2012 Ford Fiesta: sudden loss of power

Filed Oct 29, 2025 · Acceleration, Body · CO · 1 injury

I was driving to work this morning; the car made a horrible "clunk" when I accelerated to around 20 then lost power and nearly crashed. The car then displayed error lights (yellow CEL, yellow wrench icon, HEAD unit showed "transmission issue service immediately" This is a direct result of the DPs6 transmission put into all 7th gen Ford Focus/Fiesta models. This DCT transmission has been replaced 3 times for this particular car and failed the same manner each time - meaning 3 near accidents have occured because this transmission fails. Across the USA; more than 50 people have been injured as a result of this transmission failing.

Filed Feb 15, 2023 · Transmission · KY

loss of power transmission shudder 100,500 miles now started as a small issue at about 94,000 but not constantly, its bad now

Filed Nov 28, 2022 · Transmission · DC

Ford is refusing to honor extension of warranty in attached notice from Ford which extended warranty on (Transmission Control Module) TCM module for 2012 ford fiestas to 10 years and 150,000 miles. Computer check of systems reports by independent mechanic showed TCM failure. Car disengaged from transmission during highway travel, car has trouble shifting, car sometimes will not start but if retry immediately restarts. When first starting car car will not go into gear even though selected on gear shift. Sometimes when shifting failure occurs check transmission light goes on. Problems temporarily fixes if perform transmission reset procedure. Ford will not honor warranty. Repair shops reporting 4 month backlog on replacement TCM. Ford will not provide rental car while waiting for part. Car is dangerous to drive because can lose power on highway and acts like car in neutral

Filed Oct 7, 2021 · Transmission · TX

The vehicle is a 2012 Ford Fiesta, purchased on 3/4/2016 by 9/8/2016 I had to have the car repaired for transmission issues. As I was driving to work on the freeway on 9/30/21 I experienced warning lamps from the coolant system and the oil lamp (consistently stayed on since 7/08/21) I exited the freeway, and as soon as I did the vehicle shut off and the gear shifter froze not moving from park to drive or neutral nor would the car start. At this point, I was in the middle of workday traffic and had to get out of my car and put on my safety vest, and direct traffic around my vehicle to keep traffic from lining up right behind the car. Nonetheless I was fortunate that I was able to get off the freeway. I had the vehicle towed to an AAA mechanic who stated the ECM was "shot" and they could not get the vehicle into gear. This caused me to have difficulty getting a tow because the driver could not move the vehicle and a wheel lift had to be used instead of a flatbed tow truck. Multiple times the car was "repaired" at the dealership and since I have a parts warranty I then had the car towed again to the dealership. I found at this time the PCM computer was not communicating with the car allowing it to start. This dealership representative has been the one who worked on the vehicle in the past. At times they were able to reproduce problems or complaints I had regarding stuttering, jerking as if it were going to stall. On 8/7/20, the entire dashboard set of warning lights (engine, oil change reminder, engine oil pressure, power train reduced power) lit up as I was driving the vehicle stuttered jerked, and stalled in the middle of the street. Although I am not a mechanic, I believe the PCM, ECM, and TCM computers are related and cause the car to be unsafe. My fear is the car is a dangerous and unreliable vehicle and I have informed the dealer service representative that I do not wish to repair the vehicle at this time even if I could afford to do so.

Filed Feb 9, 2020 · Transmission · 87,000 miles · MD

I have an automatic 2012 ford fiesta, a model that is infamous for its transmission issues. I had the clutch and seal kits replaced at approx 72k miles on 10/5/2017 under technical service bulletin 14m01; immediately after this repair, the vehicle had to go back into the shop for a high idle and continued shuddering. Since then, I have continued to have problems with the vehicle studdering on takeoff, hesitating and then jumping when accelerating, and ultimately with the transmission slipping from drive to neutral. In mid-july 2019, while leaving my suburban neighborhood and making a left turn onto the main road at approximately 20mph, my vehicle slipped from drive into neutral and I lost all power and was unable to brake effectively or speed the vehicle up effectively. Thankfully this happened early in the morning with no cross traffic and I was able to pull into a parking lot safely. The same incident happened again 7 months later in late-january 2020. I took the vehicle back to the ford for an inspection on 2/7/2020 (which they charged me for). They stated that there was transmission fluid between the bell housing and the clutch assembly, seals, and shift forks needed to be replaced again, approximately 7k miles after the first replacement, but that I was out of warranty and the replacement would be about $2,500 out of pocket. They reprogrammed the transmission control module under 14m02 but stated that it probably would not fix the problem. Ford knows that these transmissions are an issue. There is no reason why a transmission should fail 16k miles after being replaced. I would like ford to either buy my vehicle back or perform another clutch replacement at their expense.

