While driving 40 MPH vehicle caught on fire under the hood. Local fire department arrived to extinguish the fire. Consumer questioned o whether past recall repairs were done properly. *ak the electrical gauges had gone up and the oil light stayed on. The vehcile was out of control. Recall# 00v411000.
2000 Ford Focus electrical complaints
Page 26 of 46: complaints 731 to 760 of 1,343, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Ignition lock broken. Steering wheel is locked and key cannot go all the way into the ignition. Cannot start car.
Went to start the car, and key would not go into the ignition all the way. Was eventually able to get the key in by wiggling and forcing, but will not turn now to start the car. Called the local ford dealer, and was informed that this was a known issue with the 2000 ford focus, and that my ignition cylinder would need to be replaced. Was quoted $350.
While starting the vehicle key would not turn the ignition switch. Vehicle was towed to a repair shop, and mechanic had to replace the ignition switch cylinder. Dealer was not notified.
Went to work, parked car in company lot came out put key into ignition to start and key will not turn. Steering wheel will not turn. Had vehicle towed to dealership, no word from them yet. I have a baby what if this were to happen in the middle of winter while my baby was with me. It is very dangerous.
Upon starting the vehicle key sticks in the ignition followed by the steering wheel locking up. If the consumer managed to remove the key, the steering wheel was still locked. Vehicle was towed to the dealership, who replaced the ignition assembly. The failure recurred, and the key broke in the ignition. The ignition assembly has to be replaced again. *ak
I have a 2000 ford focus wagon and I can no longer get the key to turn in the ignition. I have giggled, I have tapped, I have tried to coax it to work, but now my car is stuck in my driveway with no way to start it. I have looked on-line and there are hundreds of complaints about this same problem - the key sticks [which it has done repeatedly to me] or stops turning in the ignition at all, thereby rendering the car unstartable and therefore undrivable.
Ignition key locking up, defective ignition switch.
More than 1 problem with the fuel system as a whole, the latest one being a fuel pump replacement. Now my ignition is broken and in the shop. I've had to have my brakes replaced early along with all of the other recalls on the focus.
I have several defects in my 2000 ford focus 4 door. First one is my left passinger door does not latch closed, 2nd is my cylinder lock in the ignition failed and I had to have it replaced , 3rd when it rains the front passinger floor fills to top with water, 4th the cd player turns off and blinks buy itself, 5th my check engine light stays on after repetedly taking it to machinic to see why and having it reset even though there is no reason it should be on and last the only way I have heat or AC is on level 4 -1, 2 and 3 do not work .
Key will not turn in ignition. Well known trouble by dealer. Wanted $500 to repair.
Car stalls at low and highway speeds with no warning. Fuel pump has already been replaced under recall program. This happened repeatedly in the past few weeks and prior to the fuel pump replacement. Following pump replacement it stopped for a while, but now is occuring again with increasing frequency.
Ignition problem. Tried to start car with key but will not start. At first, the key would not go in but finally got key in but car didn't start. My key was damaged alittle from the ignition. Since mechanics are on strike in st. Louis, maybe hard to get fixed. Called suntrup ford and they said not covered and not recalled so I would have to pay the cost to fix.
Consumer went out to start the vehicle and the key would not turn the ignition and locked in place. No matter how much consumer tried the key would not move. Vehicle was towed to the dealership, and the technician replaced the cylinder at consumer's expense.
When getting into my car to go to work one day the key wouldn't go into the ignition all the way. My vehicle needed to be towed to the dealership in order to replace the entire ignition assembly.
Ignition locks on focus are faulty. I have had mine replaced every 25 months since I have owned my vehicle. Ford refuses to cover the ignition lock even though the service managers all know about this being faulty. Ford claims ignorance, that they are unaware of this being a common problem, I have performed the most rudimentary research that shows otherwise and if I really spend time, I only imagine what I will find. Thanks!
Rear passenger door on the left side locked and will not open, either from the inside or the outside. The consumer took the vehicle to the dealer and was told that the locks were not covered under the warranty, and it will cost in excess of 500.00 for repairs. *ak the consumer's wife was working with the left rear door. The switch had come loose and the left door was currently working. The right door was still failing. No electrical power switches were working on the doors. Six fuses were replaced. The electrical problems were still not repaired. The door problem occurred two days after purchase. *sc
While driving at any speed, the vehicle stalled. The consumer restarted the vehicle, and drove it to a mechanic for inspection. The mechanic determined that the battery cables needed to be replaced. *ak recall# 02v288000. The consumer was told that his vehicle was not apart of this recall. The positive battery cable was found routed improperly. *sc
Like many ford focuses, my ignition lock cylinder failed. My key ring is not excessively heavy, nor am I abusive with my vehicle--the spring assembly inside the ilc is just a poorly designed piece of crap, and rather than pay the quoted price I successfully replaced the problem by drilling out the old lock and replacing it with a new ilc. Ford has issued a technical service bulletin on this problem and thousands of focus owners have suffered a similar breakdown. It's a crap part and should be replaced with a sturdier part at no expense to the consumer, and those of us who have suffered breakdowns to date should be compensated for our repair costs.
