6.2

fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
12,251 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

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.

2013 Ford Focus Electric engine problems

engine problem

Find something helpful? Spread the word.
Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2013 Ford Focus Electric:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

2013 Ford Focus Electric Owner Comments

problem #16

Aug 222014

Focus Electric

  • 41,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus electric. While driving 55 mph, the stop engine now warning indicator illuminated and the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was taken to vancouver auto group (6804 ne 40th St, vancouver, wa 98661, 360-992-7285) to be diagnosed, but the failure could not be duplicated. Repairs were made, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified and did not assist. The failure mileage was approximately 41,000.

- Hillsboro, OR, USA

problem #15

Jan 032018

Focus Electric

  • miles
Takata recall. The transmission has been slipping so when I drive it jerks and feels as if it doesn't want to go. I was told by a mechanic that it was becaus there's a manual transmission and it's supposed to be unserviceable. I was going to a least get the fluid changed in the transmission but there's nondipstick and I was told it's not supposed to be changed and it's the transmission. I was told by more than one person that the transmission is slipping and I've only owned this year for a year and a half and own 10,000 on it.

- Richmond, IN, USA

problem #14

Sep 132017

Focus Electric

  • 63,580 miles
1898

- Emmetsburg, IA, USA

problem #13

Jul 112016

Focus Electric

  • 20,900 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2013 Ford Focus electric. While driving approximately 20 mph, the engine stalled. After restarting, the vehicle resumed normal operation. The failure recurred three times. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 13V523000 (power train). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 20,900.

- Portland, OR, USA

problem #12

Aug 272015

Focus Electric

  • 19,500 miles
While making a left turn and accelerating out of the turn the engine, power train and breaking system stopped working. The vehicle stopped dead in the street. The dash displayed "stop safely now" and a yellow warning light symbol of a wrench appeared. I took several attempts to restart using various methods the vehicle finally reset and started.

- Tracy, CA, USA

problem #11

Jan 212015

Focus Electric

  • 5,700 miles
While traveling down the freeway, decelerating to change lanes the stop safely now message appeared and the car lost power. This is a re-occurrence and the dealer is working to resolve it.

- San Jose, CA, USA

problem #10

Apr 172014

Focus Electric

  • 12,200 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Focus electric bev (not hybrid) - while driving at any speed, warning indication lights up on dash stating "stop safely now". the car has no power to accelerate anymore. The only control the driver has is to brake or pull over. On freeways or other highway with traffic when this occurs this is extremely dangerous as another vehicle can plow into the back of the car because you cannot accelerate and you may not be able to pull over if there is a curb or in a lane other than the right. This is very dangerous especially at night. Understand that the car has no power and you cannot use the accelerator at all unexpectedly. The only thing you can do is brake and/or steer based on the momentum of the car at the time of the warning. You cannot clear the issue until you come to a complete stop. Turn the car off by pressing the ignition button, waiting a minute or two, then starting the car back. At that time, it may or may not work. Sometimes when this procedure does work, you may only get a mile or two down the road before it does it again. This first occurred on April 17/18 and taken to a dealer to repair on a current recall notice of which symptoms include the car "losing power" among other related reasons. At the time, this event did occur and I explained that to the dealer and they informed me it would be taken care of with the recall repair. After receiving the car back, it happened again on April 29. It was taken to a different dealer this time. They attempted to fix and gave me the car back the next day on April 30th. Upon leaving the dealer on the 30th, the problem occurred again on the away from the dealer less than 3 miles away. I returned the vehicle to the dealer and it happened 3 additional times in the 3 miles back to the dealer. The dealer continues to attempt repair and has not returned the car to me. I have Ford and BBB case numbers..

- Cumming, GA, USA

problem #9

Jan 132014

Focus Electric

  • 4,144 miles
Today while at a intersection the Focus electric started to go and then shut down again displaying the safely stop now message and the car was dead in the middle of a busy intersection. This has now happened numerous times and this one happened after the dealership performed the recall for the same thing. They also replaced the battery and some of the wiring at the recall visit due to multiple failure codes. This car is unsafe to drive and the last two times this has happened there was nearly a collision.

- Riverside, CA, USA

problem #8

Nov 072013

Focus Electric

  • 5,700 miles
Driving our electric Ford Focus to work when left-most display screen flashes, "stop safely now!" message at the same moment that all drive power is completely cut off. Coasted to a stop, turned the car off, waited a minute or so, and turned car back on. Fortunately this occurred at 5:30 am on a two lane road, shortly after leaving my home, and before entering the interstate.

