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 contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. While driving and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle vibrated and failed to gain speed. The contact mentioned that the failure occurred intermittently and the vehicle had to be turned off and restarted in order to accelerate. The vehicle was taken to long-lewis Ford Lincoln (2551 john hawkins pkwy, birmingham, al 35244, (205) 989-3673) where it was diagnosed that the clutch and seal needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 66,000.
My car is vibrating and will not accelerate at times. I have been told by Ford that there is a faulty clutch and seal that needs to be replaced. It was a part they were aware was a problem and they extended the warranty to 7 years but we are past that time now so they will not cover the repair. The car will lose forward power at any given time.
There have been several recalls for my car regarding the fuel system and gas tank, my car exhibited all the same symptoms, I took it to a Ford dealership that refused to do the work unless I pai'd $2,000 for an expired previous recall for a different issue that was unrelated. They claimed without doing that work if they did this work the car wouldn't work at all. I complained to Ford who told me dealerships don't have to honor recalls and to keep trying other dealerships. I asked what to do if none would do the work and they said pay out of pocket. Worse yet, the first dealership cleared the recall as not being needed, so now I have a damaged car that I can't get the recall work on that I can't afford to do myself. I'm going to just have to sell the car.
Takata recall started car and dash light indicated the following message, "transmission malfunction. Service now" also got power steering assist error message earlier in the month.
- Columbia, NJ, USA
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The vehicle has been in the dealer 5 times for transmission related issues. They have reprogrammed the PCM, tcm 3 times. Replaced the tcm once, rebuilt the transmission. The car still shows signs of shuddering and vibration due to the transmission seals leaking on the clutches. The last time the car was in, the transmission didn't "lose enough RPM's" to warrant repair, although the dealer and mechanic stated the car should not drive that way. Now the extended warranty has expired for the customer care 14M01 and Ford will not do anything about it and wants me to pay $1600 for the repair. The car has low power, when pulling out onto the roadway it hesitates and sometimes is very slow to move. This can create quite a hazard when pulling out into traffic
The car radio goes off the windows don't go down and the transmission went on the car out off no where when I maintain my car every 3 months and as needed
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. While driving various speeds, the vehicle lunged forward without warning. The failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was towed to safford Ford Lincoln of salisbury (1902 North salisbury blvd, salisbury, md, (410) 548-4600) where they diagnosed and repaired the transmission control module three times; however, the failure continued. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 97,000.
Takata recall my driver side door want shut and I see it has a recall on my engine also. I was driving and my door just flew open I tried shutting it several times it wouldn't budge. My radio also don't work ether I don't know if that's part of it.
My car had less than 90,000 miles on it when it began to have issues with the transmission. The engine stutters or idles when I accelerate, which has made getting on the interstate a nightmare. If I accelerate to even 35 mph, I have to completely remove my foot from the gas pedal, otherwise my rpms will shoot to over 4 (4,000 rpms). It causes my entire car to feel like it's shaking, and it almost seems like my car is having trouble shifting gears. Not only that, but when I've stopped at a stop sign and begin to drive, my engine makes the most terrible churning/clashing/grinding noise possible. Lately it has gotten to the point that my rpms will continue to increase but my car's speed will stay the same. All of these situations (trouble shifting gears, noises, and high rpms) will occur no matter what, every time I accelerate. It doesn't matter what sort of road I am on.
Electronic power steering failed at less than 50,000 miles. Could not steer car. Electronic control is located by exhaust manifold, which heat caused unit to fail. This is a common problem and Ford has recalled the steering unit on other model, but not on Focus. Cost $2160 to repair. Transmission shutters at low speeds making it difficult to control. Had it into Ford several times to diagnose and they state it is within parameters of this dual clutch type transmission. Ford had extended warranty for transmission but refused to replace mine under warranty.
