CarComplaints.com Notes: You should probably steer clear of the 2012 Focus. Otherwise, you might not be able to steer at all.
The 2012 is the first Focus to offer Electronic Power Assist Steering (EPAS). It's also the first year with massive power steering failure. These things are not mutually exclusive.
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.
The door latches are failing without warning. Upon exiting the vehicle after stopping the latches have failed and the doors will not stay closed. In August 2015, the driver's rear door latch failed upon opening the door to put my purse in the backseat, it would not close after that. I had to drive it to the dealership while holding the door closed. This proved to be dangerous as I drive a manual car. Now the driver's door latch failed upon exiting the vehicle. This is a safety hazard as it can strand drivers without notice. The door has to be tied shut so it can be driven to the dealership who had to order the part. Ford is aware of the problem and have recalled the door latches on other model years of Focus, fiesta, and Fusion.
Vehicle with 42000 miles, the rear drive side passenger door latch fails to secure the door. The door latch mechanism does lock / fasten / engage in the conventional manner that doors do when the door is "shut". at present the door is required to be tied / secured from the inside of the vehicle to prevent the door from swinging open, while the vehicle is operating.
Three of my 4 door latches stopped functioning completely. They did not work whether the car was stationary, in motion, driving, or turning. We had to tie the door handles to each other from the inside to keep them from flying open while driving. When you pushed them shut from the outside, they would bounce back open. This also caused constant warning lights/sounds from the dash. Ford stated there was a recall, but ours were not covered because my 4 door latches were packaged as a 4 pack whereas the serial numbers for the recalled latches were sold in individual packaging. So therefore, I was not covered due to a loop hole. The doors not shutting properly (ever) caused water to leak in and cause other problems such as the window motor shorting out. I reached out to corporate and customer service and was told they would not pay for the repairs. I paid for the repairs out of pocket because I had to.
Doors fly open when driving, this car is 3 years old less than 60,000 miles and in the last 4 months 3 of my four doors have flown open while car is in motion. Twice now when my teen driver was by herself rounding a corner from a stop sign and once just going straight ( drivers door) at 40 mph.
As part of my job, I drive senior citizens to the store, etc., in my car. On Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, I drove an elderly couple; the wife sat in the back seat behind the driver's seat. I assisted her out of the car and then attempted to shut her door, which would not latch shut and still won't. I shudder to think what would have happened if the car had been moving when that happened. To get home without the door flying open, I strapped it shut using seat belts. The dealer can get me in tomorrow (Tuesday). I googled this issue and found many stories about other Ford cars being recalled because of this same issue, just not mine, the 2012 Ford Focus, and people asking why the Focus hasn't been included in the recall. Needless to say, I am quite upset over the potential danger my riders have been in, and that I knew nothing about it, and do not understand why Ford is ignoring the Focus while recalling the rest of them if these latches pose a safety risk. In the meantime, how can I do my job if I know my riders are at risk?
- Edmond, OK, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
2012 Ford Focus. Rear passenger door flew open while child safety lock was engaged. Door will no longer latch. While investigating this issue I have learned this is a common problem with the 2012 Ford Focus. It is also a $600 fix. This is not a ware and tear problem. Doors should never fail risking passengers safety. I have used a strap to tie the door shut to keep it from flying open and hitting something or slamming shut on a passenger while driving.
One day when day our son was a passenger in our daughter's Focus and they arrived home, he exited the vehicle and when he tried closing the door, it wouldn't close. I went to check it out and sure enough it wouldn't close (latch). After a few tries we discovered that if we slammed the door as hard as possible, it would latch. We did this for a few weeks and then one day it just wouldn't latch no matter how hard you slammed it. We decided to not allow anyone to drive in the passenger seat. We had to tie the seat belt around the door handle so that the door would stay closed. Once this happened we called and scheduled an appointment with san tan Ford to fix the problem.
After opening the driver's door, it would not close. Took to Ford and they said the door latch was faulty and need replacing at part cost of over 450 dollars. Bought a new car instead.
I unlock the car and opened the rear door and tried to close it back and it wouldn't catch the latch stopped working. The door wouldn't stay closed even when I tried to lock it. I was told by dealer there was no recall on it. I have attached an invoice of the repair.
