CarComplaints.com Notes: For the third year in a row, the 3rd generation Focus is experiencing massive transmission problems.
Most notably owners keep complaining about how there's bad hesitation and jerking when starting from a stop. This isn't the result of an old, worn out part. In fact, the average mileage it's reported to us is just over 15k miles.
The passenger side airbag has a little crease above it in the dashboard - to make it easier to deploy I guess. About 18 months ago (May 2024) I noticed a little crack in this crease, and the size of the crack has been steadily growing until it's now about 10 inches long.
I've always been hesitant to stop the spread of this crack (with superglue) because I didn't want to interfere with airbag deployment if it's ever needed.
The only solution I know of is pretty expensive - probably more than the current value of the car. Find and order a replacement for the ENTIRE dashboard, and then pay a Ford mechanic to remove/ replace. As far as I know, the dashboard is about $3 - 5K, and I assume the labor to remove the old one and replace it with a new one would be at least that much.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
The passenger side airbag has a little crease above it in the dashboard - to make it easier to deploy I guess. About 18 months ago (May 2024) I noticed a little crack in this crease, and the size of the crack has been steadily growing until it's now about 10 inches long.
I've always been hesitant to stop the spread of this crack (with superglue) because I didn't want to interfere with airbag deployment if it's ever needed.
The only solution I know of is pretty expensive - probably more than the current value of the car. Find and order a replacement for the ENTIRE dashboard, and then pay a Ford mechanic to remove/ replace. As far as I know, the dashboard is about $3 - 5K, and I assume the labor to remove the old one and replace it with a new one would be at least that much.
- Mike M., Clayton, CA, US