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:
6 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 0
Average Mileage:
34,572 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.
My car continually shuts off while driving, Ford acknowledges the recall but refuses to provide any assistance claiming the part isn't ready. The car will turn off in the middle of a highway, or at a light with no warning. Ford is telling us that they can't help us but it isn't safe to drive our car and nobody has helped us. This started in August and continues to nearly daily
My transmission on my 2016 Ford Focus shudders, bucks, jerks, hesitates while changing gears, and there is a delay in acceleration. This has been an issue since I purchased the vehicle.
My engine had rubber pieces in it from the belt inside the engine exploding - I have an extended warranty and Ford will not cover it due to the tensioner belt broke too which is not a covered part
- Shelby Township, MI, USA
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2016 Focus rs. I have only had the car for a year. Randomly the car starts blowing out a very light white smoke while idling (from what I have observed.) after multiple attempts at contacting my local dealership they seem to believe it is the head gasket with a defect. This smoke is only noticeable when idling. Also I was only able to get a significant amount of smoke to develop when putting the air conditioning on full blast.
Had a few incidents where if you forget to hit the shut off button to the ecoboost that will shut your engine off during a stop light/traffic stop to save gas, it would completely stall the engine out when pulling out of a parking lot. Only had two incidents of this, of course I've always chose to push the button to save the starter. But then right after the warranty ran out, the engine started to leak coolant making one think it was a blown gasket by the white smoke. As I researched I've found forums that stated that it was common. But only the rs series had a recall and not the standard. But if it's the same components then why am I told only the rs should have the recall" but anyways my engine is unrepairable, cause after the first repair it did the same thing. If a vehicle that costs so much won't last until a 100,000 then why sell it" it just doesn't make sense.
Ford Focus purchased new for our daughter in 2016. We all noticed a stutter or jerking motion upon acceleration and odd feeling when it shifted gears.. this has been going on for years. This cars is essentially all my daughters. I advised her as well as calling myself to the dealership we purchased it from because she wanted to take it in for an oil change or tire rotation. She advised them of the issue many times, no every time she took it up there. She was always told it was "normal" and nothing was wrong with it. So we trusted them that for some odd reason this is normal. Jan 2020. She was driving and the car began to shudder very badly the check engine light came on and it began to stop in the road like she was breaking. She described it as the car was just breaking on its own type feeling in the middle of a busy road. She brought it slowly to the dealership right away as it was not drivable.apparently it is an transmission issue. A well known one! I will provide the service record in this for you to see what was replaced the numbers and codes etc. It was at the shop Jan 10-13th. Well they did replace some parts it was still doing the jerking stutter when accelerating after the repairs. Again she assumed that was normal because we have been told that many times and we thought maybe the actual problem she had was fixed. It was not. The transmission issue will never be fixed from what I am learning today in regards to this 2016 Focus in the news. I am reaching out for someone to listen to all of us. It is not a coincidence that so many of us can not seem to get our vehicles fixed at least if they can not fix them take them back! I never knew this was such a huge ongoing problem with essentially defective vehicles.. Ford needs to be held responsible. We will take the car in again next week for them to tell us its "normal". seat also has stopped adjusting.
Shuddering feeling while accelerating from a stop'like someone who can't feather the clutch properly on a stick shift'followed by a rough 1-2 upshift that again sends a vibration throughout the vehicle. Sounds very bad as well. Vehicle in motion.
This is the second time this car gets a P0299 failure. I was on the freeway, trying to speed up, when the engine revved up quickly, but did not change gear. Instead, the car started slowing down. After a few seconds, the car started speeding up at a sluggish rate. The car now has a wheezing noise when in operation as it accelerates.
Car began to shudder and jerk when in motion. Suddenly after turning the car off for only a couple minutes it wouldn't turn back on. Changed battery in hopes that would fix the issue, car did turn on but would not reverse and would not go over 10 mph. Oroville Ford dealership says the transmission over heated, clutch slipping. Quoting me $3,900 at the very least for repairs in a car with just 70,000 miles and that I've barely had two years. If Ford knew of the issues with its ridiculous transmission systems, why are these cars still being sold to lower income people who can't afford repairs? I am only about 1,000 miles out of warranty and on my own.
