2000 ford focus ignition failure. Car ignition locked/froze up and I had to have the car towed and the ignition replaced at a cost of some $500. This is a widespread problem with the ford focus and ford refuses to reimburse me and has not addressed the problem with a recall.
2000 Ford Focus electrical complaints
Page 7 of 46: complaints 161 to 190 of 1,343, newest first, as owners wrote them.
00 ford focus se key won't turn in the ignition wife was on her way home from work stop for gas got into the car key will not turn $200.00 to fix.
My ignition on my 2000 ford focus wont turn. I had to force the key in and have to leave the key in the ignition so I can start my car. Called ford they were no help at all. For fear of my car not being able to start I have to leave the key in there and keep a spare key on me so I can lock the car.
Tl*the contact owns a 2000 ford focus. While driving 20 MPH, the contact smelled a burning odor coming from the dashboard. He examined the vehicle and noticed two wires were melted in the wiring harness. The contact believes that the failure originated from the rear deck lid. Two wires were fused together due to fatigue, one wire being 7.5 amps and the other being 15 amps. The manufacturer stated that the vehicle was not included in the federal safety agency campaign id number 00v411000 (electrical system:wiring). The current mileage was 42,679 and failure mileage was 42,670.
1. There were two instances over the past 3 years where my car wouldn't start initially and it took 15 minutes to finally be able to turn the key. 2. I stopped at a gas station to fill up my car which is a 2000 ford focus zx3. I had may 7 year old daughter with me and when we went to leave my ignition locked up. After an hour I had to call someone to come get my daughter as it was 9pm and she had school in the morning. I had someone else come by to see if they could fix it but that was to no avail. Finally after about 3 hours total I had to call a for a tow back to my house as the steering wheel was locked up and I could not even roll the car out of the way because I couldn't turn the wheel to get around the gas pumps. I searched online to see about a recall due to this cars history and to my amazement I found web forum after web forum of complaints about this issue. All you have to do is search the web for "ford focus ignition lock" and you'll see what I mean. This is definitely an issue and can be potentially very dangerous. Being stuck and unable to put your car in neutral and move it to the left or right and out of the way, being stuck in extreme weather conditions...possibly with a child or even just being stuck for hours at a time. I read on instance were a women wasn't able to get towed for 6 hours and read another example of a man who had rented a focus only to have it lock up while at a rest area on the highway. It appears that ford is simply ignoring this fault and it's costing people $400-$500 every occurrence. Some people have had to pay to have it replaced 3 times or more. Please look into this and try to do something about it. It has been a serious issue. 3. I have get the car towed to a dealer to pay the $400 to have it fixed and hope it doesn't happen again or I can find a locksmith who can come to my house, drill out the ignition and replace it which is cheaper than the dealership but not by much.
My 2000 ford focus had a key stuck in the ignition. This caused me to drive a car with a key that would not come out causing a theft issue as I live in baltimore, maryland. There was fear of going out to start my car and having it break or not turn leaving me stuck on the side of the road. Ford would not fix the problem for less then $500 which is a total joke as this is a faulty part that they put in the car. I had to pay $385 dollars to have a good locksmith replace the part for me. Ford should back up the product that make and should pay back any focus owner that has had this problem. I will not support a company that will not support their own product.
Key ignition switch became more difficult to operate over the last 6 months. First the key became stuck in the ignition one day. In order to remove the key one had to push the cylinder in while simultaneously pulling the key. It seemed strange at the time that this would happen out of the blue one day, but the new method of removing the key worked. A few months later, the key would not turn the ignition when attempting to start the car leaving my wife stranded out late one night. Luckily, her friend who also owned a ford mustang, was with her and had experienced similar problems with her car. They were able to start the car buy simultaneously pushing in the cylinder while turning the key and it started. Again strange but it worked. We continued this routine for several months until yesterday, while just spending hundreds of dollars changing tires the technician was unable to get the car started to remove it from the garage. Now faced with more cost the only thing I could be happy about was that it was me stranded and not my wife and my son. It is even more frustrating to learn now that this is and has been a known problem with this make and model of ford and nothing has been done to correct it. I can pay hundreds to replace the ignition with the same defective part that many say will fail again. This time on one of my wife's many trips with my son in the car seat. Nothing about that scenario sounds safe to me. Ford needs to be prompted to fix this recurring problem to prevent future safety issues.
I recently was stranded 30 miles from my home due to my ignition locking up. My keys would not even budge and I had to have my vehicle towed and paid for the repair ($400). They replaced the ignition module.
Key won't turn ignition and could not start car.
While driving the vehicle the speedometer intermittently drops to 0 while the vehicle is moving. The odometer reads all dash marks and the vehicle shifts roughly. I was told that it is due to the speed sensor being bad. This has happened on more than one occasion and the dealership has given a different excuse why the sensor failed each time.
I got out of my car at walgreens. 10 min later I tried to put my key in the ignition. It would not go all the way in. I turned the steering wheel and it slid in bun my car would not turn on. It cost me 200 to have a locksmith come out and replace the ignition. Apparently it is a common defect with the 2000 ford focus.
Key would not go into ignition switch. Called ford dealer who indicated that there have been numerous problems with ignition switches but no recall has been issued. Had to pay $65 to have car towed and $314 for ignition switch replacement.
