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:
3 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
31,520 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
I was driving to work on a Monday and the transmission light came on. I took it to the dealership for a diagnostic and the service advisor said the vehicle needs a clutch replacement. The warranty 19N08 has expired since the warranty start date was back in 2015. The warranty was 7 years of warranty start date or 100,000 miles. The car is 76,000 miles and I-??m stuck without a car to drive to work and no money to repair the car. Please help me and extend the warranty for this one time repair.
2016 Ford Focus Transmission Control Module Recall 14M02. I received a recall notice from Ford on my Transmission Control Module. I called Long-Lewis Ford in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in January 2024 and asked them when I could bring my car in for repair. I was told that I couldn't just bring it in, that I needed an appointment. Long-Lewis Ford called me on [XXX] and told me to bring my car in. I took it to Long-Lewis Ford on [XXX]. Long-Lewis Ford then parked my car outside in their parking lot for 54 days without doing anything to it. Long-Lewis Ford finally called me on [XXX] and told me to come and get my car. When I arrived at Long-Lewis Ford, the Long-Lewis Ford employee said "Here are your keys, but the car won't run. I tried to start my car, but the battery was dead from sitting in their parking lot for 54 days. I went to a parts store and bought a new battery. I installed the battery and my car started. On the way home I noticed that the transmission shift points were between 4,000 and 5,000 RPM's. The transmission would only go into Drive, Neutral and Park. It would not go into Reverse. It appears that Long-Lewis Ford did not follow the Recall Letter that requires the battery to be fully charged with a battery charger connected to the battery when programming the Transmission Control Module. Also, since Long-Lewis Ford stated the "car won't run" they never did a road test to see if my car was roadworthy. Long-Lewis Ford also told me that if I had transmission problems they would not fix it and I would have to pay for it, even though, Transmission Control Module failure can damage the Titanium disks in the transmission. ford has bought back or repaired thousands of these vehicles, but they have refused to repair mine. it is currently sitting in my yard and will not start. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
All of the lugs nut have swelled likely due to rust under the chrome caps and we can not get the lug wrench provided with the car onto any of the lugs nuts. A properly sized 19mm 4 way lug wrench would not fit either. This prevents us from being able to change a flat tire which could leave us stranded during my commute or on a vacation and left in an unsafe situation on the side.of the highway. This also prevents routine maintenance such as brake wear inspections and tire rotations from being completed. The car has not been taken to a dealer or service center since the issue was noticed but they would also have the same issue and would need to hammer a socket over the lug nut with excessive force. The car has a bad wheel bearing that needs to be replaced but can't since we can not remove the tire.
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
- West Haven, CT, USA
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A week after purchasing a pre-owned 2016 Ford Focus SE Hatchback, the Malfunction Indicator Light came on with Primary Code P144A (EVAP Emission System Purge Vapor Line Restricted/Blocked). I paid $671.39 to have the canister purge valve replaced but subsequently learned that the part was part of NHTSA Recall 18V-735. However, because the prior owner had the recall repair completed on March 6, 2019, Ford Motor Company told me that I could not receive a refund. On September 15, 2023, NHTSA opened Investigation #RQ23006. The purpose of that investigation is to "assess the scope and remedy of Recall 18V-735." Since Ford Motor Company will not remedy the situation by refunding me, I am writing today to add myself to growing number of complaints that may have been received since the investigation was opened.
