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.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
11 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
5 / 0
Average Mileage:
45,472 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.
While driving the vehicle, the steering became almost impossible to turn cause me to hit a curb in a city and then a light came on the dash saying power steering failure. The steering is very hard and sticks then release. Unsafe to drive. Scared to ever drive this vehicle again.
Without ant kind of warning in went into the store for 10 min got into the car and the steering wheel was upside down I turned the car on and no power steering and and power assist code came
My 16 year old daughter was driving in her 2014 Ford Focus SE on the interstate. I was a passenger as she only has her learners permit. All the sudden she complained the vehicle was hard to steer. I saw her having a physically hard time steering the vehicle. I looked at the dashboard and saw the power steering assist failure indicator icon (electronic power assist steering - epas)activated on the dashboard. My daughter continued to struggle to maintain the vehicle safely due to the power steering issue. She drove to the nearest exit which was even worse than the highway. She had trouble steering through the "S" turns on the exit ramp. She came to the intersection, luckily the light was green and she didn't have to stop to turn right, but it wasn't much help. While turning onto another two lane highway she almost hit the concrete medium due to the epas failure. Watching her drive the vehicle reminded me when I drove my grandfathers old Dodge dart; no power steering. I understand
Car received a steering assist default service required code. Left us with ni power steering. Car only has 50,000 miles on it. Warranty expired due to having car over 6 years. Ironically the warranty expired the same day the power steering went out. Did not have any issues like this until Ford mechanics worked on the transmission recall a week prior and then got this code the very next week.car was stationary in a walmart parking lot. Code is continuous on car and we are now afraid to drive it.
- Pine Ridge, KY, USA
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Today I was dropping my daughter off school after I dropped her off as I'm backing out the car would not turn left, the light came on and it said steering assist fault.. repair required, I had to have my husband pick me up because I can't drive it home.. it just seems to me that Ford cars are not very reliable, I just had in issue with it last month. And a few months before that it was something else.
My transmission stopped engaging as I was turning into my parking space at home after a 150-mile trip.I was in motion. The engine raced. I let off the gas pedal. I turned off the engine, thinking it might be a software glitch. When I tried to restart the engine, nothing happened. I had to push the car into the space with the transmission in neutral.
'power steering assist fault' came up a few weeks ago. I shut it off and turned it back on and it cleared. Went to start it up today and the fault was on as I pulled out of the garage. Stayed on stopping and starting 5 times. Also drove it and was very difficult to steer. This will be a safety issue for my 16 year old daughter who is supposed to drive this car.
My family was leaving a parking lot and when the car was started up the steering would not work properly. It would not turn without a lot of difficulties. A message came on that said: Steering assist fault. Service required. We had to get to an airport and we were stuck in a parking lot. We went online to see if others had this problem and if there was a solution. We saw that others had this problem. One solution we read was to let the car sit a bit and then try again. We did this and each time it was still very hard to turn the steering wheel. Finally, after waiting a little longer I started the car and it seemed to be able to move but was still very difficult to steer. After circling the parking lot a few times we decided to try to get to the airport on time. I drove and it was very difficult but I was very careful and we got there and then home, several hours of driving. I took the car to a local mechanic who said that with only 58,000 miles on the car it should not have that problem and that he could fix it for up to $2,000 but that he would recommend that Ford should pay for it and that I should take it to a Ford dealer and contact Ford to pay for it. I took it to the local Ford garage who was very accommodating but were unable to pay for it. I then called the Ford company phone and the person told me they would not pay for it at all but that I should keep my receipt in case they later would pay if many were affected. I got the car fixed for $2,155. That was for: 1 hv6Z 3504 ep gear asy - steering, and also for an alignment which they said was needed because of replacing what they had in the steering. I had tried to start the car at various times and the error message always came up and it always steered hard. I'm glad it didn't go out on me when I was driving as I see has happened with some people. Ford should pay for this.
Power steering failed while driving. Nearly caused an accident. Lucky there were no others on the road. Ford dealership said rack and pinion needed replacing. 2 weeks later the transmission completely failed. Had already been re-programmed as part of the 14M02 program. This didn't fix the juddering and poor gear performance. Dealer says transmission is broken and none of the customer programs apply.