Filed Jul 26, 2019 · Transmission · 120,000 miles · KS

Vehicle has surged at stop signs on city streets and at times on the highway will seem to lose power. These incidents have never resulted in an accident, but it seems as though the transmission is faulty.

Filed May 19, 2019 · Transmission · 5 miles · IN

My 2012 ford fiesta will randomly lose power and not engage to shift. This happens so randomly, on side streets, major roads, from stop, while mocing, anytime. This problem is getting progressively worst. I try to avoid highways if possible due to the fact that this occur once on a highway and it almost cause a major accident. I definitely don't feel safe driving this vehicle any longer.

Filed May 3, 2018 · Acceleration, Transmission · 62,000 miles · PA

When starting to accelerate, there is no power. The transmission then kicks back and it goes flying over 4000 rpms before it will shift. While driving, it will randomly give a slight kick and lose power, despite not increasing or decreasing pressure on the gas pedal. There was a class action lawsuit regarding this, I then got it "fixed" under warranty (total replacement of the clutch assembly) but the problem still persists. I have contacted the dealership I bought it from, and they will not return my calls or emails. I contacted ford and they will not take any responsibility either. I bought this car only a year ago and the kbb value has already dropped to less than what I still owe, presumably in part due to the lawsuit. I am at a loss for what to do now. Not only am I financially hurting because of the constant trips to the shop and the loss of value, meaning I will never get out from under this car, but I am legitimately concerned for my safety and my life, and ford doesn't care. I do not want to continue to drive this death trap but as it's worth far less than what I owe, I can't get another vehicle because my funds are wrapped up in this one.

Filed Oct 9, 2017 · Engine, Transmission · 5 miles · UT

We have a 2012 ford fiesta. When we are driving the car ti shakes when it goes to change gears, it is an automatic. We've taken it to the dealership many times. The dealership used to tell us it was the mass air flow sensor. They have cleaned it and replaced it. The car continued to have the issue. I took the car into the dealership and told them to check the clutch assembly. They did and replaced the clutch assembly saying that was the problem. The car drove decent for about a month then we went back to the problem of losing power in the middle of an intersection and then accelerating too fast after the loss of power. Now the car will rev up when in park and continues to have the shuttering problem. The dealership seems to not know what is going on.

Filed Oct 2, 2017 · Steering · 120,000 miles · CT

At approximately 6:30 am on october 2, 2017 I left for work. About 1 mile down the road I suddenly loss power steering. I was travelling approximately 35 MPH and was negotiating a curve at the time of failure. I failed to negotiate the curve and veered off the road coming to a stop before having a collision with any trees. I looked at my dash and there was a digital message that read power steering fault. I shut the car off and turned it back on and the problem persisted so I returned home driving approximately 15 MPH. I was about 1.5 miles from a 9% downgrade with sharp curves; had this fault happened at that point I surely would have impacted a guard rail at best or gone off over a cliff at worst.

Filed Jun 16, 2017 · Electrical, Transmission · 79,255 miles · TX

Lost power while driving, problem occurred 4 times in the span of driving 10 miles, struggled to get home. Occurred while on freeway, at red light, and high speed or slow speed did not matter. Car would ding the alert sound, several warning lights would flash, and I would be immediately be forced to coast to the side of road each time. Three instances posed serious risk to others as my car lost momentum before safely making it off the road, and other cars had to move around my car. Problem matches the manufacturer communication below from 2015, which means this has been a long term design flaw. This needs to be marked as a safety recall. The federal safety agency id number: 10058725 manufacturer communication number: sb-15b22 summary on certain vehicles, transmission control module (TCM) had developed electrical circuit failures, resulting in an intermittent transmission engagement loss while driving or a lack of power or no start and software needs to be replaced

Filed May 22, 2017 · Transmission · 10,000 miles · WA

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford fiesta. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced a loss of power, lack of acceleration, and shuddered. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the clutch failed and needed to be replaced. The contact stated that the failure occurred five times and the clutch was replaced four times. The manufacturer was not notified of the failures. The failure mileage was approximately 10,000.