2007 Ford Focus: won't start

Filed Jun 7, 2012 · Electrical · 53,887 miles · TX

To whom it may concern, I am the owner of a 2007 ford focus [xxx], it's a pretty good little car. Except for one thing, the battery light comes on. Then it goes off. This repeats. It started in april and lasted until the car wouldn't start leaving my wife stranded 50 miles from home. We had the car towed to the nearest ford dealer, bill utter ford in denton, tx. I told them that I had the premiumcare extended warranty, and they understood and let me know if it was just the battery I'd still be responsible as ford considers that a wear and tear item. They checked the car and determined it was just the battery for which they charged me $246.61. The car was running all right. Until tuesday when the battery light came on again. And turned off. This time however my wife was much closer to home and she brought it back. I took it to the ford dealer we bought it from, bankston and thy examined the car and found that the alternator was not properly charging the battery. They replaced it and I paid a $100 deductible for the premiumcare warranty. So now, for one problem I've paid $346.61, which in the scheme of things is not so much. But it does seem to me about $246.61 more than I needed to pay. So I called bill utter ford and while the man that answered was very nice and had reasonable concerns about refunding my money. He also said that they had replaced many alternators in focuses (focii?) with the battery light coming on intermittently. I did a google search for "ford focus intermittent battery light" where I received 101,000 hits. That is more than a few. Considerably more than a few. Bill utter says they can't just replace the alternator if it tests ok unless there's a recall or a service bulletin. 101,000 google hits apparently hasn't warranted a service bulletin. *js information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)

Filed Mar 6, 2012 · Electrical · 30,630 miles · PA

While driving on the interstate the car had total failure of its electrical system. All dashboard functions failed, lights, radio, anything electrical. Within 5 minutes the car stalled and would not started again. The car was towed to a local ford dealership. Tests indicated that the alternator was defective. Prior to this incident there was absolutely no warning indicating a problem with the charging system. The car is 5 years old and only has 30,630 miles on it.

Filed Feb 14, 2012 · Electrical · 58,120 miles · CO

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 ford focus. The contact stated that while driving 40 MPH, the radio and all of the lights on the instrument panel began to operate intermittently. The vehicle then stalled. The vehicle coasted to the shoulder and was towed to an auto body shop. The auto body shop stated that the alternator needed to be repaired. The vehicle was repaired. The failure recurred once and the vehicle would not start. The dealer was not made aware of the second occurrence. The vehicle was not taken back for additional repairs. The failure mileage was 58,120 and the current mileage was unknown.

Filed Dec 2, 2011 · Electrical · 37,000 miles · TN

While traveling on interstate 24 east between nashville and chattanooga, I had an electrical problem that caused my engine to shut down while my car was still traveling at 65 MPH. The first sign of a problem was when my radio shut off unexpectedly. There were no warning lights on the dashboard to indicate that my engine was about to shut down. After traveling another 3 to 5 miles, all the warning lights illuminated on my dashboard and a few seconds later my engine shut down. I was still traveling at approximately 60 MPH and was able to stop the car in the emergency lane. After stopping the car, the engine would not start. Me and my family were stuck on the side of the highway until we could have the vehicle towed to the nearest ford dealer. The ford dealer ran electrical tests and discovered the battery had failed. The dealership replaced the battery and the car drove fine. On december 1, 2011, only four months later, I was traveling trough the city when my radio shut off and a few miles later the engine died and would not restart. The battery was tested and found to have failed again. Both batteries that failed were motorcraft 1bxt*96*500. Since this problem occurs while driving with no apparent warning lights, and causes the engine to shut down, it needs to be investigated.

Filed Aug 6, 2010 · Electrical · 29,000 miles · AZ

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 ford focus. The contact stated that the vehicle would not start therefore he replaced the battery. On a separate occasion while driving at an unknown speed, the radio, air conditioning and all of the instrument panel gauges failed. The contact attempted to take the vehicle into the dealer for diagnosis but while driving, the failure recurred as the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was not inspected or repaired. The manufacturer advised the contact to have the dealer diagnose the vehicle. The current and failure mileages were approximately 29,000.

Filed Jul 18, 2010 · Electrical · 45,000 miles · NH

Step-daughters took a loan for the low mileage economy car to commute to college and part-time job. Starting having problems with the battery. Replaced it. Wife tried to take it to the market at dusk while her daughter was away just to keep the car from sitting. Four miles down the two lane the electrics started failing. Car died and would not crank. She was able to coast part way onto a side road. As it got dark she sat and waited exposed to traffic on a 50 MPH road with no shoulders on a curve. Luckily she was out of the cell phone dead spot. I blocked the side road with my truck so I could hook up cables. Started car. Checked with meter. Only battery voltage. Sat for 15 minutes with cables connected to charge up the battery. Sent wife home in the dark running flashers and hoped for no deer crossing. Pulled alternator which is just about as hard to get out is it could be able to be ( I work on equipment for a living). Took alternator to test machine. It failed. Rebuilt alternator is over $200 and I would rather not put a rebuilt in a low mileage late model, especially since its so hard to get in and out. Then again maybe they are finding the fault during the rebuild and upgrading the failed component. Ford and the others build cars with components that they purchase. Sometimes there is a problem with a batch of components. In order to maintain their reputation and be able to represent that they are doing everything they can to protect the customer they issue a letter and fix the problem. If there are 20 people who took the time to complain here there are hundreds more and enough of these have happened under warranty that ford is fully aware of the problem. The best of the big three is not living up to its standing in this case and that this is happening in a low end car brings up recollections of the exploding pintos. Probably not a lot of folks with access to expensive legal assistance driving the focus.

Filed Jul 14, 2010 · Electrical · 27,783 miles · IL

The alternator and battery on my 2007 ford focus se that has 27,783 miles are dead. I take the car to the dealer for regularly scheduled maintained on time. Brought the car in today for oil change and 30,000 mile required inspection and maintained. I drove the car about 40 miles round-trip and stopped at the library. I tried starting the car and it would not turn on. All that happened was the oil light went on but the car made no sounds and engine was not even trying to turn over. Had car towed back to dealer and after an hour was told that the alternator and battery were both dead. There was no warning that this could occur form the dealer and the car acted perfectly fine. The only reason I knew anything was wrong was because the car wouldn't start. The night manager at the ford dealer said that due to the alternator failing the car ran on 12volts of power from the battery and now the battery is dead and cannot be recharged. He also said that yes, the alternator does go out without any warning and that it is common to not know it had died until the car completely stops working. The car warranty expired 3 months ago in april and the dealer expects $645 to repair the issue. I feel this is a manufacturing issue that should be fixed by ford. I have done research tonight, and learned that it is common for ford focus car to have the alternator and battery die at about 3 years of age. I was driving during rush hour on several expressways today, had the alternator died 10 minutes sooner, I could have been dead or seriously injured in a car crash. 1. No warning before alternator and battery died. Car was parked and would not turn on. Car was at dealer today for 30,000 oil change/ maintenance car has less than 28,000 miles. 2. This is the first time the alternator or battery has died. 3. Dealer said the car needs new alternator and battery. Would not offer any discount for repair.