suddenly displays an alert saying Stop safely now And will shut off, while driving makes it impossible to properly control the car. It has done this on multiple occasions, On the freeway, on residential streets and also when starting from park and proceeding to drive car has suddenly stopped and unable to restart right away
on 6/27/2024 when accelerating into traffic my vehicle stalled and almost caused an accident. Dash board display had two messages was code P0106 MAP sensor and hill start assist wasn't going to work. Possible safety recall 14S17 Saying not for my vehicle.
My radio stopped working and is now making horrible loud screeching and popping noises loud enough to startle me and almost cause a crash from the reaction I have to the loud sudden noises
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated while driving 50-55 MPH, the steering wheel locked inadvertently. The message "Transmission Failure" was displayed. The contact veered to the side of the road and turned on the hazard lights. The contact stated that the vehicle continuously lost and regained electrical power independently. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, where the contact was informed that the transmission was malfunctioning, and the contact was referred to the dealer. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where the TCM was replaced. Additionally, the dealer informed the contact that the transmission clutch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not covered under Ford Campaign Number: 19N08. The manufacturer referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 97,069.
[XXX] daughter was driving her car on I87 in Albany NY when oil pressure light went on and car speed dropped from 65 to less than 30 while in middle lane of interstate forcing her to cross over lanes onto shoulder roadway and exit ramp where it lost all power. Have learned that the oil belt system failed without any warning or notice causing incident. Have since learned that vehicle motor has been damaged beyond repair and needs replacement. Contact with 4 separate representatives of FORD Customer Service has resulted in FORD denying our requests for assistance to replace the motor. Car is a 2016 Ford Focus SE with the 1.0 liter motor with 81,000 miles. Well maintained with records as needed. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
- Porter Corners , NY, USA
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Vehicle hesitates, stutters and stalls when accelerating at any speed. The dealership told us it is either a transmission module or fuel module problem. They don-??t have parts to fix it. There-??s been a recall and a lawsuit about this same year, make and model, but they tell us our Vin is not included in any of this. it continues to do this to this day. The dealership wants us to drop it off and leave it for 3 to 4 weeks. We can-??t be without a car so we are struggling with it. We wrote Ford Motor Company a letter and they told us to contact you. The lawsuit that they lost, gave us an extended warranty, but they refuse to honor it.
Radio will randomly cause a loud popping or screeching sound from the speaker while driving this is a common issue know by ford dealers that requires replacing the ACM witch is $800 for just the part.
The lug nuts are swollen and cannot be unscrewed. Also my electrical system inside my car goes off sometimes for unknown reasons. I'm talking about my stereo.
Car turned off while driving three times. Once when put in park it locked on a busy road. Replaced fuse to battery, still turned off while driving. Lights stay on and its a pretty new battery so thats nit the issue, when turning the key there is no noise, no clicking or grinding. Main issue is the fact it turns off while driving and the fact it locks up when put in park. That's helpful to no one. Windows can't be rolled up either which meant being trapped guarding a vehicle in 92 degree weather. Anti theft is literally so dumb and in annoying. Great thought, terrible in practice. Am currently waiting on tow truck. Open invention on what caused this now.
My car has become hard to start after I fill up with gas. It also randomly loses all power. While driving everything in the car stops. It displays a message that says transmission is not in park, like I turned the key off but I did not. After this it won't start and displays a message on the dash that says "system start up fault". If I wait a few minutes it starts again. This has happened 3 times. I had a mechanic pull any codes. The only code is for a gasket in the evap system. The mechanic told me that Ford had a recall for this problem so I had the car towed to a Ford service center. The Ford dealer told me that my car is not included in the recall. I looked up Ford recalls and my car exhibits all of the problems described in the recall.
2016 FORD FOCUS VIN: 1FADP3F20GL341128 Mileage: 64,750 Hello I am having problems with my 2016 Ford Focus. The vehicle is shuddering, moving forward, problems in shifting, vibrating and Ford cannot do anything about this as they have told me that you have not added this model on the recall. I got the vehicle checked over by Ford and they said it is the same issues as the other Ford Focus and Fiesta have and they said they need to replace the clutch and TCM. However this would be charable to me because you have not added this model in the recall. At the Sound Dealership in Renton WA there was 3 cars with the same issue and one being the same fuel flex model as mine. Is this something you could check as Ford will not help me at all. Thank you
Transmission Fault Service Now warning light keeps coming on and off. I-??ve taken it to multiple places to have it checked out and nobody can find and actual issues that would cause the transmission to fail. I got stuck in the middle of an intersection because the transmission randomly stopped. I-??ve had to have it towed.
The speakers are making a LOUD POPPING AND CRACKING. This is now happening with the radio turned off, and no Bluetooth connected to it. It even sometimes does it when the car is completely turned off. This sounds to me like an electrical issue for one. For two, this is an extreme safety issue, especially when I am driving. The last time it happened, it sounded like gunshots going off that that-??s how loud it was, when my car was turned off completely, and now I am suffering from extreme tinnitus. Next time this could actually explode my eardrums. I have heard this to be an issue for multiple of these vehicles yet there has not been a recall on whatever may be causing this?! THIS IS AN EXTREME HEALTH/AUDITORY/NEUROLOGICAL SAFETY ISSUE.
The Body Control Module controlling the lights, hatch, and door lock/unlock malfunctioned. Its a serious safety issue when the lights go out unexpectedly while driving.
The radio makes sudden extremely loud popping sounds out of nowhere that are startling, this can happen when the radio is off. Makes me jump and that-??s unsafe during operating the vehicle. This should be a safety recall!
I got my 2016 Ford Focus in the summer of 2019 and from the start i had issues. The first issue was my car overheating the coolant tank kept getting a hole burned in it and the coolant would leak leaving my car to overheat I've had the tank replaced twice. The second issue was my car just kept turning off still don't know what that was about. Third issue was the vehicle not telling me the correct amount of gas i had it would say i would have a good amount of gas, but it really had little to no gas. The last issue was the Transmisson the car was stalling and gave me kick back that's the only way i can describe it I took it to my mechanic because there was no recall when i looked up my VIN, I paid almost $4000 for the transmission to be fixed to just bring it back to the mechanic because the transmission started giving me problems again. My mechanic told me that Hes having problems figuring out the programming. Today 12/08/2022 I read an article talking about how thousands of Ford Focus owners are having the same issue. I was never contacted by Ford. I called my local ford dealership, and they told me the part that my vehicle needs are on back order and they can't even look at my car until February.
The vehicle transmission looses power on the highway and it-??s too dangerous to be on the road. I was arguing with Ford customer service but they said my car is not covered under some kind of transmission recall.
In the last 6 months my car has been to Rottet Ford in Tamaqua. My car Failed to start after driven had towed to dealer, replaced TCM, paid $200. 2nd time car system shut off everything and engine while driving. Started after hour, dealer replaced TCM paid $200 3rd time car failed to start after driven, even within 24hours from leaving dealership being fixed, waiting to see WHY. But assuming TCM again. Ford customer experience specialist [XXX] ext [XXX] [XXX] Recall on 2016 ford focus, but not her VIN. All 3repairs were the TCM (transmission control module) Ford customer service told me to report this and ask it be added to recall list. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Car died and would not accelerate after slowing down to turn; no warning or dashboard lights on before incident; no overheating; started back up afterwards but stalled before engine turn over. Happened 3 times within 30 minutes
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Riverside, CA, USA