Bought brand new off stevens creek ford frontier, after just 45,000 miles it showed serious transmission issues. At first it would stall and pop up a transmission overheat warning and it would jolt when just trying to step on gas lightly. I brought it in to the dealer service and they said it needed a new clutch and once I got it back it doesn-??t start unless I have it in neutral and doesn-??t backup. The car is extremely unsafe and stalls on the freeway in front of other cars
2016 Ford Focus with 53,000 miles, driven less than 150 miles per week on average just getting back and forth to work and running errands. Check engine light came on on November 2, 2023. I got a P0344 code from my mechanic who is 5 minutes away from when the check engine light came on. He advised me not to drive the vehicle until he could get my car in on November 7. When I started the car to take it to the mechanic on the evening of November 6 for him to look at the next day, the oil light came on. It was a 5 minute drive from my home to the auto shop. He immediately said Oh, Oh, that's the bad oil light not the low oil light. I have routinely kept up with the recommended maintenance schedule and the car was last serviced on June 7, 2023 with no problems. I was told on the morning of November 7 after he had looked at the car that the engine was shot and the car would need a brand new engine. One of the employees at the shop is a former employee of a Ford dealership and was not at all surprised as he began running down a list of all the times that he had seen this problem. "It always happens right after the warranty expires' were his exact words. I now have to wait for a new engine, which is on back order for up to 2-3 months, which is an indication of how rampant this problem is with this Ford engine, and I will have to figure out how I'm going to get to work as we head into the winter months. One of the last things that the mechanic said to me before I signed the $5400 work order, was how lucky I was that the car didn't die on the road leaving me stranded. I can only attribute that to the short distances that I drive. Please do something for those of us that purchased this vehicle in good faith and are now being told that there is nothing that Ford can do for us because the warranty is expired.
I was driving from Roseburg, OR to Sacramento, CA and about 40 minutes prior to arriving in Sacramento, my sunroof exploded. It even sounded like an explosion. The glass appeared to bow upwards and out with a large hole before ng in the middle, and judging by the small amount of glass being held up by the lower part of the sunroof internal cover thingy, it blew outwards. I can only assume it was associated with an elevation change, but I open my windows for short bursts regularly to cycle in fresh air so I don't think that's it. Differential heating between the glass and the solid object holding it perhaps" If the internal glass holding component is being cooled by the AC and the external glass is being heated by the sun/ambient air - I assume it can cause a compression force on the glass. It was a hot day in SAC, but not over 100 degrees. Perhaps a defect in the glass" Either way, major safety concern. If glass had fallen in eyes or the boom occured in traffic I could easily see a crash happening so someone.
So ive bee battling the same tcm issues out of my 2016 ford focus. I have othing now. My car will no longer go into gear at all. So i have spent upwards of 8 to 9 grand over last two years trying tomfix this. This vehicle per customee satifaction progrm in the parameters of 2011 to 2017 ford Focus/Fiesta w/dps6 transmission having tcm issues. To my understsndig this should be replced and reprogrammed one time regardless of the milage. But my VIN doesnt register that my vehiicle is elegible for this recall or program. Please i need help. I am out of options. No vehicle, lost my job bedcause of this and my apartment.
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.
The transmission/clutch causes the car to sputter when accelerating which is so dangerous at red lights. When I went to the mechanic he said this is happening to does focuses all over so this sounds like a universal ford thing.
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.
The car worked fine in the first couple months and slowly declined. The rpm will shoot up and down causing the car to jerk and not able to surpass certain speeds. It works sometimes, so when going to work in the freeway it was fine then it started acting up again, causing other cars to almost crash into me. I had to drive with hazards and luckily i was able to safely pull to the side. Instances like this occur a lot more now because the car doesn-??t act normal anymore. I took it to a mechanic and it was a gear issue and a module error. I had asked how i was to fix it, and they said only main dealerships can fix a module board. It-??s making my transmission overheat and now my steering wheel is stuck and won-??t move.
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.
I have been having problems with ford focus for a long time. I have been told that this is normal. Recently, I had my car fixed by ford. Soon after, I was having problems with car slow start, hesitation and studdering. This is the same problems I was having before. I was told by Ford dealership that it was not the transmission. They told me that it was a crack engine head and purge valve problem. I paid for the fix even though I felt like it should have been covered in a recall. The car is not fix. I have completed 2 surveys with Ford. The department of transportation should investigate ford for its ford focuses.
When I start to go it lags, doesn't want to go like it gets stuck in gear. No it has not been seen by dealer but other cars the same as mine has had recalls due to the same issue. No warning lights or signal lights come on.
Shortly after fueling my car, it will start to act like it-??s going to stall. Sometimes it stalls completely, other times I am able to accelerate the problem away. My car runs very loud, shaky, and rough. A few days ago, it stalled without any notice, and i wasn-??t able to restart it. I had to have it towed to the mechanic. They are saying it could need a new fuel pump, but with the low mileage on my car no one can understand why that component of my car would be failing already.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Riverside, CA, USA