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.
While driving vehicle on the highway and using cruise control vehicle fails to maintain speed. The cruise control abruptly shuts off without warning and driver has to take over. The vehicle maintenance light turns on/off periodically. Dealer has investigated and diagnosed this as the wiring harness under the passenger seat short circuiting and causing power issues. I believe this may be related to the existing wiring issue at the Michigan plant (www.clickondetroit.com/consumer/recalls/Ford-recalls-160000-Focus-escape-models-for-wiring-problem). may be related to reports of sudden power loss in Focus electric vehicles.
While running on cruise control at 55mph, I disengaged the cruise control for a turning vehicle ahead. A yellow wrench light & stop safely now message appeared in dash. A warning bell alarmed. Vehicle began free wheeling towards other vehicle without expected regeneration braking. Had to hit brakes hard. Pulled to side of road. Car had no motive power. Turned car off. Waited for all lights in dash to go out, then restarted car normally. Car appeared to have no problems. This happened 5 more times in the next 2 days. No problems noted. The dealer was to busy on Friday to look for any codes in vehicle computer. This should never happen except when the motor is shorted or grounded out hard enough to burn it and blow a fuse.
For the past month my 2012 Ford Focus had been jerking when increasing to speeds of 55mph and higher. I got the wheel alignment done, changed the tires, thinking it would help. On April 16th at 5pm I was driving from school when I was passing a burger king on a main road by thr interstate, my car just lost all power and stopped. I tried to turn it back on, nothing. I ended up pushing it into burger kings parking lot. Tried to jump it. No go. Took battery to get tested, completely dead. Ok, so all it needs is a battery? wrong! bought a new battery. Still nothing. Had the car towed to pep boys where I am informed that its the PCM/tcm and only Ford can fix it because it needs to be reprogrammed. Ok, called Ford in tampa fl, after doing research about recalls on this site. According to them there has never been a recall. They asked me if I called a week ago because someone had the same problem. I told them no. I search this system with my VIN, no reports.... how could this be when I am experiencing the same symptoms and my car was manufactured between these years. I am hopeful that this is an oversight and that Ford didn't realize the extent of this problem. Its dangerous. Meanwhile my car is 3 years old with 52K....PCM/tcm shouldn't be a factor.
On the freeway accelerating slightly while merging into the leftmost lane. Power suddenly was lost with a "stop safely now" message on the dash. As it was rush hour, it was difficult to merge 6 lanes to the right to get to the shoulder. Brakes and steering were working and I stopped safely. Car would not restart.
- Lake Forest, CA, USA
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Just entered freeway on-ramp and began to accelerate when power instantly ceased and car coasted. Dashboard indicated "stop safely now" and I pulled to the side. Steering and brakes were still functioning but no response at all from the accelerator. Car did not respond at first to a restart. Had to turn car off, open door, close door, wait for dashboard to go blank and then restart to actually make it go again. This was the same symptom that occurred in November of 2013 (and reported here) that Ford supposedly fixed through re-call. After restarting the car, there is no indication of any problem. Car had a state of charge of 36% at time of failure.
To date 8/20/2013 the car has died 8 times and 4 times in the last week. The sequence I use to get it started again is after the ssn warning, pull over, turn ingition off, open door, close door, lock car, unlock car, press start. It only started to happen after the update was done. It happens over bumps, on the freeway, in a parking lot and happens at all speeds and happens randomly. Fortunately it has not yet caused an accident but it easily can especially if in the fast lane on the freeway or in an intersection.
Full charge, entered ready to drive mode, selected reverse and car shut down. Ready to drive indicator off. Placed back in park, pressed stop button, depressed brake pedal, pressed start button and car indicated ready to drive again. Selected reverse and it worked normally. Separate incident, one week prior. 5 miles of range remaining while pulling into driveway up a hill. Pressed accelerator and left display showed stop safely now, and power was removed. Car stalled on hill, ready to drive indicator off. Placed back in park, set hand brake, shut off car. Depressed brake, pressed start button, and ready to drive indicator failed to turn on. Turn car back off and walked inside. Came back after dinner (30 minutes) and everything powered up like normal. Pulled into garage and started level 1 charging.
This is an electric vehicle. The car was shut down completely in the middle of street. The message displayed indicated I should "stop the vehicle now". after about two minutes, I was able to start the system again and drive away.
"stop safely now" message appeared while traveling about 30mph and slowing down for a stoplight. Car would not move while message was lit. The car had 88% charge, and was charging 5min prior to the incident. Trying to restart the car was unsuccessfully at first, but I turned the car off, opened a door, closed it, then it restarted after that. I was stuck for about 3 or 4 minutes.
Starting up from waiting at a signal light the system flashed "stop safely now". (I had just touched the display screen to view the battery state of charge - normal.) proceeding through a left turn and when getting to the curb the system shut down providing no motive power. At that point a complete turn off of the car was attempted which did not happen, the dash display was still active. Repeated attempts finally completely shut down the system, which was then started normally.
While driving on a highway bridge, the Ford Focus electric stalled. The dashboard shows a sign "stop safely now" and then a picture of a yellow wrench. I had to stop at the highway's shoulder. Very very dangerous. Very unsafe. I tried to start the car. It would not start. After 45 minutes, when all the electrical light indicators on the dashboard showed black, I pushed the start button again, and it started. This is a very dangerous situation and I heard in the online forum that "car stalled suddenly while driving" was common recently. Ford needs to fix this urgently.
Driving about 30 miles per hour, the car chimed a warning and flashed "stop safely now" on the dashboard. The car lost speed and I coasted to a stop at the side of the road. I was not able to restart my car. The "stop safely now" warning with chime repeated each time I tried to restart. I called a tow truck, however, after about 20 minutes, I was able to restart the car. This has happened at least 7 times previously (very similar circumstances). I've had the car serviced multiple times, telling the dealer of this issue, but despite software upgrades, a replaced 12 volt battery, it's still happening. This is extremely unsafe and I seriously question Ford's ability to understand the problem and fix it as well as my sanity for driving the car with this behavior.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Topeka, KS, USA