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.
My daughter has been stranded twice by the vehicle either going into neutral or the transmission disengaging. Both times she was on a highway in traffic. She was fortunate to not be rear ended. Multiple attempts to fix the issue & finally being told the transmission needs to be replaced at a value of what the car is worth functioning. If the new transmission is of the same design; failure appears to be a guarantee. A Ford dealership told use to let the car rest in peace.
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. While the vehicle was stopped at a red light, the engine failed. The contact was unaware of any warning indicators illuminated during the failure. The vehicle was towed to viva Ford (5550 N desert blvd, el paso, tx 79912, (915) 834-2800) where it was diagnosed that the transmission failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 55,366.
Bucking at high speeds.doesn't shift properly.sounds like suspension bottoming outhad three clutch replacements.got rid of car July 20,2018.also for your info I am retired Ford Motor Company employee on management roll.problems occurred when car in motion.also both my kids had focuses and got rid of them with same problem.
Constant problems with the transmission and transmission control module including shuddering overheating lack of power jerking motions and constant replacement. From 2013 to current date.
Faulty transmission. The transmission constantly stutters and delays, making it extremely scary to drive. Despite replacing the clutch shortly after purchasing the car, the vehicle still at times stutters rough enough to spill a cup of hot coffee unexpectedly, and will randomly delay accelerating. For example, I don't feel safe quickly taking left hand turns across oncoming traffic out of fear that the car will not respond as fast as I've hit the gas. The stutter and delay is worst when going from a stationary position to moving, though it absolutely happens when at high speeds as well (45+). the car is so unpredictable when hitting the gas that it's hard to feel safe while driving it. Turn the air conditioning on in the vehicle and the transmission becomes even less predictable and will delay responding when the gas is pressed even at high speeds (45mph +).
My Focus has had numerous transmission problems over the past few years. My car would randomly not be able to shift into second gear and would leave stranded. While driving my car would randomly not shift gears, allowing me to go a max of 10 mph with my children in my car. Many times my car would not start at all. Sometimes when it did start, I could not even turn my wheel. I had the computer chip reset and within 4 months my car became inoperable. I took it to the shop and they said multiple service bulletins were found for my transmission that came back in the diagnostics and told me to take it to the Ford dealership. When I went there I was told it would be minimum $2K to get the internal clutch fixed, if that was the issue, upwards of $5K for the other transmission issues. I felt extremely unsafe with two kids and had to go out and lease a new car. I am furious now that I am reading that Ford knew it was selling 2012 focuses with faulty transmissions. I still have the car in my possession. I cannot even count the number of times my car would not shift or start, and while driving with my children in the car this happened. It caused me to almost be rear ended or stuck in intersections. The only thing that saved me on many occasions was quickly turning on my hazard lights/blinkers. I am outraged that this has happened. Prior to owning my 2012 Focus, I had a 2002 Focus and never ran into any of these issues and loved the car so much I bought another one. If I could go back in time I would never have bought the 2012 knowing what I know now. I am hoping a class action lawsuit is filed, and if not, I may find my own lawyer and go after Ford.
My 2012 Ford Focus shakes and shutters when depressing the accelerator. When I bought this vehicle from the dealer in 2015 I was told that before I took it home that they needed to replace a sensor in the transmission. After driving vehicle for several years I noticed this vehicle continued to shutter and shake and almost stall out at times of acceleration. I talked to a service specialist at the Ford dealer and was told that due to the power shift transmission installed in this vehicle that you just need to "baby it" on take off. This kinda of helped a little but you must be conscious of this constantly. I still own this vehicle. I usually drive it and prefer not to have my wife or kids drive as I am worried the sputtering may cause an accident. These transmissions should have been recalled. I have only recently learned that this is a wider problem for all Ford focuses of that time period. Always been a Ford guy but can say I am a little disappointed how Ford has handled this issue. Don't like having a vehicle that you must be cautious on driving in fear that it may cause an accident. Come on Ford you guys can do better than that.
Transmission slips, shudders and jerks while mechanical clanking noise comes from the car. Four times, I can recall, was almost in a major accidents and countless times of vehicle sputtering trying to accelerate to merge into traffic. Clutch has been changed at least three times but problem returns. Manufacturer and dealerships lie to me. I feel stuck in a lemon that is truely embarrassing to drive. I do not feel safe driving this vehicle! someday, something bad will more than likely happen. Please do something. Money can not replace lives. Safety first!