Some time ago I noticed my car revving but not accelerating. I took the car to the Ford repair center and they told me the problem was an evap valve and a few other components which needed to be repaired totalling over $2000 in out of pocket repairs. Shortly thereafter the evap valve gets recalled, I had to take it to Ford again to re replace the parts they replaced earlier in the year. Now I'm driving the car again, and continue to experience the same problem. I take the car in for breaks, shocks and struts. The mechanic asks me if my car feels sluggish and if I am having a problem starting the car, to which I responded yes and he proceeds to tell me I need to replace my battery so I do, thinking that may be the problem why the car is stalling. Again, not the fix I was looking for. A few weeks later, I'm driving down the road heading to work, my car stalls, yet again, but this time it starts slowing down. I'm accelerating attempting for it to go and it just stops in the middle of the road. I tried turning it back on and nothing. A few more attempts later and finally starts. I get to where I need to go, park the car. Upon returning the car would not start. Had it towed to a mechanic who informed the the issue is the transmission. The car has now been parked for 4 months. Engine light never came on and there was absolutely no indication on the dashboard that there was a problem. And the issue never came up a month earlier when Ford repaired the fuel evap problem. At this point I'm at my wit's end and don't know if it's even worth repairing. After reading through some other complaints is seems the problem persists even after the attempted fix. Who has money to keep dumping into a car and not know if Ford will ever recall the transmission which they really should do. This car has been a problem since it was driven off the lot new!
Vehicle intermittently loses all propulsion, both while in motion or after accelerating from a stop. I've had it happen both during city commutes and during a turn. Throughout these episodes, the gear indicator on the dashboard goes from highlighting the current drive ("D") gear, or in some cases the reverse ("R") gear or parking mode ("P"), to nothing at all. When the gas pedal is pushed while this is happening, the engine will rev, but vehicle will not move. User won't even have a chance to pull over since it will stop dead. Episodes are usually brief, averaging a couple minutes, however when this does happen it can cause an accident due to a sudden decrease of speed. As for what specific system is at fault, I'm uncertain specifically, though believe either the power train or main computer (esp. Dealing with gear shifting) is malfunctioning.
'takata recall' my aunt bought the car in November of 2012, sold it to me in March the car shutters, vibrates and loses power after taking off from a compete stop, she's had the car serviced the last 4 years and has told them about it and they never documented it, they drive the cars after they fix them, they can fill what it does. Car is unsafe to drive like that it struggles to accelerate from take off. Took it to Ford and they said I missed the extended warranty by 4 months, does someone have to die before they make this problem a recall!
My vehicles transmission has been replaced several times and had a tcm replacement as well and still is not working it is also had two clutches and several software updates with no success. The car has started displaying new transmission issues related to the software in which now the vehicle will no longer go in reverse and just the other day while driving at 75 to 80 mph on the highway my vehicle slammed it self into second gear very hard and then into neutral I was almost rear ended at approximately 85 mph in which I could have died this is unacceptable afford to not except responsibility and offer a buyback for these vehicles I have spent countless hours of my time with this vehicle and have had several occasions with engine loss power transmission would not shift slamming into key lower gears at high rate of speed complete car shut down all of these issues in which I could have been in a fatal accident with and we still have no resolution after several years I am out raged
Shifting and transmission issues: Vehicle started out with shifting problems from first to second gear. Took to a mechanic and was told I needed a new transmission (at this time the car had roughly 80K miles). Then took to the Ford dealership, where my car was under extended warranty, where the car's computer was reset, and was told then that it would continue to have shifting issues; that's just how the car was made. About three months later, the problems started again and got worse. The shifting continued to dysfunction, which I "fixed" by parking and restarting my car, thus restarting the computer. It would usually drive okay after that. I drove like this for some time until I was having issues starting the car and once I finally got it started, it was unable to go in reverse. I immediately brought it back to the same place where my computer was reset the first time, and was told that my clutch needs to be replaced. At this appointment, I also discovered that my extended warranty was expired by a month, and would cost $2K to fix. There is a recall on this vehicle now, but this car is currently parked, unable to start or move, in my driveway.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Birmingham, AL, USA