The driver's side door failed in November 2015. The car parked and locked in the driveway in front of our home. We noticed that the interior dome light was on. We found that we could no longer close or lock the door. We had to use bungie cords to close the driver's side door by attaching the cords to the door handle of the front passenger side door. Since the car was no longer under warranty we brought it to our mechanic to repair. We noticed that this has happened to other Focus owners and that this is something that is being investigated for the purposes of a recall and want to include our experience. We have attached a copy of the invoice from our mechanic which lists the part number. Do we have to be concerned about this part or the latches on the remaining car doors? it is concerning that this has happened to people while driving! I consider us fortunate that the car was parked when this occurred.
I came out of a store and got into my vehicle to drive over to my job in the same shopping center. At the time, my driver side door latched properly but upon getting out of my vehicle at work, 30 seconds later, my door latch malfunctioned and would not latch. In order to leave work that night, I had to tie the door shut with a rope. Thank god my young son was not with me and the car was not in motion at the time. This is a major concern and its only a matter of time before more people have the same problem and get seriously injured. Ford has already had a recall on some other models for this same issue. I strongly believe we have come across yet another model with faulty door latches. I have not had the issue fixed yet due to insufficient funds but will be fixing it soon. Once I do get it fixed I will still fear for my safety, my son's safety, and the safety of any other 2012 Ford Focus owners. I hope and pray we can resolve this issue quickly before anyone else gets hurt.
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 55 mph, the driver side door opened independently without warning. In addition, the contact stated that the vehicle lost speed and then stalled as the instrument panel illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was repaired under an unknown manufacturer recall. The failure recurred multiple times. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 34,000. Updated 04/13/16
Takata recall Ford Focus 2012 passenger rear door no longer closes as latch will not engage, this happened whilst stationary luckily, the rear doors are rarely used and for a 3 year old car this is a poor failure. Had to use rope to bind door to drivers rear door as I had to get vehicle back home. Extremely dangerous situation and am glad it did not happen whilst driving or braking. Contacted clovis Ford dealership and basically their response was it's not in warranty so you're on your own. Regardless of all the fiesta and Fusion recalls with similar issues you think they would be at least slightly interested in helping with this matter. Poorly constructed safety locks in my mind. Poor show Ford America.
The trunk lid opens while driving. It has happened about 7 times driving at various speeds including highway speeds. I have brought it to the Ford dealer to check for problems. No problem is ever found but it continues to happen. Note the only way to normally open the trunk is with the remote. I have tried using the spare key to determine whether it is the remote sending a signal while driving but the problem occurs with both keys. My suspicion is there is some rf signal which is causing this to occur. The latch is fine and Ford conformed no issues with the latch.
Daughter was driving and the driver door latch failed and the door wouldn't stay shut. Dealership said defect in door latch. Said there is a recall but only for Fusion & fiesta models. 2 months later same happened to driver side back door. Again told by Ford not covered, however they did reimburse 2 other 2012 Ford Focus owners for same issue. When I presented Ford with this info, they said they were not going to cover this safety defect at this time....
Today, while putting several things in the back of the car, my wife noticed that the rear drives side door would not close. Upon further investigation, it appears that the latch of the door is not functioning properly and the door is not able to be closed. It is currently sitting, undriveable, in the garage. This vehicle is my daily driver. Luckily, I am able to drive my wifes car this week as she is still off for the holiday. From what I have seen, the failure of the latch is a common problem on other Ford vehicles and have been recalled.
Latches on rear left door broke. Not even 2 weeks later left driver side latch broke. Th Focus has the exact same latches as the fiesta and Fusion which both have recalls, but the Focus does not. The car was not in motion, but now when I drive I have to have the door tied to the other door, so it does not fling open. I also got pulled over in between these two weeks and was cited for driving an unsafe vehicle.
Passenger side front door latch assembly broke causing the door to swing open while driving. This occurred while driving through a parking lot at the mall and my wife almost fell out of the car. Not only was she forced to catch herself and the door from flying open but now I am forced to use a ratchet strap to hold the door closed as the local Ford dealer stated they are still waiting to get the part but have no idea when.
Driver side door suddenly will not latch, creating a dangerous safety hazard. The door remains open preventing the vehicle to be driven without some kind of strap holding the driver's door closed to prevent it from swinging open while the vehicle is in motion. This type or contraption impairs the driver from driving safely and could potentially cause an accident if suddenly swings open, even worse person can fall out of vehicle if this failure was to happen while the vehicle is in motion. Fortunately, this happened to us as we had arrived and parked our car. Once the door was opened and the driver exited the vehicle the door would not latch closed again.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Deming, NM, USA