From stop the car will hesitate to accelerate, sometimes it won't be in gear other times it will be in the wrong gear (I.e. 2nd or 3rd instead of 1st). At times it will also lurch forward, one time it was so hard I thought I had been rear ended. Once in motion the clutch slips causing slow acceleration and shaking (sometime violent). On hills, even at highway speeds, the clutch will slip causing the car to slow and have trouble climbing. I am on my 3rd set of clutches, and last as now the transmission is out of warranty, parts are unavailable, and the cost will be more than the car is worth due to the extreme depreciation due to the known transmission problems. It has had the tcm (transmission control module) programming updated eight times. On my first two visits to the Ford dealership, all the way back in 2013, I was simply met by the service manager and told on visit one the transmission is working as designed and given a paper stating the behavior of the transmission and on visit two that I didn't know how to drive the car and that I would need to relearn how to drive for this type of transmission. On my third visit they reprogrammed the tcm making it worse and it went downhill from there. On one visit they tried to blame the visit on a fictitious oil leak and charged me to fix though they could not show me the leak nor had the car ever leaked a drop of oil or used any oil. Between the second and third clutch replacement the car drove so terribly I was afraid to drive it, let alone allow my wife and children to ride in it. Even now I cannot pull onto a road without having a 100 yards of space between traffic. This has been an ongoing issue since 2013 and continues today (2019). When I first started contacting Ford the car only had about 16,000 miles on it, it had over 50,000 before they did the first "repair".
My vehicle is experiencing the known issues with the dps6 transmissions. This includes the clutch slippage and "judder" when shifting and I have also had my tcm fail entirely while the car was in motion resulting in the engine being shut down suddenly so all power was lost. Because the engine shut down, I had no power steering. Fortunately, at that time, I was on a rural highway and I was able to get off to the side of the road. The vehicle would not re-start and I had to have it towed to the nearest Ford dealer for a tcm replacement. I have had 3 clutch and transmission seal replacements completed under their extended warranty program for this vehicle but I am now outside that extended warranty period so any further replacements will be at my cost. The mileage intervals between the clutch replacements were only 10,000 and 7,000 miles. Some people change their oil at a similar interval. I am again experiencing a shudder during shifting in this vehicle and have been avoiding driving it for this reason. I hate to spend the money on a new clutch as I think it will be just a temporary fix and a very expensive one. Now I read that Ford knew about these problems before these vehicles were being sold yet they still put them on the market. This disregard for the safety of their customers is unacceptable and they need to do a lot more to make things right for those of us who are saddled with this breach of our safety and trust.
I have had this vehicle since 2015 with 38,000 miles on it and it has been a lemon ever since. The transmission has a defect that Ford refuses to acknowledge is defective. From day one my transmission shuttered when going through gears 1-2. it feels like I'm pulling a trailer behind me. It mainly happens when the transmission is warmed up. Ford first said there was nothing wrong then they "reprogrammed" it, then they put new seals in it and lastly they said sorry you're past the milage for the recall, so now I'm driving a dangerous vehicle because I refuse to pay Ford $2,000+ for the same thing to happen again. I would get a new vehicle but the resale value for my car is just a tad above scrap because nobody wants these cars that have faulty transmissions. All they are doing is putting bandages on a gaping hole and they're getting away with it. Also, when I have to stop going uphill in drive, it rolls backward. Now tell me that's not safe. Please do something about this before someone gets really hurt if not already.
I had my car at the dealer 5 times for transmission problems under warranty. 2 months ago I had to pay over $2500 to have repaired out of warranty by an independent repair shop. The purge valve is also bad, they sent a recall bot cancelled it. My gas gauge has not worked in over 3 years, the sound system also has not worked in over 3 years. The dealer said there has been multiple complaints. The fan for the heat/cool only works on high(4). The ignition also is a problem, my mechanic said that he knows of many ignition problems on the Focus and other Ford models. I did receive a lemon law settlement a few years ago which wwas nothing compared to all the problems and expenses.
Transmission started to judder and slip really bad causing car to feel like it was bouncing. Eventually my check engine light turned on and my car would not accelerate properly. This led to replacement of the transmission. I had previously gone to the dealer to address my concerns and they said they found a leak and that some of the things I was experiencing were normal. After this first replacement, a few months later my transmission starting acting really bad and was accelerating improperly. It had to be replaced again. Now, I am on my third transmission and it is showing the same signs as my first one.
I purchased my 2012 Ford Focus 2 years ago from a used Ford dealership. The following day I noticed my transmission slipping and that it would slip into neutral. I called the dealership 12 hours later and they informed me this was normal and not to worry about it. I continually struggle to accelerate in traffic and I have caught myself slipping backwards when idle on a hill.
This is the third summer my transmission stopped working. I was driving to work on the high way and when I stepped on the gas pedal the acceleration meter went up but the car was slowing down. I pulled over to the side of the road and the transmission malfunction screen came up on the dashboard and the car needed to be towed to a shop. Ever time this happened (3 so far) I was driving on the highway and it cost me $1200+ to repair.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Dublin, OH, USA