- Glen Burnie, MD, USA

problem #7

Oct 232013

Focus Electric

  • 5,800 miles
This is for the Ford Focus electric. Driving in the left lane of a 4 lane road in moderate traffic, my wife was slowing to make a left hand turn onto a 4 lane hwy. Suddenly the vehicle chimed once, showed an orange caution sign in the left info display that read "please stop safely now, " and immediately shut down mechanically. She instantly lost control of the steering, brakes or engine and the car came to an abrupt stop nearly causing a collision. She put the car into park and tried to turn it off (the interior electronics that are powered by the standard lead acid battery were all still on and functioning) and restart the motor, but the vehicle would not turn off. It was lucky it stopped before the intersection, if it had happened 3 seconds later it would have been perpendicular to traffic on a highway that's mostly trafficked by big rigs and delivery trucks and she very well could have been killed. There was no way for her to safely get out of the car, there was oncoming traffic and when there wasn't there were cars honking and swerving to the left and right of the vehicle. We had the vehicle towed to the dealership where they diagnosed the problem. It was a failed cooling pump so the vehicle shut down the battery pack and everything driven by it (ie steering brakes and the motor) to prevent overheating. This has not been the only cause of the "stop safely now" sign and shutting down the car. Instantly cutting off the driver from all the basic controls of a vehicle is a very dangerous way to deal with fault codes.

- Canyon Country, CA, USA

problem #6

Sep 222013

Focus Electric

  • 1,275 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The engine shut down with a 'stop safely now' warning. Since it was the first time it happened, it was not clear what happened, so I came to stop in middle of the road. This has happened a total of 5 times now..with two events within a mile of each other yesterday 10/26. Yesterday the first event was at 40 mph again in the middle of the road (luckily not very busy at the time) and I was able to pull over to side of the road. The other two times, it happened while backing out of the driveway onto the road.

- Tabernacle, NJ, USA

problem #5

Oct 172013

Focus Electric

  • 4,665 miles
I was driving and the car started beeping, and flashed up an warning 'safely stop now'. I immediately pulled the car over to the shoulder, and hit the off button. The engine shut off, but the error did not go away, I could navigate around the computer a bit, and it showed a 'warning' but would not let me see what the warning was. When I opened the car door, none of the accessory power shut off like it should. I got out of the car (removing the key) and locked the car. Still all of the accessory power stayed on. I got back in, and tried to start the car, and it would not start, and flashed the message 'safely stop now' repeatedly. I called roadside assistance, and they sent a tow truck. The accessory power said on for the entire hour I waited, by the time they got there, I got back into the car and it let me start it. It ran all the way to the dealership without any issue (3 miles). So far, the dealership is clueless on what to do.

- Huntington Beach, CA, USA

problem #4

Oct 172013

Focus Electric

  • 2,043 miles
Stopped at a traffic light, the car dash indicator error "stop safely now" appeared and there was no ability control the car--didn't to respond to the accelerator pedal and the steering wheel locked. I restarted the car several times and finally was able to regain normal driving conditions.

- Portland, OR, USA

problem #3

May 142013

Focus Electric

  • 2,500 miles
Stop safely now- car asked me to stop safely now while driving and I pulled over. At that point, it did not restart. Has happened 4 other times with my wife and 4 kids in the car while traveling at speed. Very unsafe and have reported to Ford. Has been in shop for over 30 days and they are executing a buy-back, but with all these other cars on the road, it can be extremely dangerous as you lose all control with an electric car. Needs to be investigated and Ford needs to fix the problem by finding a root cause.

- Newbury Park, CA, USA

problem #2

Sep 062013

Focus Electric

  • 2,351 miles
Driving the vehicle home when warning lights began to flash on the dash saying to check owners manual and to pull over. The gas pedal became unresponsive and I coasted up to a red light at a left turn signal and stopped, put on my hazard lights. Eventually turned vehicle off then on again and was able to drive it home. Second incident was on 9/29/13, and had 2863 miles on it. While driving to dinner the same warning lights appeared on dash, and we lost power. Thankfully not a lot of high speed traffic and I was able to pull over somewhere safe to turn off the car and turn it back on again to get it restarted. When we returned home from the second incident I plugged in the car to charge it so we could take it back to Ford for service, however the car didn't register the plug. Tried plugging it in and unplugging it from the wall then putting everything back in to try and get it to charge. It wasn't until I opened the driver side door then shut it that it finally registered that it was plugged in. During both incidents the vehicle became completely unresponsive, essentially dead in the water, and unless you can put it in park you can't restart it. Have taken the vehicle to Ford on three separate occasions to have them fix this issue, as well as for an issue with the on-board charging system faulting, causing the vehicle to not charge fully.

- San Marcos, CA, USA

problem #1

Aug 292013

Focus Electric

  • 4,663 miles
Two incidents of "stop safely now" warning and loss of power. Dealer could not identify problem in first incident. Second incident today, 23 days after first one. Will take (or tow) it in for inspection Monday, per service department.

- Portland, OR, USA

Not what you are looking for?