52,000 miles - 2014 Ford Focus manual - while running errands, during car startup the error message "power assist malfunction - service required." The power steering was deactivated and made very difficult to steer. Turned the car off and restarted after 5 min. The error message disappeared and power steering came back. From others with similar issues, this error could occur while driving and seems to be costly repair for a low mileage vehicle.
Noise coming from steering wheel when turning; shuttering; struggling to accelerate; transmission stalled out on a hill; remote lock button found non functional at times; bluetooth non functional.
Impared steering/grinding noise when turning stationary or in motion, temporary loss of steering control, increasing risk of crash and poses an unreasonable risk to my safety. Please see NHTSA # 14V514000 Ford recall # 14S18.
I purchased this Ford w 15000 miles on it. It now has 37000 miles. I feel like the car is a lemon. I have had several issues requiring me to go Ford dealership. First the gas information was incorrect. It said I had 26 miles to drive but ran out of gas. Then when I was driving on the freeway the car got stuck in between gears. I could not accelerate. Then the I tried to back out of a parking spot and the I could not put car into reverse. As a result car was fixed under warranty and recall. The items fixed were gas tank recall, engine mount, clutch, transmission, and (reservoir tank that was not covered under warranty). I picked up car and next day I drove to work with the same issues. Gears are not shifting. Take bake to dealer and fixed transmission module. Now the power steering does not work. I took it to Ford and they charged me 160$ to look at it. It will cost 1800$ to fix steering. This not covered under warranty. The dealer also said that the suspension needs to be replaced soon. He stated that suspension needs to be replace at 50000 miles my car only has 37000 miles. I have never replaced suspension in any other car. It makes no's sense why this car is falling apart with 37000 miles on it. It's a lemon and I want my money back. I bought this car for my daughter and it is not safe to drive!
'tamara recall'. recently the first week of July 2019 I left work and noticed I cohsot turn my steering wheel. I called red hill Ford and I spoke to one of the new guys and explained to them my power steering was going and it was making grinding noises. They actually told me to drive my car down to the dealership with what I told them. He told me it wasn't my power steering and that it could be something else but I knew since my car was hard to steer and the grinding noise it was making. I drove from allentown down to red hill on route 29 and it was a long ride there. Second, because they told me it cost 2 grand which I didn't have they were going to have me pick it up and drive it again knowing how it was not drive-able. Luckily my parents came through and paid it. Seeing the recalls I never received anything about my power steering rack. Shouldn't this been covered under a warranty or covered since there was a recall? there is no warning light that displays on the dashboard for the power steering and this is dangerous not knowing when your power steering rack is going. Please get back to me and if this should have been covered per the recall. I could have be badly hurt and or hit another car!!
Takata: The problem with the car is if you put gas in the car the car will not start you have to keep turning and pressing on the gas pedal until it register that there is gas in the car. The read will say 98 miles until you need gas but if you dont put gas in before then the car will shut off and that reads at about a quarter tank of gas. Then theres times I get into the car to go and the steering column will lock to where you cant even turn the wheel. I looked it up and I see theres been problem with the steering column plus it lites up in the car steering wheel default I called the Ford but there saying there is no recall on any of the two things im talking about. Its not safe what if the wheel decides to lock while I am driving or the car shuts of because it read 98 miles before you need gas but thats not the case. I was driving out of my driveway and the wheel locked. With the gas was on the road and the car shut off luckily I was close to a gas station.
Yesterday I noticed that my steering seemed a little hard to keep going straight. Today when I got in and started driving my car flashed a "steering failure get checked" message and was even harder to drive. I made it to my appointment and when I left 30 minutes later and turned my car on I had a new message, "steering loss stop safely". now I can't even move my steering wheel. Luckily I wasn't on the expressway going 70 mph when this happened.
My son and I stopped at a rest area on a road trip. When my son started the engine to continue the trip he received the error code "steering assist fault, service now". we went to the nearest Ford dealership who said they wouldn't be able to look at the car for a couple of days and if I was comfortable driving without power steering it wouldn't hurt anything else. Since my 1st car didn't have power steering I decided to give it a go. When we reached our final destination we took the vehicle to a Ford dealer and was told it needed to have the rack and pinion replaced at a cost of $2,400. This seems to be a recurring theme with the Ford Focus. I can only imagine what would have happened if this would have occurred while my son was driving at 65 mph on the New Jersey turnpike.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Welcome, MD, USA