NHTSA Defect Investigations for the 2000 Ford Focus
The Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) is an office within the NHTSA which investigates serious safety problems in the design, construction or performance of vehicles.
The NHTSA is authorized to order manufacturers to recall and repair vehicles, if the ODI finds a safety issue.
NHTSA investigations for the 2000 Ford Focus, both ongoing and closed, are listed below:
INVESTIGATION: BURN INJURIES DUE TO AIR BAG DEPLOYMENT
NHTSA Engineering Analysis #EA02017
Status:
CLOSED
Date Opened: August 16, 2002
Date Closed: August 15, 2003
Recall: No recall issued
Component(s): Air Bags
Summary: All of the consumer complaints allege an incident in which deployment of the driver frontal air bag caused some type of burn injury.most of these injuries are due to contact and/or abrasion with the air bag and are of relatively minor to moderate severity.it is possible that some drivers may have sustained burn injuries to the skin as a result of hot gases exhausting from the vents of the air bags in the subject vehicles, but the number of such incidents appears to be low.further details of the investigation are contained in subsequent pages of this report.based on the above, further expenditure of Agency resources on this investigation does not appear to be warranted.the closing of this investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist.the Agency may take further action if warranted by the circumstances.
INVESTIGATION: INAPPROPRIATE AIR BAG DEPLOYMENT
NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation #PE02026
Status:
CLOSED
Date Opened: February 28, 2002
Date Closed: September 18, 2002
Recall: No recall issued
Component(s): Air Bags
Summary: There is no summary currently available
INVESTIGATION: AIR BAG BURN INJURIES/VEHICLE FIRES
NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation #PE02020
Status:
CLOSED
Date Opened: February 11, 2002
Date Closed: August 16, 2002
Recall: No recall issued
Component(s): Air Bags
Summary: Information disclosed during this PE shows allegations of burn injuries resulting from abrasion and/or termal causes.allegations of chemical burns also exist.several incidents allege vehicles fires resulting from deployment of the air bags.this PE has been upgraded to an engineering analysis (ea) to facilitate a thorough review of the complex issues in this matter.
Summary: The primary concern of this PE is loss of engine power.stalling may occur at low speed or high speed.at the time of occurrence the average vehicle mileage is 30,000 miles.because these vehicles stall and/or hesitate unpredictably, an increased risk is inherent to these vehicles.if a driver expecting this vehicle to perform as designed, is trying to cross an intersection or merge into traffic when the vehicle stalls it places all motorists within the area at risk.a disabled vehicle is vulnerable to collisions not only within the roadway, but also along side the road as it waits for assistance.
Summary: This investigation was opened on April 8, 2004 as PE04-033 and upgraded on August 18, 2004 to EA04-023.the complainants alleged that the rear door latches failed to keep the doors in a closed position, resulting in rear doors coming open while the vehicles were being driven.some complainants reported that at timesa rear door, or doors, could be difficult to close.others reported that corrosion of the door latch mechanism caused binding of the latch.Ford has identified a condition of corrosion in the "pawl pivot" area of the door latch assembly that prevents proper engagement of the door latch "catch" to the latch striker on the vehicle body.by letter of February 1, 2005, Ford Motor Company notified the Agency that it will conduct a safety recall on model year 2000 through 2002 four and five-door Focus vehicles registered in, or originally sold in, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Dealers will inspect rear door latches and replace "binding" latches as required.dealers will also lubricate all rear door latches to prevent future corrosion and binding.a lower rocker seal will also be added to the rear doors. See safety recall 05V030 for details.
INVESTIGATION: REAR DOOR LATCH FAILURE
NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation #PE04033
Status:
CLOSED
Date Opened: April 08, 2004
Date Closed: August 20, 2004
Recall: No recall issued
Component(s): Latches/Locks/Linkages:Doors:Latch
Summary: This investigation was opened on April 8, 2004, based on 17 reports that one or both rear door latches did not function properly.the complainants alleged that the doors were difficult to closeand that the door latches would not remain latched while the vehicles were being driven, resulting in a door coming open.several of the complainants reported that corrosion of the door latch mechanism caused binding of the latch.Ford's response to the preliminary evaluation information request provided 19 consumer reports and 28 warranty claims attributed to the door latch where the doors came open while the vehicles were being driven.three (3) of the 17 opening ODI reports were duplicated in Ford's response.this investigation has been upgraded to engineering analysis EA04-023 for further study.
INVESTIGATION: FRONT SUSPENSION LOWER CONTROL ARM
NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation #PE02044
Status:
CLOSED
Date Opened: May 01, 2002
Date Closed: September 09, 2002
Recall: No recall issued
Component(s): Suspension
Summary: There is no summary currently available
INVESTIGATION: FRONT SUSP COLLAPSE/WHEEL SEPARATION
NHTSA Engineering Analysis #EA02023
Status:
CLOSED
Date Opened: September 09, 2002
Date Closed: February 19, 2003
Recall: No recall issued
Component(s): Suspension:Front Suspension:Front:Control Arm Suspension:Front:Control Arm:Lower Arm Suspension:Front:Control Arm:Lower Ball Joint
Summary: On November 18, 2010, NHTSA's Recall Management Division (RMD) opened an audit query (AQ10-001) to investigate recall remedy completion by rental car companies on safety recall campaigns.It was expected to provide the agency an indication of how completely and how quickly rental car fleets perform necessary recall-related remedies on the vehicles owned and then rented/leased for use on the roadways.RMD queried three (3) major motor vehicle manufacturers (Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors) and requested data regarding completion figures for fifteen (15) discreet safety recalls.Analysis of this data demonstrated that rental car recalls completion was neither complete nor consistent.The rental car companies representing the largest market share in the industry were then queried as to their respective policies for the rental, lease, and sale of vehicles with open recalls.The data and responses from the manufacturers and the rental car companies can be found in the document repository by accessing the ""Associated Documents" link above.In December 2015, Congress enacted the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.One section of the Act prohibits rental car companies from renting, leasing, or selling motor vehicles subject to open safety recalls.With the passage of the FAST Act and its prohibition, there is no continuing need for the agency to investigate rental car recall completions.Accordingly, this investigation is closed.The agency reserves the right to open any future investigations, including audits of individual recalls, or groups of recalls, or rental car companies, to examine more closely safety recalls performance and completion issues in this area.
Summary: Clogging of the fuel delivery module (FDM) filters in the subject vehicles can lead to stalling and other related symptoms.these symptoms become increasingly obvious to the driver as the clogging gradually increases over extended periods of driving.stalling in these vehicles is most likely to occur when accelerating through a right hand turn such as merging into freeway traffic when the fuel level in the fuel tank is less than 1/4 full.more than 90% of the stalling complaints pertain to the "original" design FDM installed in MY 2000 and 2001 (partial year) Focus vehicles. Ford has decided to conduct a campaign (03V-482) to address stallingin these vehicles.the smaller number and rate of complaints associated with the "interim" and "current" FDM designs indicate improvement but also reflect a shorter time in service for these designs. Accordingly, ODI will monitor the stalling performance of MY 2001 - 2002 Focus vehicles equipped with "interim" and "current" design fdms.
