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.
I live on the island of St, croix, us virgin islands. On Saturday February 21, 2015 after driving the car for several errands, I returned home and opened the rear passenger side door to take out some items. When I closed the door it would not stay closed. It seems as if the latch will not stay shut. I will contact the dealer on Monday.
I put my baby into her car seat, closed the back passenger door, and started driving when the "door ajar" warning light on the dash appeared. I immediately stopped and saw that the back passenger door was ajar. Her door would not stay closed. Nothing I attempted would fix it. The car was never damaged, and the broken door received barely any use, as she is under six months old. I had to tie a swaddle blanket to the handle and hold on while driving us home. I immediately called the dealership where we had purchased the car (Ford akins) and was told that there were no recalls, despite the fact that there is an ongoing investigation, and that we would be charged to fix a glaring safety issue even though we had purchased the extended warranty and the car was exactly four years old. I was also told that they would have to order the part, and am now left waiting with my baby in the back of a car with a door that is duct taped closed. I consider this to be an extremely serious safety complaint, and don't trust that another door won't fly open while driving.
My wife drives this car almost exclusively to work and rarely with a passenger. This day, I was the passenger and as we were leaving a friends house, I carried out a bag and opened the rear passenger side door, put the bag on the seat, and closed the door in a normal fashion. To my surprise, the door bounced back open. I inspected the door frame, expecting to find a seatbelt or similar preventing closure but there was nothing. I jiggled the handle and attempted to close the door again. It bounced. I then actuated the inside door handle and tried again. Bounced. I cycled the child locks. Bounced. Then I inspected the mechanism that is designed to catch the door closed and found it could be moved freely with my finger or a device like a key. There was no mechanical resistance or "click" or any other indication that it would hold the door closed. I went to the driver side rear door and compared its closure mechanism to the passenger side door and found this device could not be easily moved. A quick google search found many similar problems documented with the only resolution being repair by Ford. We were forced to drive home with the rear doors tied together to hold the passenger door shut. I made an appointment with mullinax Ford who stated it was not under warranty or recall, even though online documentation suggests there is a federal investigation ongoing with this problem. The repair bill was $400+ dollars. I consider this to be a serious safety concern. I have no doubt it could have happened while the vehicle was in motion, potentially with back seat passengers.
Me and my children were at the mall and when we went to the car we discovered the driver's rear door was damaged. The door would not close completely and posed a threat to my children's safety. I paid $144 for the latch piece that seemed to be the problem. And another $128 to get it installed at my dealer. I use the highway to get home usually and I am afraid that any other one of the doors might open on their own while I'm getting home or while I'm driving with my children.
I unlocked the car and the driver's door latch closed to the locked position when door was still open. Now unable to close that door. Same thing then happened to left rear door. Using in-car locking button doesn't do anything, neither does key fob. In both cases locking/unlocking sounds occur, but latch on open doors does not move. Warming up car in garage did not help. The same car randomly locked the driver's door when I had motor on scraping ice off windshield approximately one month ago.
- Alliance, OH, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Driver's side passenger door came open during driving. Door latch will not keep door closed. Have to tie together doors to keep them shut. Major safety issue.
The rear passenger door latch broke. When I looked at it, it would flap loosely inside its mechanism and would not secure the door to the body of the car. I had to ratchet strap the doors together to keep the bad one closed. Now, six months after the first latch broke, I removed the strap to access the rear seats and discovered that the driver-side rear door latch had failed as well. Same band-aid fix as before, but it's a safety/security issue, and the strap is starting to pull the interior door handles/panels from the doors themselves. It's only a matter of time before those fail as well.
Car right rear door which is not used very often will not stay in shut position. It is now tied shut and this is a safety issue. It appears the door latch is broken.
The left rear door latch failed upon closing the door and bounced back rather than locking in. The door from then on could never be closed and had to be duck taped to ensure it would not open upon driving the vehicle. While driving the vehicle, the main dash board would constantly notify the driver that the door was still open and the ceiling lights would stay on while driving.
I was rear ended by a Ford F350 so hard that I hit the car in front of me, a Honda Accord. The back of my 2011 Ford Fiesta is smashed in and the front of the car, is smashed in. The back window is scattered, the sunroof slider fell back into the car, the front right wheel (passenger side) is bent, and the car does not turn on. I understand in rear end crashes the air bags usually do not go off, but when I hit the car in front of me, the air bags should have gone off.
Woke up one morning, went to go put some stuff in back seat of my car. Shut the door and noticed it popped right back. Tried again and kept popping back. Has not closed since. Took to Ford and said my latch broke and that it would be almost $500 in service and parts.
The rear driver side door latch broke, causing the door to remain open. Fortunately it happened while the car was parked, because a serious accident could have happened otherwise.
I placed my grandson his car seat on the rear passenger side and tried to close the door, the door would not latch closed. We tried and tried to get it closed as we were on the other side of the city and needed to get home. The door would not latch. We had to have someone come bring us a strap to hold the door closed in order to get home that night. The next day I took my car to the Ford dealership and was told that this has been a major concern with the Ford Fiesta and that the part was nationally back-ordered. I drove my car home with the door strapped closed and had it looked at in my hometown. The part was still nationally back-ordered. I am still waiting on my car to be fixed. I believe this is a defect and should be recalled immediately.
I tried to close the rear passenger door, but the door would not latch. I could not see a problem and tried to close the door several more times unsuccessfully. I had to use the seat belt to tie the door closed so that I could drive home. Unfortunately, that was 215 miles away. The door ajar light stayed on and the rear seat dome light stayed on the entire trip. Once home, I had to disconnect the battery to prevent it from being drained. I will be calling my local Ford dealer from which I bought the car 4 years ago tomorrow morning.
The right rear door on our 2011 Ford Fiesta will not latch. The latching mechanism has failed and will not engage. I am using bungie cords to keep the door closed until I can replace the latch. When I called Ford they acted as if this was something that was not common.
In July the rear passenger door latch stopped functioning and the door wouldn't stay closed. In the middle of September the rear driver door did the same thing. Today 10/29/14 the driver door latch is now faulty as well. Each time it happen, the vehicle stopped, the door was opened and then it wouldn't shut. 3 different doors in almost 3 months. Definitely something wrong with 2011 Ford Fiestas as this is happening to others according to news articles I read.
While out shopping on the night of Oct. 8, 2014 with my pregnant step daughter we returned to the vehicle to find that the passenger rear door failed to latch. I was unable to get it to latch properly. I was able to hold the door mostly closed with the seat belt, but every time I made a left turn the interior light would come on and door ajar warning message would come on and stay on. I am only able to use the car with the rear doors strapped to each other.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Christiansted, VI, USA