Lost power when accelerating. Code said turbo charge boost; gave # to dealer. They want to charge me another $150 to diagnose & get the ame code as my mechanic! I have been calling to check on a recall color a kit that been recalled at least on the last 2 year's models! they looked at my car 1 month after purchase in Jan. 2019 but could find no problem (car was still under full warranty then). When I took car to dealer today, 1st question was whether I had an extended warranty! could not find info by googling it! this site recommended by my mechanic. He has 40 years experience @ a dealer! #128124;#128149;#128099; as I tried to accelerated, I was almost hit from behind by a semi on the highway doing 70 mph! risk pulling out onto highway & interstate with no power to accelerate fast enough!!! dangerous!!! #128124;#128149; consumer stated she did not fill out this report and does not know who did. Valve cannister kit for 2016 model not recalled as of yet. Turbo charger has been replaced.
It rained, and car stopped. No motive power. A red warning, "stop safely now" message on dash. Towed to dealership. There was a technical service bulletin 20-2004 to put on a splash shield to keep the 318volt (high!) connector from being hit by water, but the dealership just put on a big 350 amp fuse and put the car back in service. The fuse blew due to water intrusion. Treated a side effect, not the main problem. They refused to do what was in tsb 20-2004 & fsa 16B02. The attached picture shows how close the tire is to the high voltage battery connector! Ford knows this, but no recall, and dealership refuses to fix.
Car jerking after fueling gas, the shuts off. Have trouble restarting. Brakes went out while I was driving almost crashed into someone. Ecoboost worked very few times
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving, the check engine warning light illuminated and remained illuminated. Additionally, after refueling the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact indicated that the vehicle stalled several times before starting to operate as intended. The vehicle was taken to riser Ford Lincoln located at (4201 central ave, hot springs ar) where the power train control module was reprogrammed under the NHTSA campaign number 18V735000 (fuel system, gasoline) however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 40,000.
The contact owns a 2016 Ford Focus. The contact stated while his girlfriend was driving approximately 10 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The failure recurred three consecutive times. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic for a diagnostic test. The contact stated that prior to the failure the vehicle was diagnosed by dch Ford of eatontown located at 67 NJ-36, eatontown, NJ 07724, and the contact was informed that the failure was due to the fuel control module. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 117,000.
I saw that there was a customer satisfaction program (17B32) that stats that the model car made in a specific plant and within a certain time frame were made with the wrong head gasket that will end up failing, I checked with the Ford customer support and they confirmed that my vehicle was effected since it was made at that time. The vehicles VIN doesn't show any recall and they said I would receive one but never did, the recall was to expire in May 31 2019 and my vehicle cant be inspected under the recall unless I pay for it out of pocket since it expired.
My 2016 Ford Focus SE gives me great concern when driving as the transmission consistently skips/jerks while accelerating. There were 2 separate instances where I have driven on the freeway and my car has skipped gears, causing change of speeds and nearly had 2 accidents on the freeway. My most recent one was right before I decided to file a complaint. I have been to the Ford service center right before my warranty closed and requested they fix, however was told there is nothing wrong and it operates properly.
Earlier in January, I was driving down interstate 70 from Kansas City to St. Louis at the rate of 77 mph. All of a sudden the car dings and sends a message on the dash "engine failure" and the car literally shuts down. I had no control over the car, no lights, no brakes, nothing! luckily I got to the shoulder of the road safely and finally came to a stop. I put the car in park and turned the key off. Still nothing... I waited about 5 minutes and then turned the car back on and thankfully it started. I drove it to the nearest place to have them run a diagnostic test and nothing came up. Finally got it home. It's not done this again, but now it runs rough. Like really rough. I've had the transmission clutch fixed once already. Luckily it was still under warranty. I will be contacting my local Ford dealer about this issue. Was unaware it was under recall.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Voorheesville, NY, USA