Key is hard to get into ignition. Then, it won't turn. After tapping, I was able to turn it on but I don't have the luxury of hoping the car will work or not. What if I'm late to work?
I was left stranded at night when my key would no longer fit all the way into my ignition, leaving me unable to start my vehicle. The vehicle was parked in a flat parking lot. The key was not excessively worn nor was it bent. The vehicle started fine only an hour before. Luckily, I was in an urban area with cellular service and I was able to contact roadside assistance. I was told that the vehicle would need to be towed. The tow truck driver was unable to load the car on the flatbed because the tires were turned and the steering wheel was locked. Since I could not insert the key all the way, the steering wheel would not unlock allowing the wheels to straighten. I then had to contact a locksmith who advised he could replace the ignition cylinder. He advised that he would replace the part with a different model than the oem because if the oem model was installed, it could fail again. Thank goodness my roadside assistance plan covered most of the cost for the failed tow attempt and the ignition switch replacement. A quick search on the internet reveals this is a widespread problem affecting thousands of cars of this year and model type. There were thousands of complaints returned in my search results. This is unacceptable!!! I do lots of state to state traveling and I could have been abandoned in an unsafe location with no cellular service in bad weather conditions! What if I have children or elderly passengers in the car??? This is extremely irresponsible to have a known problem go uncommunicative to ford owners. People rely on their vehicles to start and that the ignition switch could fail without warning is scary. I can think of a dozen of "what if" scenarios that could put drivers in danger. This part can be replaced quickly and relatively inexpensively (unless you go through the dealership it seems) with a different model ignition switch to prevent this from happening if ford would just communicate this known problem to its customers.
The ignition key lock cylinder is not functioning properly. The key cylinder does not turn properly when the factory key is properly inserted. I have two sets of keys, they are not terribly worn and the cylinder works the same way with both keys. I have to wiggle the key, take it out and flip it over, wiggle the key some more and it still may not work. There have been several times, where I was left stranded, because I couldn't get the ignition cylinder to work. It is always a gamble as to whether the key is going to work in the car or not. I've been informed by the local locksmith that he has noticed this seems to be a common problem with the ford focus model cars. He has had to fix quite a few with the same problem. If this is the case, I feel there is a high probability that this may be a manufacturer's defect and all customers needs to be made aware of this defect. I'd also like to be compensated for the funds I had to shell out, because of this defect. Thank you.
2000 ford focus zx3 with ignition problem. Consumer states that the key would not turn in the ignition. She says that the dealer charged her for the repair. She believes this is a manufacturing defect. *kb the dealer replaced the ignition lock cylinder.
One day I got into my 2000 ford focus and had difficulty getting the key into the ignition. Once it was in the key would not turn. It took about an hour of turning the wheel, jiggling the key, and tapping on the key to get it to engage the lock cylinder and start the car. This has happened several times before I left the key in long enough to research the problem. This issue is pervasive on this model and cost about $400 to fix. A simple search online shows thousands of consumers with 2000 ford focuses that have the same problem. This is not a coincidence it is a failure suitable for recall.
Smelled smoke coming from vehicle and upon exiting vehicle fire was coming from the underneath of the engine compartment.
2000 ford focus with ignition failure key would not turn. Consumer stated that the key would not turn. When the dealer fixed the problem she ended up paying for the repair. And then the problem recurred 6 weeks later.
The key suddenly won't fit into the ignition. This is a common problem with 2000 ford focus and it cost close to $500 to replace the ignition cylinder. Ford should do a recall on this issue since I found out a lot of consumers have the same problem.
The key gets stuck in the ignition and will not come out. This is a common defect,and ford refuses to recall the vehicle or fix it unless it is under warranty. I have not had it fixed and I will hotwire the car before I pay 400 dollars for a problem that will not exist.
Ignition switch failure, went to leave and key will go in ignition but will not turn either way. I will have to get this replaced myself even though I found 466 complaints about the same problem with this make and model/ 20+% of the entire inventory so far have this problem. I guess someone will have to be killed in order to get a recall for this problem, any volunteers?
Ignition lock jammed.
I parked my car one night in a parking lot. The car was parked for less than 10 minutes. When I came back my steering wheel was locked and I could not turn the ignition to start the car. The lights and radio work so the battery is not dead. Two aaa roadside workers tried to turn the ignition and it did not work.
Ignition locked up.
I have had to replace my 2000 ford focus ignition 4 times in the 7 years I've had this car. The first was in 2001 then the last was 2007. I can not keep fixing this problem when it cost me over $500.00 I was quoted by ford.
There has been an ongoing problem with my ignition switch in my 2000 ford focus. The steering column seems to lock up on me and the key wont turn to unlock it. This problem has been ongoing for a while now. I know I am not the first person this has happen to. I just hope something can be done about this. Ford wants almost 400.00 dollars to fix this problem and it isn't even a guaranteed fix. I don't think this is right for ford to charge that kind of money for something that will happen again down the road.
2000 ford focus ignition switch failure.
Tl*the contact owns a 2000 ford focus. He stated the key would only tunr three quarters of the way when inserted into the ignition. In addition, he has sometime he has to shift the vehicle into neutral to turn the igniting. As a result, the vehicle would not start immediately. The failure and current mileages were 94,000.
Ford focus zx3 2000 - key gets stuck in the ignition and you are unable to start the car.
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