The consumer had ignition switch replaced and it went out again. Dealer replaced the ignition a second time without informing the consumer that the warranty had expired. The ignition switch was defective again.
Consumer complained about ignition switch failure to start the vehicle. Dealer was notified.
It was hard for the consumer to turn the key in the ignition switch. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.
Came out of work after closing up at 9:30 pm. At first, key would only go into ignition half way.after a little jiggling key went in the rest of the way but would not turn at all, and steering wheel remained locked. After a half hour of tryng I gave up and had the car towed to the dealer(john lance ford - westlake, ohio) because their service department is open till midnight. On the ride there the towtruck driver told me he pick up several focus's a week with the same problem. Heard the same thing from the service department dealer. Dealer replaced ignition tumbler and steering column ignition lock at a total cost of $331.52 to me since it was not covered. I filed a complaint with the dealership and with ford since I feel this is a manufacturing defect that should be covered. I have never heard a response from either since. I feel this a safety issue since I was stranded at night, but I was lucky enough to have aaa and a cellphone. I feel sorry for those that don't. This is an unbelievably common problem with the 2000 focus and should be a recall, and we should all be reimbursed.
Approximately 10 times now, I have tried to start my 2000 ford focus, and the key either will not insert completely or it will not turn in the switch.
I own a 2000 ford focus. Several times in the past year, the key would not turn to start the car. In the past I have been able to jiggle the key and sterring wheel to get it started. On 7/14/2004, the same thing occurred, but I never had any success with turning it at all. The steering wheel was also locked up. I investigated the problem on the internet and found this was very common on ford focus, especially 2000. I had the car towed and had repairs done at ed kelnley ford in layton, utah costng $461.01.
While driving vehicle stalled. Consumer restarted the vehicle, and drove it to the dealer for inspection. Mechanic determined that the spark plugs needed to be replaced. Consumer informed the mechanic that the problem recurred, and had not been resolved.
I have 46,000 miles on my focus and the ignition switch will let me insert the key but will not let turn the ignition on, I have personally read hundreds of forums posts with this problem occuring..... I should not have to pay $300+ to have this repaired. The extremly bad part is that my wife was trying to start the car up at the time.... She had noticed someone following her to the car and when she got in the car and locked the door behind her, he started trying to break in, and lone and behold she tried to start the car but the igntion would not turn. Thankfully I was only a few blocks away and she called me in a panic, when I arrived to where she was I seen the man trying to get in the car, he seen me coming up to the only car in the parking lot (my focus) and started running he jumped over a fence and I could not catch him...... Whats to stop this from happening again? I have seen numerous posts on forums about people who have taken their car in had the ignition "fixed" only for them to come across this problem again. I cannot keep my family safe all the time. I guess I just need to trade my focus in for a reliable vehicle!
I own a 2000 ford focus coupe with 119000 miles. Although this is high mileage, my normal drive is 30-60 miles. On 7-27-04 I attempted to start the car and was unable to get the key to turn in the ignition. The tow driver from aaa was also initially unsuccessful, but after consulting with a locksmith he said that the lock tumblers were stuck; he got it to turn by hitting the butt of the key. This was obviously not something to continue doing, so I took the car the next morning to ford of upland, where the service writer told me they had seen many focuses with the same problem. I asked if there had been a service memo from ford and he said no. Not wanting to risk the car having a disabled ignition while an hour from home, I had the dealer install a new ignition for $318. However, I told him that this was the first time I'd ever seen a problem with an ignition switch on any car I've owned, including the last three cars I've owned, which all lasted over 160000 miles, and that even though my car had a lot of miles, because of my long average trip, the number of starts was equivalent to a car with 40000 miles driven locally. I then did an internet search and found literally dozens of similar complaints, some by people who had had multiple ignition replacements. Also, in a previous problem with this car, ford had denied that there was any problem with the fuel pump when I inquired about a problem with the car dying on hard right turns, only to see a recall two months later, so my suspicion is that they are also well aware of this ignition problem (the dealer said as much).
Problems with the vehicle motor going fast then slowing down. *mr when the vehicle was in motion, there was thump in the rear under the seat as if it were stopping and or losing power, the emission light had come on the dash board and would go off and on again, the floor would vibrate and rattle, the engine would cut off when at stop lights, the key would not turn in the ignition/stuck in cylinder. The stalling would occur especially when the fuel tank was below 1/2. *sc
The ignition was locked in place and it would not move at all. Also, steering wheel was locked. Dealerships replaced twice the ignition switch at consumer's expense.
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