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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.

And while you wait for your steering to disappear, you'll be greeted with a transmission that shudders, vibrates or won't shift at all.

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
12 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 0
Average Mileage:
71,810 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.

2012 Ford Focus brakes problems

brakes problem

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2012 Ford Focus Owner Comments (Page 3 of 3)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #13

Jan 062014

Focus 4-cyl

  • 32,000 miles

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

Brake light came on, checked and fluid low in brake fluid container. This is just after I month oil and service done on the car. Filled it and tow days later come on again.took to Ford dealer in my town and they said it was a leak around the break pumping area. They wonted me to drive the car till the park came in. I insisted the give me a safe vehicle to drive... at the time I have also experienced a small jerking after I brake and take off again. I thought this was a break thin where related. But they where not. Called them and told them about the jumping has been going on almost within a mouth of purchasing the car. On March 24 they worked on it and said they had to reprogram the gearing in the trans mission. Picked the car up and it is better with the jerking but it is still doing it 5 days later now.so now I feel this is something that needs to be taken back to them again and fixed right or I should be given a different transmission, mjs. I also hand a weather striping repaired on rear passenger window at the same time they worked on the transmission. And I November 2013 the cruse stopped working and had to be fixed. I have had this car 6 months and have had all this trouble.

- Cape Girardeau, MO, USA

problem #12

Jan 182014

Focus 4-cyl

  • 36,000 miles
I have a 2012 Ford Focus SE which is still covered under my 70,000 mile warranty. I had problems with my traction control system while trying to get out of a parking lot. My rear brakes automatically locked up causing me to become stranded during a snow storm. I was stranded for 5 hours before abandoning my car and finding a ride home from a complete stranger. The next day I had my car taken to the nearest dealership and asked them to look into the problem. A day later I received a call saying that there was no problem and that the issue was external, which is impossible because no one has ever done any work on the car other than a few oil changes. They released the brakes and I picked my car up only to find that the problem had not been fixed. That same day while driving home with my wife the rear brakes locked up again, causing my car to fish-tail and impact a wall. The damages were relatively minor, but the airbags deployed and now my car is inoperable. I know that this issue was caused by the malfunctioning traction control system.

- Spring City, PA, USA

problem #11

Dec 152013

Focus

  • 33,300 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while sitting at a red light, she attempted to accelerate but the parking aid malfunction, check engine and ABS warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for inspection but they could not determine the cause of failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 33,300.

- La Puente, CA, USA

problem #10

Aug 162013

Focus

  • 8,010 miles

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

This is regarding Ford Focus electric 2012. I was pulling out of my office parking lot and driving at about 5 mph. I got the 'stop safely now' warning and within a few seconds the car stopped and I could not drive any more. Fortunately, it was the internal street and around 3 pm when the traffic is very low. I am glad this incident did not happen on the freeway in the left lane (carpool lane in California). I was able to restart the car and drove straight to the dealer(fremont Ford) but they did not have trained ev technicians to look at the car. Asked me to bring the car back on Monday(8/19/20013). Now the car is at the dealer. This is second time I have encountered this issue with this car. The first time I had was when I was pulling the car out of my garage at home. Ford even applied major software updates on my car in July but looks like the issue is still recurring.

- Fremont, CA, USA

problem #9

Jan 022013

Focus 4-cyl

  • 21,000 miles
I received a letter from Ford in May 2012 regarding customer satisfaction program 12B37. The issue with the car was rough/jerky automatic transmission shifts & roll back when transitioning from the brake pedal to the accelerator pedal. My husband took the car into the Ford shop to have this issue corrected on 6/8/2012. Everything seemed to be fine but both issues started up again and became more frequent. My husband again took the car back to the Ford shop on 1/2/2013. My husband was told that this is the way the car drives. But the Ford shop took the car and said they would take a look. We were given the car back the same day and were told that they reprogrammed the car and that everything was working fine. That evening I was about to merge onto the highway but the car would not accelerate. I pushed the gas pedal almost all the way to the floor and the car wouldn't go faster than 30 mph. I was almost rear ended by another car. Luckily the driver was able to swerve into the lane next to me. I got off at the next exit and took the local route home. The next morning I took the car back to the Ford shop. At this point, the car was driving completely normally. I explained what happened the night before. They wound up keeping the car for 2 weeks. I was told that they couldn't figure out how to fix the issue and had to call Ford to get instructions on how to correct the problem. During this time, I placed a call to Ford and filed a complaint with them. We received the vehicle back and everything seemed to be fine but slowly the same issues showed up more frequently. Today (5/13/13), I've taken the car back to the Ford shop. I was told that they would check it but that this may just be the way the vehicle drives. I am very disappointed Ford hasn't been able to correct the problem properly.

- Queens Village, NY, USA

problem #8

Mar 042013

Focus 4-cyl

  • 21,604 miles
The car is equipped with a 6-speed dual clutch automatic transmission. While under heavy braking the car began to stall. The result was the brake pedal losing power assist from the engine. Then because the engine was trying to recover from the near stall, I was unable accelerate to avoid an oncoming car. The engine did recover, but it took several seconds (and a lot of bucking and sputtering) before I was able to move the car after coming to a stop. The week prior, I had the car in for service at a local Ford dealership because the car would shudder during acceleration. The dealership reprogrammed the transmission and the problem is still there, but less noticeable than before being serviced. This new issue with stalling under heaving braking did not occur prior to the servicing. After the near accident, I wanted to know if the problem was a fluke or if it would happen again. I have found that I can recreate the issue almost every time the car nears a stop under heavy braking. The car is scheduled for service for this issue.

- Lexington Park, MD, USA

problem #7

Feb 082013

Focus

  • 9,827 miles

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

I was pulling out of the cafe by my home. When I had a chance to pull out I stepped on the gas pedal. At this point the vehicle stalled then took off like a bat out of[xxx]. even leaving tire marks. I almost hit two on coming cars due to the hesitation then the lift off. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Tulsa, OK, USA

problem #6

Nov 182012

Focus 4-cyl

  • 8,000 miles
I put my 2012 Ford Focus in park and left the motor running. I got out of my car to remove a box of donations at a local salvation army when the car started to roll forward. I jumped back into my car to stop it from rolling into the person in front of me and turned the wheel while practically standing on the brake with my right foot and had my left leg outside the vechile. The car would not stop until I eventually side swiped the persons car in front of me then crashed into a pile of donated furniture and curbing in front of the building. Once the car finally stopped I was able to shut the ignition off. It was just luck that I did not hurt anyone or myself.

- Lynn, MA, USA

problem #5

Sep 152009

Focus 4-cyl

  • 5,800 miles
When in stop and go traffic, the vehicle lunges whenever you go back and forth from the accelerator to the brake, nearly causing several accidents.

- Toledo, OH, USA

problem #4

Sep 272012

Focus 4-cyl

  • 34,750 miles
My boyfriend and I bought a 2012 Ford Focus SE hatchback on September first. After driving the car for a couple of days my boyfriend noticed that the transmission was not right but he thought this was happening just because the car was new. Then, when driving to work I noticed that when I stopped on any incline street between taking the foot off the brake and placing it on the accelerator, the car rolled back quite quickly to the point that I almost hit the car behind me. Days later, I started to feel that the steering required both hands at all times. It was constantly wandering and shaky specially during turns. To top it off on September 27th something terrible happened. I was in the drive way, I shifted from reverse to drive and the car took off at a lurch. The car accelerated so rapidly even with my foot on the brake pedal. I lost complete control of the vehicle. The car failed to slow down hitting two cars and tearing down a fence. I could finally stop the car when I quickly shifted to park. I do not understand how Ford sells this car with all these problems risking people's lives. This is a serious issue. How many fatalities are they waiting for" are they going to do something ever about these malfunctions" this is ridiculous if I have known all these issues with this car, I would have never bought it for sure.

- Huntington Beach, CA, USA

problem #3

Sep 122012

Focus 4-cyl

  • 5,600 miles

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

Experienced sudden electrical failure (loss of instruments, brake lights, turn signals, horn, etc.) - same problem as documented by other drivers (for examples, see www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?T=282965). This behavior makes the vehicle undriveable and unsafe (had these issues occurred at night, the consequences could have been very serious). My dealer, franklin Ford (franklin, MA) seems to be unaware of the prevalence of this issue. I look forward to a speedy resolution. Ford Motor Company also claims to have no knowledge of the occurrence of this issue in other cases. A quick web search reveals that the problem is increasingly common.

- Wrentham, MA, USA

problem #2

May 012012

Focus 4-cyl

  • 4,800 miles
Vehicle rolls back after I begin to accelerate when I am stopped at a red light. I did receive a recall notice that had this type of problem listed. Vehicle had about 4700 miles on it. I took it in and they claimed that they fixed it but it could take up to 6 months for the "adjustment" to take place. This did not sound reasonable to me but they would not do anything further. This is definitely a safety issue when you are stopped in traffic.

- Hornbeck, LA, USA

problem #1

May 092012

Focus 4-cyl

  • 751 miles
The emergency brake came off (completely). Ford is back? I do not think so if they overlook important aspects of the car.

- El Monte, CA, USA

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